How To Stage A DIY Mass Protest (Time.com)

Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Conor Friedersdorf.

No matter if you're aiming to overthrow your government, or to simply shame your local state legislature, some best-practices for a D.I.Y. revolution have emerged of late. Egypt's Uprising: Complete Coverage"

As Egyptians revolted, Malcolm Gladwell argued in The New Yorker that the least interesting aspect of their efforts were what new media tools dissenters used. "People protested and brought down governments before Facebook was invented," he wrote. "Barely anyone in East Germany in the nineteen-eighties had a phone."

Grant him this: technology hasn't changed everything. It confers certain advantages, has significant limits, and is exploited by the savvy organizer as one more tool to be used when appropriate. So how to combine hi-tech and low-tech to organize a safe and successful mass uprising? Herein, some handy tips.

Step 1. DEVELOP A STRATEGY

There's nothing more basic than formulating a plan of attack, whether with an iPad, a pad and pen, or a stick in the dirt. Ask Gene Sharp, an 83-year-old orchid enthusiast so low-tech that he doesn't even use computers. But his pamphlet From Dictatorship To Democracy, "a 93-page guide to toppling autocrats," is available for download in 24 languages. And it's been used by dissidents in Burma, Bosnia, Estonia, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Egypt. Score one for hyperlinks and downloadable PDFs. (See TIME's Exclusive Photos: Turmoil in Egypt)

Pro tip: Someone has already orchestrated a protest like the one you want to throw. Use Google to find articles about that event, note the name of the organizer, and try to track down his or her email address to ask for advice. Once you've set a strategy, disseminate those plans to as wide an audience as possible. Upload documents to social publishing sites such as Docstoc.com or Scribd.com for easy viewing and sharing across all platforms and devices.

Step 2. DON'T OVERLOOK OLD MEDIA

Hi-tech is useful if you're trying to reach strangers while sidestepping state run media, as Twitter dissidents did in Iran. Or to organize a walkout among high school students, as happened in Newark, New Jersey: when every last person you're trying to reach belongs to the same Facebook network, use that.

But low-tech mass media remains the most effective way to assemble a large crowd of strangers in a free country. Glenn Beck summoned tens of thousands to his "Restoring Honor" event via Fox News, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert used Comedy Central to publicize their own response rally, Tea Partiers asked local AM radio hosts to help publicize their regional events, and a 2006 immigration rally in Los Angeles drew the biggest crowd of all: 500,000 people took to the streets thanks in large part to deejay Eddie Sotelo and his counterparts in Spanish language radio.

Pro tip: Facebook is best used to communicate with an existing coalition - it's hard to talk with folks who don't already count you as a "friend" or "like" your cause. Whereas Twitter is better for more freewheeling interactions that unfold in real time - just remember to settle on a hashtag that's appended to every tweet.

Step 3. BRING THE PROTEST INTO PEOPLES' HOMES

Pitted against heavily armed security forces, the people of Bahrain turned to their camera phones: "By uploading images of this week's violence in Manama, the capital, to Web sites like YouTube and yFrog, and then sharing them on Facebook and Twitter, the protesters upstaged government accounts and drew worldwide attention to their demands," The New York Times reports. "A novelty less than a decade ago, the cellphone camera has become a vital tool to document the government response to the unrest that has spread through the Middle East and North Africa." But what if you're not facing inherently newsworthy abuses? (See TIME's photogallery "Mass Demonstrations in Egypt.")

The lowest tech way to get press is getting naked. The cameras show up every year in Venice, California when bare-chested women and men clad in bikini tops protest the local prohibition on topless sunbathing. How many people are needed to get an anti-war protest newspaper coverage? Only one if she's nude, on top of a car, performing a yoga pose (downward dove?). Environmental activists were able to persuade 600 people to bare all atop this glacier to draw attention to climate change. And last year various Americans and Germans took off all their clothes to protest airport scanners... that peek beneath clothing.

