Gurumurthy Kalyanaram - The recent visible and vibrant, large and peaceful protests in Russia against alleged fraud in the parliamentary elections on December 4th has surprised everyone. The protesters, while peaceful and friendly, were pretty harsh on Vladmir Putin; the Russian Television presented the protests in a neutral fashion including the harsh comments of thr protesters; the protesters and the police were friendly.
There was no hint of these protests. It was somewhat impetuous. This was possible because social media --facebook, google+ -- were the platform for mass communication. So, the communication was easy, instantaneous and accessible. Gurumurthy Kalyanaram NYIT
The Russian demonstrations are only recent evidence of the power of mass communication of social media. Such mass communication through social media was the cause of the middle-east political revolution began in Tunisia, then to Egypt, Libya and now to Syria. Gurumurthy Kalyanaram NYIT
It all began in a small and almost pedestrian manner in Tunisia, a relatively small country in December 2010 when a street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, protested against abuse from police authorities. Longtime President Zine Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in matter of 5-6 weeks in January 2011. There were about 80 deaths, a sorrowing matter. But the culmination was swift and decisive.
Twenty-six years old Mohamed Bouazizi was a small street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, a small town in Tunisina. He was the sole income earner in his extended family of eight. He operated a purportedly unlicensed vegetable cart for seven years. On December 17, 2010, a policewoman confiscated his cart and the produce. Bouazizi, who was used to such confiscation, tried to pay the stipulated 10-dinar fine. The policewoman was grossly abusive. She slapped him, spat in his face, and insulted his deceased father. A humiliated Bouazizi then went to the provincial headquarters in an attempt to complain to local municipality officials. The officials were indifferent and arrogant, and refused an audience.
Deeply anguished and frustrated at regular heap of abuse from the bureaucracy, Bouazizi returned to the headquarters, doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire. Public outrage quickly grew over the incident, leading to protests. This immolation and the subsequent heavy-handed response by the police to peaceful marchers caused riots the next day in Sidi Bouzid that went largely unnoticed in its first days, but then the protests spread like prairie fire. The rest is history, as they say.
As if on a cue, the citizenry in Egypt rose in determined and sustained protest against longstanding authoritarianism, police brutality and political indifference. The first significant demonstration was on January 25, 2011, and by February 13 President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down. Again, it was very swift and decisive.
And then Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi and his autocratic regime came under siege. The peaceful protests began about February 15th, but since then the struggle became bloody and fitful because use of aggressive force by Gaddafi in an effort to ward off dissent and retain power. And then Gaddafi was removed.
And now the Syrian citizenry is pushing the despotic structure of its government to its limits. President Bashar Assad has been fighting his own citizens since March, and the life of autocratic dispensation is numbered in months.
In India, too, the movement of Anna Hazare and his team against corruption and a strong Lokpal bill has been mobilize the masses in relatively easy and efficient manner through mass communition via social media.
The power of mass communication through social media has come to stay. The underlying principle for diffusion of information is cascading and escalating word-of-mouth communication.
There was no hint of these protests. It was somewhat impetuous. This was possible because social media --facebook, google+ -- were the platform for mass communication. So, the communication was easy, instantaneous and accessible. Gurumurthy Kalyanaram NYIT
The Russian demonstrations are only recent evidence of the power of mass communication of social media. Such mass communication through social media was the cause of the middle-east political revolution began in Tunisia, then to Egypt, Libya and now to Syria. Gurumurthy Kalyanaram NYIT
It all began in a small and almost pedestrian manner in Tunisia, a relatively small country in December 2010 when a street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, protested against abuse from police authorities. Longtime President Zine Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in matter of 5-6 weeks in January 2011. There were about 80 deaths, a sorrowing matter. But the culmination was swift and decisive.
Twenty-six years old Mohamed Bouazizi was a small street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, a small town in Tunisina. He was the sole income earner in his extended family of eight. He operated a purportedly unlicensed vegetable cart for seven years. On December 17, 2010, a policewoman confiscated his cart and the produce. Bouazizi, who was used to such confiscation, tried to pay the stipulated 10-dinar fine. The policewoman was grossly abusive. She slapped him, spat in his face, and insulted his deceased father. A humiliated Bouazizi then went to the provincial headquarters in an attempt to complain to local municipality officials. The officials were indifferent and arrogant, and refused an audience.
Deeply anguished and frustrated at regular heap of abuse from the bureaucracy, Bouazizi returned to the headquarters, doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire. Public outrage quickly grew over the incident, leading to protests. This immolation and the subsequent heavy-handed response by the police to peaceful marchers caused riots the next day in Sidi Bouzid that went largely unnoticed in its first days, but then the protests spread like prairie fire. The rest is history, as they say.
As if on a cue, the citizenry in Egypt rose in determined and sustained protest against longstanding authoritarianism, police brutality and political indifference. The first significant demonstration was on January 25, 2011, and by February 13 President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down. Again, it was very swift and decisive.
And then Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi and his autocratic regime came under siege. The peaceful protests began about February 15th, but since then the struggle became bloody and fitful because use of aggressive force by Gaddafi in an effort to ward off dissent and retain power. And then Gaddafi was removed.
And now the Syrian citizenry is pushing the despotic structure of its government to its limits. President Bashar Assad has been fighting his own citizens since March, and the life of autocratic dispensation is numbered in months.
In India, too, the movement of Anna Hazare and his team against corruption and a strong Lokpal bill has been mobilize the masses in relatively easy and efficient manner through mass communition via social media.
The power of mass communication through social media has come to stay. The underlying principle for diffusion of information is cascading and escalating word-of-mouth communication.
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