Citizenside blog

Nicolas Sarkozy: The “safe and secure” choice?

Tabitha Waggoner — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:54:21 +0000

Tabitha Waggoner, our American editorial intern, profiles the two favorites for the French presidential election. This profile is a look at the incumbent, President Nicolas Sarkozy.

President Nicolas Sarkozy was born on January 28, 1955 in the 17th Arrondissment of Paris to a Hungarian aristocrat and a woman of French-Catholic, Greek-Jewish descent. He grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather since his own father did not have time for him. In school, Nicolas Sarkozy made mediocre grades but in later years became an activist in right-wing politics.

Photo : LiponneN

In 1978, he received his master’s degree in private law; he rose to become mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine from 1983 to 2002 before entering French national politics. Sarkozy also worked as a budget minister and as a government spokesman during the 1990s.

Sarkozy gained national attention especially because of the “Human Bomb” incident in 1993. A man strapped with explosives took kindergarten-age children in a school hostage: it was a shocking and terrifying act. While others may have panicked, Sarkozy seemed to keep a pretty cool head. He took an active part in the negotiations with the self-proclaimed “Human Bomb” and was able to help rescue several children, even emerging from the school himself with children in his arms. After the two-day siege, the “Human Bomb” was killed by French RAID police and Sarkozy was awarded a medal of honour.

Sarkozy famously fell out of whack with former French President Jacques Chirac when he backed Chirac’s rival, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, by serving as budget minister and spokesman of Balladur's campaign. That earned him the continuing disdain of Chirac, who won the presidency and remained president from 1995 until 2007. This disdain wasn’t one-sided; Sarkozy made it obvious he was on a different page than his same-party political rival.

Photo : michel94

Before he was elected president, Sarkozy was a tough-talking interior minister from 2002 to 2004 and 2005 to 2007. Sarkozy was especially vocal during the Paris riots of 2005. In between 2004 and 2005 he worked as a finance minister. He was elected president of the right-leaning UMP (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire) at the end of 2004. Later he became the minister of Interior and Regional Planning from May 2005 until March 2007.

When asked in a television interview whether he dreamt of being president when shaving, Sarkozy famously replied: "Yes — and not only when shaving."

And indeed, Sarkozy publicly turned his sights upon becoming the 23rd President of France.
Sarkozy promised the people business-friendly policies and a closer relationship to the United States, the latter of which had not only been perceived as lacking by the French people, but also Americans.

Photo : patricepierrot

Sarkozy had opposed America’s invasion of Iraq, like many French politicians (and even some Americans at the time). But he did not publicly reprimand the ally across the ocean. Instead, he criticized Chirac and foreign minister Dominique de Villepin; those two were extremely outspoken regarding France’s political opposition to the war and had become very unpopular in the U.S.

At the French-American Foundation in Washington, D.C. on September 12, 2006, he denounced what he called their French arrogance, which was music to the ears of Americans who had not appreciated being reprimanded so harshly.
“It is bad manners to embarrass one’s allies or sound like one is taking delight in their troubles.” Furthermore, Sarkozy said, “We must never again turn our disagreements into a crisis."
Chirac reportedly responded in a private interview that Sarkozy's speech was "appalling" and “shameful.”

But despite his differences with the previous president, in 2007, Sarkozy defeated the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal, who was the first woman to be nominated as the candidate for her party. Sarkozy campaigned for president with the slogan "work more to earn more," and beat Royal 53 to 47 percent.

From 2007 on, Sarkozy cut taxes on the rich, returned French forces to NATO for the first time since 1966, changed labor laws, started a plan to raise the retirement age and improved France’s standing in international relations with the United States and Germany. On the other hand, France’s relationship with Spain and the Middle East struggled.

Photo : thomelsa

From around 2010 on, just like his political counterparts all over the world, Sarkozy’s popularity suffered (dropping in July to 26 percent) in part because of high unemployment rates.
Generally known for his protectionist instincts and perhaps less for his economic ideas, with Sarkozy's reelection imminent, polls showed Socialist rival François Hollande might overtake the President. The President seemed too extravagant and has been called "President Bling Bling" by many. The French people would probably vote with their pocketbooks.