Pro tip: The proliferation of camera-equipped smartphones makes capturing images from your protest easy. For even more dramatic shots, USB Fever sells wide-angle lenses that can be attached to your cell phone via magnet. And an Eye-Fi memory card will automatically upload images via Wi-Fi to your computer - or directly to Flickr or Facebook. If you're expecting water-cannons or overly-aggressive officers, opt for a super-tough and waterproof camera such as the Casio Ex-G1, and perhaps an indestructible laptop such as Panasonic's Toughbook 31.

Step 4. BE ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE LAW

Cheap digital video cameras are handy for documenting police abuses for later litigation. But be careful with that particular gadget. It can capture illegal or unseemly behavior on your own side. And in some jurisdictions, recording audio can get you arrested on illegal surveillance charges - what's needed is a lower-tech camera that captures images, but not sound.

Of course, even low-tech tools can get you into trouble. In Providence, Rhode Island, you'll need prior permission if you want to shout through a bullhorn. Sometimes the most important technology is the pen used to fill out a permit.

Pro tip: If your cell phone doesn't take video, a cheap, compact option is the Flip Ultra HD, a popular choice among journalists.

Step. 5 DON'T BREAK FOR LUNCH

Unless you're embarking on a hunger strike, it's a losing proposition to pit famished, fatigued protesters against well-fed authorities taking shifts. The hi-tech solution: take to the streets with a camel-back full of electrolytes and a supply of MREs. Extreme situations might even justify Dexedrine.

An old-fashioned approach to meals can have its perils. During the San Francisco dockworker strike of 1934, amid a pitched battle between longshoremen and riot police, there was a peculiar pause in the action. "As if a work whistle had blown, each side withdrew for a midday break," writes Kevin Starr, California's official state historian. "Toward one o'clock Harry Bridges was eating at a union dining hall at the corner of the Embarcadero and Mission Street... Suddenly shots rang out, followed by yelling and screams. Looking outside, Bridges could see the police driving back his men with clubs and gunfire. During the lull of the lunch hour, the police had regrouped themselves into two phalanxes, one to the north of the strikers' headquarters, the other to the south."

Pro tip: Pack plenty of wanter. The CamelBak mule holds 100 ounces. (Good news, anarchists and communists: it comes in black or red.) In case potable water is scarce, equip your protest kit with an ultraportable SteriPEN water purifier. And if you find yourself becoming overagitated - never a good idea during a mass protest - calm yourself with Breathing Zone, a handy iPhone app that'll help keep the typical stress of fomenting unrest somewhat in check.

View this article on Time.com

Most Popular on Time.com:

View the original article here

Italian women protest over Berlusconi sex scandal (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of women rallied in Rome and other cities on Sunday, incensed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's sex scandal which they say has disgraced Italy.

"Women are offended. The image of our country that Berlusconi is presenting to the world is just unbearable," said 52-year-old Roberta Nicchiarelli, attending a rally in Rome.

The protests in more than 200 towns in Italy and even some cities abroad reflect growing anger among women at the prostitution scandal that has engulfed the premier, who has long counted conservative women among his key voters.

"I voted for him in the past, but I am really disappointed. I hope things will change," said former Berlusconi voter Pina.

Prosecutors filed a request on Wednesday to bring Berlusconi to trial, accusing him of paying for sex with a nightclub dancer when she was under 18, which is illegal in Italy.

The 74-year old premier has dismissed the accusations as "disgusting and disgraceful."

Leaked wiretaps from the investigation have been splashed over newspapers for weeks with references to bundles of cash, talk of sex games and gifts that would-be starlets received after attending parties at Berlusconi's villa.

"I love my boyfriend for free," read one banner in Rome, where crowds of women of all ages packed into a central square flanked by husbands, brothers and male friends.

"It's a scandal. I do not believe in his values, his behavior and the way he treats women. Italy doesn't have a future if these are the values that sustain us," said Paolo Campedel, a worker attending a rally in Padua in northern Italy.

