Cell phones and civil society
In 2002, the Miss World contest was driven out of Abuja by protesters organized by text message. The method is spreading. From the Washington Post.Text Messages Giving Voice to Chinese: Opponents of Chemical Factory Found Way Around Censors
"XIAMEN, China -- By the hundreds of thousands, the urgent text messages ricocheted around cellphones in Xiamen, warning of a catastrophe that would spoil the city's beautiful seaside environment and foul its sweet-smelling tropical breezes.
"By promoting the construction of a giant chemical factory among the suburban palm trees, the local government was 'setting off an atomic bomb in all of Xiamen,' the massive message sprays charged, predicting that the plant would cause 'leukemia and deformed babies' among the 2 million-plus residents of this city on China's southern rim, just opposite Taiwan.
"Mobilized by cellphone, thousands marched in Xiamen against a new chemical plant. Authorities have halted the project.
"The environmental activists behind the messages might have exaggerated the danger with their florid language, experts said. But their passionate opposition to the chemical plant generated an explosion of public anger that forced a halt in construction, pending further environmental impact studies by authorities in Beijing, and produced large demonstrations June 1 and 2, drawing national publicity.
"The delay marked a rare instance of public opinion in China rising from the streets and compelling a change of policy by Communist Party bureaucrats. It was a dramatic illustration of the potential of technology -- particularly cellphones and the Internet -- to challenge the rigorous censorship and political controls through which the party maintains its monopoly on power..."
Labels: China, civil society, participation
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:42 AM
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Chinese city cracks down on web postings
"Residents in a city in southern China could soon be banned from anonymous web postings after they used the internet to halt construction of a massive chemical factory...
"Xiamen authorities are considering new regulations to bar anonymous contributions and require websites to approve all postings... Last month, plans for a plant in Xiamen were suspended after residents sent nearly 1m text messages to friends and family, urging the government to abandon the $1.4bn (£700m) plant project because of its alleged health and environmental risks from paraxylene - a chemical used in the production of plastic...
"Text messages and internet postings were used to organise peaceful rallies that caught the attention of bloggers nationwide and helped push Beijing to pressure the city to suspend work on the factory...
"The South Metropolis News quoted a legal professor as saying that Xiamen had no right to legislate such changes. "Only the National People's Congress has the right to legislate on this issue," said He Bing of the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing."
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