In March 2012, once the tumultuous 11-day scare from Al-Qaeda sympathizer Mohammed Merah ended, polls showed that Sarkozy had regained at least a little favour with the people. Their worries may or may not have shifted since the Toulouse scare. Sarkozy may be viewed as the logical choice, as the safe and secure candidate. Whether the French will vote for their pocketbook or their national security remains to be seen.

Photo : boby-split

After the horrors of Toulouse, Sarkozy’s administration faced questions from literally everywhere. Many were asking why Merah wasn’t stopped before he started. Sarkozy has sworn to tighten immigration laws and crack down on radical followers of Islam. Recently he even made it illegal to repeatedly return to militant websites or to preach radical Islam in France — a bold move. Still, Sarkozy continued to stress tolerance of other religions, as he has in times past.

“What is dangerous is not minarets, but basements and garages that hide clandestine places of worship,” he once said. “Thus we must choose between mosques, where we know that the rules of the republic are respected, and secret places where extremism has been developing for too long."

François Hollande: Mr. Normal

Tabitha Waggoner — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:36:17 +0000

Tabitha Waggoner, our American editorial intern, profiles the two favorites for the French presidential election. This profile is a look at the left Socialist party candidate, François Hollande.

François Hollande worked his way up in France’s left Socialist party. He’s been waiting for his big break for a long time. When he was a young child, he would tell his mother that “when I grow up, I am going to be the President of France.”

Photo : boby-split

Born on August 12, 1954 in Rouen to a middle-class couple, Georges Hollande and Nicole Tribert, Hollande had humble beginnings (his father was a medical doctor and his mother a social worker). He was raised in a Catholic school but made it all the way to the HEC business school, ENA Strasbourg, and then eventually to the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Despite these accomplishments, he still seems to exhibit his humble roots. But for a long time, despite being head of the Socialist Party for eleven years, Hollande remained a quiet personality in the world of politics.

Photo : alexandremoreau

In 2011, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, one of the leading Socialists and presidential favorite, was arrested on sexual assault charges in New York. The charges were eventually dropped, but the damage to his reputation was done. Some say Strauss-Kahn’s demise led to the rise of Hollande.

Hollande’s political constituency is Corrèze, where approximately 250,000 people live; many of them are farmers. Opponents of Hollande point to Corrèze’s debt, which is double of other areas in France, if one counts per person — projected around over €360 million ($474 million).

Others argue the fact that much of that debt (€300 million) was inherited in 2008 when Hollande took over from the previous party’s control. Hollande made cuts in investment but increased operating costs.

Photo : alain téoulé

Hollande claims that education is No. 1 when it comes to his campaign, and explains that the cuts in Corrèze allow the government to spend on social services and additional taxes, such as the 6.5 percent increase on property taxes, are healthy for the economy. And in Corrèze, every child entering secondary school gets an iPad for their studies. (That sounds nice, doesn't it?)

In his current presidential campaign, Hollande, whose motto is “Change is Now!” insists that the tax burden has risen under President Nicolas Sarkozy — and will continue to rise — no matter who wins the presidency. (On the other hand, that doesn't sound so promising.)

Photo : Francois-Navarro

Even with that claim, Hollande insists he is a modest man, especially when compared with President Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy is known in France as the “President Bling-Bling” but Hollande has done his best to be the anti-Sarkozy, or “Mr. Normal.” This could be more acceptable to voters during the present tight economic times.
Sometimes he was even spotted zooming through Paris on his Moped, much like the average businessperson would.

Photo : alain téoulé

If Hollande wins, he has promised to immediately remove French troops from Afghanistan. He also plans to legalize research using embryonic stem cells, create a tax bracket of 75 percent on those who make beyond €1 million and hold gas prices temporarily at no higher than €2 a liter.
“A majority of French people [are] waiting for these changes,” Hollande says on his website.