ONE-SIDED

Photos and videos of a growing list of young women from the fringes of show business alleged to be connected to Berlusconi have been plastered over Italian television and media web sites, often showing them in erotic poses or in their underwear.

Campaigners say the increasingly one-sided image of women as sex objects has promoted a culture in which women see selling their good looks as the only route to success in a country where a third of young people are unemployed.

"Big boobs, small hips, and always available: it's almost become a dictatorship because television, the newspapers, only present this model of women," said Lorella Zanardo, author of Il Corpo Delle Donne, a book about the image of women in the media.

The scandal in mainly Catholic Italy has revived opposition calls for Berlusconi to resign at a time when he is clinging to power after a split in the ruling PDL party last year.

But he has survived sex scandals in the past and some of his most staunch supporters attended pro-Berlusconi rallies earlier in the week, while branding Sunday's demonstration a puritanical and politically motivated ploy.

The women's protest follows several anti-Berlusconi rallies this week. President Giorgio Napolitano has warned political tensions are too high and told Berlusconi at a meeting on Friday that Italy risked facing new elections as a result.

(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella, Giselda Vagnoni, Cristiano Corvino in Rome, and Martin de Sa' Pinto in Padua Editing by Maria Golovnina)

View the original article here

Italian women protest over Berlusconi sex scandal (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of women rallied in Rome and other cities on Sunday, incensed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's sex scandal which they say has disgraced Italy.
"Women are offended. The image of our country that Berlusconi is presenting to the world is just unbearable," said 52-year-old Roberta Nicchiarelli, attending a rally in Rome.
The protests in more than 200 towns in Italy and even some cities abroad reflect growing anger among women at the prostitution scandal that has engulfed the premier, who has long counted conservative women among his key voters.
"I voted for him in the past, but I am really disappointed. I hope things will change," said former Berlusconi voter Pina.
Prosecutors filed a request on Wednesday to bring Berlusconi to trial, accusing him of paying for sex with a nightclub dancer when she was under 18, which is illegal in Italy.
The 74-year old premier has dismissed the accusations as "disgusting and disgraceful."
Leaked wiretaps from the investigation have been splashed over newspapers for weeks with references to bundles of cash, talk of sex games and gifts that would-be starlets received after attending parties at Berlusconi's villa.
"I love my boyfriend for free," read one banner in Rome, where crowds of women of all ages packed into a central square flanked by husbands, brothers and male friends.
"It's a scandal. I do not believe in his values, his behavior and the way he treats women. Italy doesn't have a future if these are the values that sustain us," said Paolo Campedel, a worker attending a rally in Padua in northern Italy.
ONE-SIDED
Photos and videos of a growing list of young women from the fringes of show business alleged to be connected to Berlusconi have been plastered over Italian television and media web sites, often showing them in erotic poses or in their underwear.
Campaigners say the increasingly one-sided image of women as sex objects has promoted a culture in which women see selling their good looks as the only route to success in a country where a third of young people are unemployed.
"Big boobs, small hips, and always available: it's almost become a dictatorship because television, the newspapers, only present this model of women," said Lorella Zanardo, author of Il Corpo Delle Donne, a book about the image of women in the media.
The scandal in mainly Catholic Italy has revived opposition calls for Berlusconi to resign at a time when he is clinging to power after a split in the ruling PDL party last year.
But he has survived sex scandals in the past and some of his most staunch supporters attended pro-Berlusconi rallies earlier in the week, while branding Sunday's demonstration a puritanical and politically motivated ploy.
The women's protest follows several anti-Berlusconi rallies this week. President Giorgio Napolitano has warned political tensions are too high and told Berlusconi at a meeting on Friday that Italy risked facing new elections as a result.
(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella, Giselda Vagnoni, Cristiano Corvino in Rome, and Martin de Sa' Pinto in Padua Editing by Maria Golovnina)
View the original article here

Italian women protest over Berlusconi sex scandal (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of women rallied in Rome and other cities on Sunday, incensed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's sex scandal which they say has disgraced Italy.

