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NEWS ABOUT: online activism

How Homemade Pics Boosted 'Occupy Wall St'

People are revealing their economic misery on Tumblr blog

(Newser) - Suffering in this recession? A photo of you with a short description of your problems can be posted online—and might just inspire people to take action. So figured a New York activist who devised the Tumblr blog, "We Are the 99 Percent," to promote the first Occupy... More »

Egypt Inspired by Nameless Facebooker

User known only as 'El Shaheed' fueled protests

(Newser) - The protests rocking Egypt have been fueled in part by a man who died before they began: Khaled Said, who was reportedly killed by police last summer. That’s the name that heads a Facebook page that has been helping to organize the demonstrations—but the page’s creator, who... More »

There's Not More Extremists, Just More Internet

The fringes aren't more prevalent, but they are more visible

(Newser) - With all the left- and right-wing "extremism" out there, the media love pushing the narrative that "the country is coming apart at the seams! The center is dying!” But it’s not true, writes Nate Silver. A glance at long-running polls show Americans identify with the fringes... More »

Web Protests Win Surprise Traction in China

Some fear official tolerance is surveillance in disguise

(Newser) - The usually repressive Chinese government has been surprisingly tolerant of—and even responsive to—a wave of Internet petitions protesting local injustices and corruption. Online campaigns have gotten accused killers freed, officials fired, and charges dropped against a motorist who cut off his own finger to protest police entrapment, then... More »

Clinton Urges Progressives to Solidify Power

But president, Congress need help cementing it

(Newser) - Political winds have shifted in America, says Bill Clinton: The country has “entered a new era of progressive politics which, if we do it right, could last 30 or 40 years,” the former president told liberal Internet activists at a convention in Pittsburgh. But first, he told Netroots... More »

Obama on Weed Question: Dude, Chill

(Newser) - Pro-legalization activists stuffed the ballot box with questions about marijuana when the White House solicited questions for today’s online town-hall meeting, and President Obama went out of his way to address the issue, the Los Angeles Times reports. “I don’t know what this says about the online... More »

Web-Saavy Obama Needs No Party

(Newser) - Barack Obama has so revolutionized politics that he may not even need the Democratic party, writes David Carr in the New York Times. Parties are supposed to provide a base of support, a brand, ground troops, money, and relationships—all things Obama already has in abundance. The president-elect ran his... More »

Internet Army Could Power Obama Presidency

President-elect intends to use grassroots to his advantage

(Newser) - Barack Obama hadn’t even given his victory speech when the message went out to supporters: “We have a lot to do,” the email read. “I’ll be in touch.” Obama won’t disband his digitally organized army of volunteers, McClatchy reports. Joe Trippi, who designed... More »

You Said You Wanted (Campaign) Revolution ...

2008 changes US elections forever

(Newser) - Campaign drama has overshadowed the fact that 2008 has permanently changed the way elections are fought in America, the New York Times reports. From now on, supporters will be organized in new ways and funds will be raised differently, due primarily to brave new media worlds. With the help of... More »

Like Lincoln and JFK, Obama Is on a New Channel

But 'fickle' Internet could 'stall his agenda as president'

(Newser) - Lincoln, FDR, JFK... Obama? So runs the line of US leaders who have ruled by harnessing new communication technologies. Obama's mastery of the Web echoes Lincoln's use of newspapers, FDR's use of radio and JFK's use of television. Obama vows to put the Oval Office online if he wins, but... More »

Facebook Used to Search for Darfur Criminals

Men indicted on 51 counts in genocide remain at large

(Newser) - A humanitarian group is using Facebook to search for two war criminals involved with genocide in Darfur, the BBC reports. The War Crimes Watch List issued an open call on the social network for sightings of Ahmed Haroun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, who face 51 counts of crimes... More »

Nader Still Buffering ... Buffering ...

Seeing Internet as 'a snare and a delusion' surely won't help independent's candidacy

(Newser) - Ralph Nader might seem like just the crusader to milk the Internet for all its movement-building potential, but, Andrew Rasiej and Micah L. Sifry write in Politico, his “self-defeating attitude” toward the web is likely to keep him on the sidelines. The third-party presidential hopeful claims his “Internet-literate... More »

Facebook is Grinch Stealing X-mas: MoveOn

Group vows battle, saying ads violate user privacy

(Newser) - MoveOn.org plans to campaign against Facebook's "Beacon" ads, and do it on the social networking site's own turf, News.com reports. MoveOn promises an ad drive, a protest group, and an online petition over the advertisements—which post information about users' purchases on friends' news feeds. MoveOn calls... More »

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