After the shooting events of Toulouse, Hollande suspended his campaign for four days. Now, with the French people's minds on security, it seems to be a bit of a toss-up as to who will win the presidential election this spring.

Crowdsourcing for Snow in 3 Steps

Garrett Goodman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:02:12 +0000

The current deep freeze sweeping across Western Europe presents an easy opportunity for media to crowdsource some images from their audiences. In the UK, the regional publisher Archant is using their recently launched iwitness24 community website to collect lots of content from readers across the country.

Update from Feb 10: Archant has already received 716 photos and 8 videos on the snowy weather shared by iwitness24 members in Norfolk alone. Just one month after launch, iwitness24 members have submitted nearly 2000 (some of which include a number of photo files) with nearly 1500 comments as users discuss each other’s work.

Here's a step-by-step break down of their crowdsourcing process.

1) Create a Mission

Email sent by iwitness24 to Archant readers in the Norfolk area

Archant's editors have been sending out missions to readers using Citizenside's Call for Witnesses tool, which allows editors to send calls to members in specific towns and neighborhoods. It's a more personalized touch than the standard shotgun approach to UGC, ie. everyone out there "send us your photos". There are also mobile and online elements of the mission that appear on many of the iwitness24 homepages. The web version shows any images already received, the idea being to motivate visitors to contribute theirs as well. It's the whole "everybody's doing it" trick, which works unsurprising well with today's super social internaut.

2) Spread the word

Mission on iwitness24 London homepage

Once the mission has been launched in the community, Archant uses their various social media accounts to reach out, always with an eye to drive engagement back to their community. This is as simple as tweeting a link to the mission and asking how snow has affected your town. The advantage here is that the interaction lives in the iwitness24 community, it is centralized for readers who visit the page, and centralized for editors too. When a nice gallery has been collected in the community area, editors have a simple FTP transfer button that they use to send the photos they want straight to their main CMS for publication.

3) Show your readers what they've shared

Friday's Cover of the EDP featuring a reader's photo

People love to see their name in print, no mystery there. It's one of the best incentives for getting readers involved in any crowdsourcing activity. And Archant's papers have been doing an amazing job getting their audience in the limelight. Below is the front page of last Friday's Eastern Daily Press, the UK's best selling regional morning newspaper. You'll notice that big image of flowers carries a small iwitness24 logo in the lower right corner. The reader who took that shot, Allison Conors, gets a clear shout out on the homepage. The whole slogan of iwitness24 is "your news is our news". That front page proves they really mean it. And this shows the members love it.

Archant is one of the latest media houses that turned to Citizenside for the technology and expertise to grow an active news community. Last winter I did a similar post on how Citizenside's French clients were tapping into their audiences to cover the chilly weather.

To find out more about the technology behind these initiatives, visit www.reporterkit.com.

Reader photo sections should be designed for readers!

Garrett Goodman — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:13:18 +0000

There's a section of most news sites ostensibly built specifically for readers that's usually just called reader photos.

Yet these sections aren't always designed for today's online reader: they aren't social enough, they aren't fun enough, and there's virtually zero lock-in effect.

When designed correctly, however, the resulting reader involvement can offer huge benefits to news organisations: more engagement, more loyalty, as well as more page views.

Last month I gave a presentation at a journalism conference in Hong Kong about how news sites can actually succeed in creating reader photo initiatives that offer compelling, rewarding experiences for their audiences.

It's a problem of commitment

There is a general reluctance in traditional media outlets to admit that the crowd knows more collectively on any given subject than even an expert journalist. However, if you have any doubts about the power of crowdsourcing, let Paul Lewis of the Guardian put them to rest by watching this Ted Talk.

Given that allowing the crowd to help report or break a story can do so much to improve its accuracy and impact, why is the experience of contributing to a news site so much more tedious and less enticing than posting the same photos to Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook?

I'll give you three ways the traditional reader photo programme falls short, in terms of user experience.

1) Interaction in a silo

The majority of reader photo programmes don't cater to the habits of today's internaut (this French term needs to be used more widely!). That is, the act of contributing is not social and shareable, but rather occurs in a silo of back and forth email exchanges.