"Women are offended. The image of our country that Berlusconi is presenting to the world is just unbearable," said 52-year-old Roberta Nicchiarelli, attending a rally in Rome.

The protests in more than 200 towns in Italy and even some cities abroad reflect growing anger among women at the prostitution scandal that has engulfed the premier, who has long counted conservative women among his key voters.

"I voted for him in the past, but I am really disappointed. I hope things will change," said former Berlusconi voter Pina.

Prosecutors filed a request on Wednesday to bring Berlusconi to trial, accusing him of paying for sex with a nightclub dancer when she was under 18, which is illegal in Italy.

The 74-year old premier has dismissed the accusations as "disgusting and disgraceful."

Leaked wiretaps from the investigation have been splashed over newspapers for weeks with references to bundles of cash, talk of sex games and gifts that would-be starlets received after attending parties at Berlusconi's villa.

"I love my boyfriend for free," read one banner in Rome, where crowds of women of all ages packed into a central square flanked by husbands, brothers and male friends.

"It's a scandal. I do not believe in his values, his behavior and the way he treats women. Italy doesn't have a future if these are the values that sustain us," said Paolo Campedel, a worker attending a rally in Padua in northern Italy.

ONE-SIDED

Photos and videos of a growing list of young women from the fringes of show business alleged to be connected to Berlusconi have been plastered over Italian television and media web sites, often showing them in erotic poses or in their underwear.

Campaigners say the increasingly one-sided image of women as sex objects has promoted a culture in which women see selling their good looks as the only route to success in a country where a third of young people are unemployed.

"Big boobs, small hips, and always available: it's almost become a dictatorship because television, the newspapers, only present this model of women," said Lorella Zanardo, author of Il Corpo Delle Donne, a book about the image of women in the media.

The scandal in mainly Catholic Italy has revived opposition calls for Berlusconi to resign at a time when he is clinging to power after a split in the ruling PDL party last year.

But he has survived sex scandals in the past and some of his most staunch supporters attended pro-Berlusconi rallies earlier in the week, while branding Sunday's demonstration a puritanical and politically motivated ploy.

The women's protest follows several anti-Berlusconi rallies this week. President Giorgio Napolitano has warned political tensions are too high and told Berlusconi at a meeting on Friday that Italy risked facing new elections as a result.

(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella, Giselda Vagnoni, Cristiano Corvino in Rome, and Martin de Sa' Pinto in Padua Editing by Maria Golovnina)

View the original article here

Muslims and Christians Protest as One (OneWorld.net)

