Ben's Articles

Action at Burger King at Santa Cruz to Support the CIW
Indymedia.us

A little local activism: from May 11-12, four UC Santa Cruz students, with the support of the Student/Farmworker Alliance, protested Burger King’s refusal to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to ensure that field workers are given fair wages and working conditions. I wonder if, had they taken advantage of a little text messaging, a bigger/stronger/louder crowd could have been summoned?


New Areas Trying to Break from Party Control are Quickly Repressed
Durban shack dwellers

The title of this article caught my eye as I glanced over the list of Durban Shack Dwellers articles; if these “new areas” were able to coordinate their efforts through the use of texting, could they succeed? They face some pretty rough odds (unlike areas such as the US, a common means of political control is blatant/unconcealed killing), but apparently they are making some progress despite this. Would text messaging be a valuable tool for activism in such a harsh environment (would it make a difference)?


Police Brutality in Mexico
Zapatistas

This article is a little dated (May 2004), but it is so powerful. People resisting police violence set up blockades and fought to keep them up. Both state and federal police were called in to confront the resistance, and in the process beat hundreds of protesters. The pictures at the end of the articles are disturbing, but I’m glad that they are out in the open for people to see. Mass communication technologies have allowed for so much stuff like this to come out, and it is so important for people, especially in America, to be exposed to these types of happenings, to be reminded of the importance of the freedoms that are often taken for granted.

Are mass communication technologies, because they create awareness of injustices across the globe, the key to world peace? Or does the presence of government and/or big business regulation ensure that the internet’s potential can never be fully reached?