We internauts are social beings, we love to get constant feedback from our friends about what we've posted and crave that (whether we admit it or not) as recognition of how cool we are because we share cool things. We also interact to feel a sense of belonging, and like to associate ourselves with a particular community that shares our interests (both central themes of Clay Shirky's work).

Now, what about this user proposition is social?

As a typical reader, if I send in a story, I might be lucky to get an auto-response thanking me for my email. Given that editors are stretched thin as it is, rarely will I get an actual personal response or my picture published unless my contribution is outstanding.

If I feel like I'm sending an email to a black hole, what's going to compel me to even send the email, let alone come back a second time?

If, at the very least, I'm provided an experience where my pic goes up in a reader gallery section, where my friends and other readers can leave comments and share it, well then, now I'm getting some interaction. Now I'm starting to have a social experience that could be more rewarding.

The recently revamped reader photo section on Sky News' site is a good example of a more social iteration of the standard "email us your news" user proposition.

2) Lack of identity

For those intrepid news sites that have opened up their online operations to user generated content (UGC) by showing reader galleries, an unfortunate majority lack the essential ingredient to building communities: the member profile as a unit of identity.

Earning recognition and gaining a reputation are social dynamics that can transform a section of slideshows into an enriching content sharing community. Plus, they make it fun. The internal dynamics that emerge from well-designed interactive communities can lead to user motivation through competition with other members, and loyalty through their sense of belonging to the community.

But when a reader photo program is designed for citing contributors in slideshow captions (such as the BBC's) instead of providing clickable user profiles that showcase their progress and performance, the advantages to social status and building reputation are necessarily diminished.

The profile page of a user should look like this (full disclosure: Archant is a client of the startup for which I work). It should show what a member has accomplished, the things they've contributed, and provide them a space to distinguish themselves from the crowd. It should allow them to display their identity.

3) No camera, no dice

Participation in reader photo programmes is at its highest during contests, when the incentive to participate is clear, and there is special recognition, or a prize such as a new camera. This leads to spikes and lulls in audience engagement, and doesn't adequately reward regular contributions between the contests. It doesn't lock readers in.

This engagement issue can be overcome if the silo and identity issues are dealt with correctly, by providing readers with a social experience in which they can build their reputation in a community. Having a sense of steady progress and skill mastery can be incredibly motivating, and encourage a strong commitment to a reader photo programme.

This sense of progress and accomplishment doesn't require contests to work either (although they can certainly help). What a user needs is a way to see how far they've come (i.e. points), and a means to compare themselves with the other members of the community (i.e. levels). When a progress bar is used to show how many points are needed to go up a level, it encourages activity between contests. And when a ranking ladder is used to show who's leading the community, it encourages competition and regular participation.

3) Game or Die

News organisations trying to foster engagement on their site through a reader photo section need to put the user first, and design for today's internaut.

By borrowing some proven dynamics from the most successful interactive medium, video games, and adding them as a social gaming layer to the experience of participating in a reader photo programme, news organisations can design compelling interactive communities that are rewarding for users to be a part of.

CNN has done just that with its ireport community. And its traffic alone is an indication of how well this approach works, it receives over 2.5 Million unique visitors every month.

___________________
The concepts shared above are based largely on Citizenside's approach to networked news, which was distilled into this White Paper by our former editor in chief, Philip Trippenbach.

Will 2011 protests last in 2012?

Arya Yuyutsu — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:09:01 +0000

Twenty-eleven seems to have finished in a blur of citizen journalists’ photographs and videos from protests all around the world. What started in Tunisia, with the toppling of the regime, continued at Egypt’s Tahrir Square and springing with the Arab Spring, grew in Madrid with the Indignados in the summer, blossomed in autumn at Wall Street and spread the warmth across the world in the winter.