CAIRO, Feb 9 (IPS) - Over recent years, Egypt has witnessed mounting tension between its Muslim majority and its sizeable Coptic Christian minority. But in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the site of ongoing mass protests against the ruling regime, members of both faiths chant in unison: "Muslim, Christian, doesn't matter; We're all in this boat together!"
Since Jan. 25, Egyptians countrywide have hit the streets in the hundreds of thousands - even millions - to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and his 30-year-old regime. The first week of demonstrations was marked by almost daily clashes between police and protesters, in which hundreds were killed and thousands injured.
The demonstrations were initially organized by online activist groups of no particular religious affiliation, such as the 6 April protest movement and the Youth Movement for Freedom and Justice. Nevertheless, some commentators have attempted to paint the uprising as a would-be "Iran-style" Islamic revolution.
In statements that would later be parroted by much of the western media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Jan. 31: "Our real fear is of a situation that could develop and which has already developed in several countries including Iran itself - repressive regimes of radical Islam."
But according to protesters arrayed in Tahrir Square, which on Tuesday was home to hundreds of thousands of protesters, Muslim-Christian unity remains a central feature of the almost daily rallies.
"There's an overwhelming sense of solidarity here between Muslims and Christians," 32-year-old Muslim protester Ahmed al-Assy told IPS. "Practically all of the protesters' rallying cries, and all the sermons led by Muslim sheikhs, stress the importance of national unity."
Violent clashes between police and protesters that took place nationwide in the first week of the uprising were accompanied by particularly moving displays of interfaith camaraderie. On several occasions, Christian demonstrators shielded their Muslim compatriots - who had paused to pray in the midst of the conflict - from attacks by aggressive police.
"During the fiercest clashes on January 28, I found a guy about my age guarding my back, who I later found out was a Christian," Yahia Roumi, a 24- year-old protester from Cairo, told IPS. "Now we're best friends; we never go to the demonstrations without one another."
The prevailing sense of national unity follows two years of steadily mounting tension between the two communities, exacerbated by occasional flare-ups of violence.
Last November witnessed clashes between Coptic demonstrators and security forces after authorities halted renovation work on a church in Cairo's Omraniya district. Along with under-representation in the top echelons of government, Egypt's Copts have long complained of stringent government restrictions on church building.
On January 1, more than 20 Christians were killed when a Coptic church in Alexandria was bombed by unknown perpetrators. While Egyptian officialdom blamed the crime on an alleged "Al-Qaeda" offshoot, the incident served to further aggravate tensions between the nation's Muslims and Christians.
The largest concentration of Christians in the Middle East, Egypt's Coptic community is thought to account for some ten percent of the country's roughly 82 million people. The rest of the population is almost entirely Muslim.
Christian participation in the ongoing wave of protests comes despite statements by Coptic leader Pope Shenouda III, in which he threw his support behind the ruling regime.
"I called the president and told him that 'all of us are with you'," Shenouda said on state television on January 30. Five days later, the pope reiterated his support for the embattled president, calling on demonstrators "to end their protests and listen to reason."
According to one Coptic priest, quoted anonymously by independent daily Al- Shorouk, Shenouda "lost a good deal of legitimacy among his flock by essentially barring Copts from joining the uprising." But despite the church's official stance on the matter, the priest added, "we nevertheless encouraged young Copts to participate."
"I don't know why Pope Shenouda wants to keep Copts from joining the uprising," said Boutros, a Copt who has been demonstrating in Tahrir Square since January 30. "Is it merely to pander to Mubarak? Or is it to isolate us from our Muslim compatriots, about whom many Copts have the wrong impression?
"In Tahrir, I've met many young Muslim activists - even some from the Muslim Brotherhood," Boutros, who preferred not to give his last name, told IPS. "They explained how Islam commands Muslims to protect Christians and Christian places of worship. I learned from them that the Muslims don't have any beliefs that threaten our rights or should frighten us as Copts."
Unlike Shenouda, some prominent Christian figures have actively supported the two-week-old uprising.
"Demonstrations and sit-ins constitute a legitimate means of expression, according to the law and constitution," read a February 1 statement signed by several Egyptian Catholic and Anglican clergymen and a handful of Coptic intellectuals. In reference to Shenouda's stance on the issue, the statement added: "We reject the church leadership's servile position calling on Copts not to join the uprising."
The ongoing wave of popular protests, the statement concluded, "has revived the Egyptian spirit despite recent attempts to snuff it out through the promotion of sectarian strife between the Egyptian people."
Rami Kamel, a member of Egypt's Coptic Youth Movement, was quoted as saying in independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm on February 4: "From the beginning, we've been participating in the demonstrations to call for the ouster of the ruling regime, which we blame for the country's economic and social decline."
The spirit of national unity, meanwhile, has hardly been confined to Tahrir Square.
Following the withdrawal of police from the streets of Cairo on January 28, Abdulla Rageb, a 42-year-old Muslim government employee from Old Cairo, has led an ad-hoc "popular committee" mandated with guarding churches in his neighbourhood.
"I'm protecting these churches as if they were mosques, because, according to Islam, we should respect Christian places of worship," Rageb told IPS. "As an Egyptian Muslim, I have no reason to hate Christians. We've always been neighbours here, and our relations are excellent."
Amgad Bishay, a 26-year-old Coptic middle school teacher from north Cairo, told a similar story.
"On the 'day of terror' (January 29, following the withdrawal of police) my mother was terrified," he told IPS. "So she asked our Muslim neighbour, an old friend of the family, to stay with her and my young sisters until me and my father could come home from work.
"There are no deep-seated problems between Egypt's Christians and Muslims; we were raised together," Bishay added. "Even if we might have occasional arguments, these are never religion motivated."
Many of those now supporting the uprising - of both faiths - say they the blame the regime for most if not all recent sectarian tension.
"The regime is responsible for the sectarian problems suffered by Copts," Kamel was quoted as saying. "Proof of this is that no church was attacked during the unprecedented absence of security (following the police withdrawal)."
"This corrupt government was behind 90 percent of the problems between Egypt's Christian and Muslim communities, which had coexisted in harmony for hundreds of years," agreed Rageb.
Boutros said: "This uprising won't only bring freedom to Egypt; it will also do much to dispel sectarian tension - of which the ruling regime was the only beneficiary."
Want to Know More?
» OneWorld.net Full Coverage: Egypt
ALL THE LATEST HEADLINES

