thoughts from a reader

“I don’t mean… to say tools like Facebook were not absolutely essential to mobilising people and solidifying the public expression of discontent; and certainly the web and the reportage on the ground has been crucial to creating that pressure coming from global solidarity. But for the thing to reach critical mass as a world event of extraordinary proportions, it took a willingness to persist, not just to spread the word. A message sent is not necessarily a message received.

The committees made use of social media technologies (like mobile phones to coordinate passages through the roadblocks) but they also reminded us of the ongoing necessity – as well as excitement – of what we might have the hide to think are “obsolete” or too laborious manual technologies – like bodily interaction (conversing in the streets, associating as a crowd), checkstations (offering safety and security through checkpoints that encourage dissent, not stifle it), supply chains (tents, water, food, restrooms in the square: all making it inhabitable for the long term needed), all things which makes sure not only that a message gets out but, rather, that it actually get through, rather than just gets there.”