Photo: Adrian Kinloch

As we jot down our shortly-to-be-broken New Year's resolutions and look back at the last year, these events seem fresh in our minds. We can still see Gaddafi’s blood-stained face in Tripoli. We can’t get the pepper-spray incident in New York out of our minds. Our minds collectively and figuratively drift back to Tahrir Square, bathing in the radiance of a successful Egyptian revolution in the surprisingly warm clime of February.

Yet, as we hum the last bar of ‘Twelve days of Christmas’ and look forlornly at the fir tree in the living room, it seems only fair to wonder whether the Time’s “Personality of the Year 2011”, the protester, will keep his foot on the peddle and keep driving for change.

I contacted a few of our contributors at Citizenside who have covered protests all over the world and asked them what they thought lay in store for protests in 2012. I have tried to carefully weave their opinions into the soft fabric of this potentially presaging post.

Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt

It seems appropriate to begin our 2012 world tour with the nation that has been protesting for the longest time. What started on January 25, 2011, looked to have culminated in a victory in February, but we now know that nothing could have been further from the truth.

Tahrir Square is still the scene of massive protests against the people in charge of protecting the people. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) have, in retaliation to a perfectly peaceful protest, battered, bruised and even allegedly killed protesters in Cairo.

Kevin Hani, a photographer from the scene of the protests, believes the biggest mistake the Egyptians made after Hosni Mubarak’s fall was to trust the SCAF.

Photo: Kevin Hani

“From my observations in Tahrir Square, I found that the protesters are highly organized. Each person knows his role: doctors to help the injured, engineers who made bathrooms in the Square with a compact sanitary system design. Artists painted graffiti, others chanted as if a live concert were taking place, amateur photographers like me tried to document every single second and still others spread the news using Twitter and Facebook.

“The biggest strength of the movement is that nobody is afraid of dying or suffering permanent injuries.”

He also believes that the protests will continue through 2012, especially since there were massive protests happening while he wrote this mail. Some, he says, even think a new revolution is coming.

“Every time I enter a protest the first feeling I have is freedom, as if I am flying all over the streets without any obstacles! What they say about problems between Muslims and Christians in Egypt, they all vanish and the people unite, with Christians guarding Muslims while they pray and vice versa.”

Puerta del Sol Square, Madrid, Spain

The M15 Indignado movement seems to have caught on across Europe and even reached a day of immense impact on October 15. The movement, though, seems to have lost its steam and very little is reported about it in recent times.

Photo: soulseekers

Andres Villena Oliver, an M15 activist and blogger who was called to speak about the movement at the 7th UNESCO Youth Conference earlier this year, attributes the lack of coverage to the fact that “[the media] seem pretty bored of a non-violent M15 movement and they prefer to put up sensational news - murders, weather disasters, etc.”

Andres does admit that there’s been a slight lull in the movement, but he attributes it to the recent change in power in the nation: “We are giving it a short pause with the new government, but we´re pretty sure we will continue working in this and, of course, participating in all demonstrations. Perhaps over the next few months there´ll be more people, because before right wing came to power a month ago most of the people were with the social-democrats. Now it´s the Popular Party against the street. I don´t really know what can happen.”

Zuccotti Park, New York City, USA

Occupy Wall Street’s website is the first result that comes up when you google the simple and regular 6-lettered word O-C-C-U-P-Y. Its impact has been immense with occupations happening as far away as Hong Kong and Paris and London, but fears abound that the movement may achieve very little more than delivering the so-called 1% a rather annoying kick up their Louis Vuitton clothed backsides.

It doesn’t help that winter has pounced on the protesters at the same time as Mayor Bloomberg and his trusted squad of badge-less NYPD police-men, forcing an evacuation and banning any sort of encampment.

Photo: David Stam

David Stam, who has been actively involved in covering the OWS movement in NY, feels the movement is growing rather than tailing off: “Here in New York City the organizing has been expanding like ripples in a pond after a stone has been thrown into it. There does not seem to be a crescendo in sight or ending. New people continue to add their voices and energy into the movement everyday.”

He also believes greater coordination amongst the protest sites in the country will lead for stronger overall efforts. “We have formed a national Occupation network. On the ground people from all over the country are visiting different occupations.