View the original article here

Algeria police stifle Egypt-inspired protest (Reuters)

ALGIERS (Reuters) – About 50 people shouted anti-government slogans in a square in Algeria's capital on Saturday but they were encircled by hundreds of police trying to stamp out any attempt to stage an Egypt-style revolt.

Government opponents called for a mass protest march to demand democratic change and jobs, but most local residents so far stayed away and thousands of police in riot gear were moved to the capital to enforce a ban on the march.

"I am sorry to say the government has deployed a huge force to prevent a peaceful march. This is not good for Algeria's image," said Mustafa Bouchachi, a leader of the League for Human Rights which is helping organize the protest.

The small knot of protesters on May 1 Square, near the center of the city, shouted "Bouteflika Out!" -- a reference to the Algerian president -- and some waved copies of a newspaper front page with the headline "Mubarak has fallen!"

The resignation on Friday of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and last month's overthrow of Tunisia's leader, have electrified the Arab world and led many to ask which country could be next in a region where an explosive mix of authoritarian rule and popular anger is the norm.

Widespread unrest in Algeria could have implications for the world economy because it is a major oil and gas exporter. But many analysts say a revolt is unlikely because the government can use its energy wealth to resolve most grievances.

The protest march is scheduled to begin at May 1 Square at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT). When a handful of protesters arrived there two hours in advance, police arrested some of them and encircled the rest.

A small counter-protest started up nearby, with people chanting "We want peace not chaos!" and "Algeria is not Egypt!"

POLICE PRESENCE

A police helicopter hovered over the neighborhood and about 200 officers in helmets and armed with batons were at the square. Dozens of police vehicles were parked nearby.

Thousands more police were on stand-by in other parts of Algiers, a city of densely packed whitewashed buildings on a steep hillside sloping down to the Mediterranean Sea.

Near Kennedy Square, about 3 km (1.8 miles) from the center, police outnumbered local residents. They milled around in riot gear, drinking coffee, smoking and reading newspapers.

Other Arab countries have also felt the ripples from the revolts in Egypt and Tunisia. Jordan's King Abdullah replaced his prime minister after protests and in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh promised opponents he would not seek a new term.

Protest organizers in Algeria -- who say they draw some of their inspiration from events in Egypt and Tunisia -- said police were turning people away before they could reach the march, or parallel protests planned for other cities.

"Algerians must be allowed to express themselves freely and hold peaceful protests in Algiers and elsewhere," the rights group Amnesty International said in a statement.

The government says it refused permission for the rally for public order reasons, not because it is trying to stifle dissent. It says it is working hard to create jobs and build new homes, and has promised more democratic freedoms.

Saturday's protest is not backed by Algeria's main trade unions, its biggest opposition parties or the radical Islamist groups which were banned in the early 1990s but still retain grassroots influence.

The march "is likely to be violent, but unlikely to destabilize the regime," said Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

View the original article here