“The occupations are loosely connected across the country for anyone that wants to participate. The connections between people as a result of the physical occupation is immensely important and serves as the foundation of the National Movement.”

Another contributor, from Indianapolis, feels the movement has remained on the coasts and hasn’t really caught on in other places, refuting the claim that this is a truly national protest.

“Here in Indiana, the OWS movements have failed miserably. Plagued with weaknesses such as lack of leadership, paltry attendance, infighting, and a lack of clearly defined goals, the movements' attempt to spread throughout the state never really took off, much less survive as a means of significant influence through the winter months.”

La Défense, Paris, France to St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK

The occupy movement spread like Nutella on a warm and delicious crêpe in a road-side stall in Paris, with the world for batter. Two of the major protest cities are also two of the major European cities - London and Paris.

A professional photojournalist and a regular Citizenside contributor who has been covering the Occupy LSX protests since they began says the movement is losing steam in the English capital as well.

“As I see it the bulk of the people taking part in the movement are either students or unemployed. In the beginning, there was a lot of interest in what was going on. But slowly the members of this movement, especially the people camping, began to leave because of many issues such as drugs and alcohol.”

Photo: Bimalg

Meanwhile, in Paris, things haven’t quite escalated to the level of New York or even London. A humble camp-site at the financial hub, La Défense, is a nudge-like reminder to the 1% that people aren’t happy. There hasn’t been any violence or massive protests yet, but the movement could well grow in 2012.

NicolasM, a regular Citizenside contributor, says that the movement may well become more active in the new year because of the impending Presidential elections in France.

“The Indignés and their anti-capitalist approach has gathered the public's support. Everybody has seen the damages caused by the crash on the stock market; everything is crumbling. The states, though, come to the rescue of the banks and ask tax payers to foot the bill through austerity plans and budget cuts, which are unbearable for some countries.”

He adds with flair: “I don't think the movement is a solution to the current problems in itself, but it lays a foundation to the future world we want to see for us and our children.”

And the rest of the world

Greece has been one of those countries constantly protesting against the enforced austerity measures. Joseph Galanakis, a photographer who has contributed material from the protests, says:

“I noticed that, as in all previous forms of protests and fights in Modern Greek history, [the current protests] have serious organizational and implementational problems. I believe that even if the movement continues, it will only happen because of the ever-increasing pressure on incomes and the psychological pressure on most of the Greek people.

“I'm not, though, sure about the purity of the cause and of course what will be the result of a new cycle of violent demonstrations in the country.”

Photo: Alexandros_M

The student protests in Chile and Colombia have ended in favour of the students, with educational reforms out of the way. A photojournalist from Colombia, though, says that Latin American activism will still run strong in 2012.

“The FARC is still a presence here and many object to the harsh methods that both the FARC and the military and paramilitaries use to resolve this social conflict. I think that other protests will come up which, unlike in the US and Europe, here includes even working professionals and not just academics and the unemployed.”

Rapture - 2012

Some protests that took centre stage in late 2011 seem to be petering out, while others, like in Russia, are only just beginning. Demonstrations have focused on various issues: Egypt demanding democracy, Russia demanding fair elections, democracies like the US and the UK demanding financial stability, Spain and the Indignados demanding employment and opportunities, India demanding an end to massive political corruption.

Photo: vladsukh

Twenty eleven may have been a year where it all began and took centre stage, but this leap year promises to be a major year for the protests to leap to a new sphere. People want themselves to be heard with impending major elections in France and the US, countries that are pivotal in making decisions that shape policies around the world.

Twenty twelve has been earmarked by conspiracy theorists and those with strange crystal orbs as the year the world comes to an end. I believe they may not be that far off, ludicrous as that sounds. The world, as we know it, may well come to an end this year. Protests may well be the tool to do that, paving the way for a new, improved world; an Earth 2.0 perhaps, occupied, aptly enough, by citizens of the world who yearn to make it a better and fairer place; the 99%.

2011: From Tahrir Square to Wall Street

Arya Yuyutsu — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:09:37 +0000

Twenty-twelve promises to be a year of many events: the Olympics, US presidential elections, and the Rapture, which could end life, the universe, and everything. But doomsday is scheduled to be as far away as December 21, 2012, and that means we can look forward to another regular year of iPhone 5 rumours, mega-money Manchester City transfers and protests around the world. Or can we?

Photo: Bimal Gautam

Twenty-eleven may well be best remembered as the year of protests and demonstrations that sprung up across the globe, from Hong Kong to Tahrir Square to St Paul’s Cathedral to Wall Street. It’s no wonder therefore that the “protester” was announced Time magazine’s “Personality of the Year”.

But now that the year’s coming to a screeching end and 2012 looms its mysterious, Guy-Fawkes-mask-wearing, anonymous head, it may well be in order to see the growth of protests over the past year, to better understand just what made the “protester” reach the gloss-edged pages of The Times magazine.

Photo: Mosa'ab Elshamy

Time Personality of the Year 2011

It all began on Jan 25, 2011, in a 21st century movement fittingly organised via a Facebook event by an employee at Google, Wael Ghonim, who, called for a protest against the inhuman treatment dished out by the Egyptian government (although there may be some disagreement on who really started and ran the Facebook page). Wael had been inspired by a similar movement in Tunisia that began in late 2010 and concluded with the regime being overthrown on January 14, 2011.

The protests in Tahrir Square, Cairo, similarly, led to Hosni Mubarak stepping down from power after almost 30 years of Presidency. And the success of these two revolutions, sparked off many more.

Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and Syria jumped in at once, with whispers of an “Arab Spring” making the rounds of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. As protesters laboured through the actual spring, dragging through the summer, and ploughing into ethereal autumn, they had gathered more supporters than any other movement over the last two decades.

Photo: David Stam

Occupy Everywhere

Events these days seem to carry more weight when they happen in the west, or the “first-world” countries. There’s a journalistic tendency to aggrandize a tragedy in the States, for instance, and take the ones in the Middle East as a routine part of life.

The protests, though, had quite the reverse effect on the media. While the Arab Spring protests kept hitting headlines, its western counterpart, Occupy Wall Street, took quite some time before it was even acknowledged.

A Canadian activist group called Adbusters called for another Tahrir moment, this time in Wall Street, protesting against perceived imbalance in the financial structure of society. On September 17 a considerable group of people gathered in Zuccotti Park, camping there for a cause.

Three months later, the word “Occupy” has probably been used more often in the past few months than in the entire century preceding it. Or shall we say millennium!

With the backing of the activist group behind the Wikileaks hackings, Anonymous Ops, the Occupy Wall Street movement saw unprecedented reach. #OWS keeps trending ceaselessly on Twitter and the Global Day of Action on October 15 saw events being organised in places far and away.

Hissez-haut, Indignado

Watch our interview of Andres Villena Oliver, member of the Spanish Indignado movement:

October 15 may have been the Occupiers’ global day of action, but it also marked a major day in the growth of another movement. The Spanish M15 Indignado movement began on the 15th of May, with people flooding the public square in protest against the rising rates of unemployment in the country.

Five months in, with the protests still raging, the Indignado movement which had spread to other countries in Europe joined in with the Global Day of Action, generally protesting in an intriguingly non-violent way.

Photo: Nicolas Messyasz

We are the 99%

October 15 saw similar protests take place in many countries simultaneously, in one of the biggest world-wide protests in years. Demonstrations took place in Hong Kong, Melbourne, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Brussels, Thessaloniki (Greece), Paris, London, Toronto (Canada), Indianapolis, Guadalajara (Mexico), New York City among others.

While people’s points of view may differ on the point of the movement, its legitimacy and its values, it seems undeniable that there are lots of people who are very angry, indignado, with the way they’ve been treated.

Some are disappointed with the employment situation, others are angry with banking policies, still others like Chile and Colombia are upset with the privatisation of education, and there’s also financial austerity measures that winds up another faction of the public like in Greece, England and France.

Photo: Martyn Wheatley

The salient point, though, is that protests are going on around the world. They may not be particularly streamlined or aimed at overthrowing governments or even have a specific list of demands, but it is a sign that people are angry, unhappy and not willing to stand by and watch anymore.

Some movements, though, are only beginning to have their voices heard. The Chilean students may have won their mini-battle, but Occupiers are only getting started. It doesn’t help that winter’s already here and camping ceaselessly will be that much tougher. It doesn’t help, either, that governments are cracking down on protests and trying to get it all dismantled before 2012. It doesn’t help, furthermore, that people are easily distracted and bored and few have the tenacity to fight on, clinging forever to their ideals.

But whatever the new year may hold, be it the end of the world or the iPhone 5, twenty-eleven will indeed be best remembered for the impact the protesters have had and the movement that has captured the world’s attention.

Julian Assange: The Guardian and the New York Times are False Prophets of Journalism

Garrett Goodman — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 04:20:00 +0000

View the story "Julian Assange: \"The Guardian and New York Times are false prophets of journalism\"" on Storify

Shall we help the president? – How Occupy Wall Street could impact the 2012 US Elections

Arya Yuyutsu — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:45:22 +0000

The year that leads up to any major presidential election is long and complicated, what with all the campaigning and speeches. Then there’s the countless polls, with candidates’ ratings rising and dropping like an over-excited sine wave, albeit with a more complicated reason behind it.

The Occupy Wall Street movement, despite its insistence on distancing itself from one party or the other, can’t but play a role in the next presidential elections in the US, a year from now.

Photo: Kinloch

Everybody look to the left...

A recent poll suggests a rise in popularity for President Obama, ‘coincidentally’ a few days after Obama spoke the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) language, talking about the wealth of the 1% and the necessity for the 99% to have a fair opportunity to get their hands on some of that as well.

At first glance, the protests at Zuccotti Park seem to suggest a dissatisfaction with the current system and, by extension, the current government. The protesters, therefore, should, in theory, prefer removing Obama from the White House.

Reality, though, suggests a very different scene. A citizen journalist and photographer, who has covered various Occupy protests for Citizenside in Los Angeles, feels the protesters could still give the current president a second term:

"My impression of the Occupy Wall Street protests, based on my conversations with the protesters, is that the individuals participating are primarily left-leaning, politically. However, they are disenchanted with the Democratic party as well as the Republican one. Not too many people I spoke to felt favorably about our current President, but nobody felt they would vote for an opposing candidate in 2012, largely because they believe that our current President is the least-worst option."

This would suggest the leftist inclination of the protesters could lead to a lease of life for Obama. Another Citizenside member who’s been at Zuccotti Park feels that this could actually only benefit the democrats:

"Previously, the entire discussion was about how the deficit was too large and how the Republicans would save the country by never raising taxes on rich people. Now, people are actually talking about runaway corporate greed and how rich corporations are buying elections. We are now seeing a lot more older people holding up signs on Broadway. I think this can only help the Democrats."

The movement, though, is a lot more fluid and can’t be defined as either purely left-wing or Republican-backing. There seem to be people from all factions and that just makes it tougher to steer the movements effort any which way. One of our contributors from Indiana feels the delay in forming a cohesive one-pointed movement could cost the movement its goal:

"If the Occupy movement would have had great leadership and clearly defined goals, it would have been a gold mine of opportunity for the Democratic party and President Obama. It would have come at a time when so many people are completely fed up with the status quo of current government, and the belief that the "1%" and government have, together, created the US version of "royalty" or "a privileged class" off the sweat and blood of the working class 99%."

Photo: David Stam

Everybody look to the right...

Quite how the same thing could be seen as beneficial to either opposing party is one of those strange mysteries that only the political world can provide in such abundance. While the movement seems to be liberal and left-oriented, and possible, by extension, pro-Democrats, the criticisms against the movement could well play into the Republicans’ hands.

The very fact that the movement seems to be leftist could be the bane of the Obama campaign. There are a good number of recent criticisms of the OWS movement, one of which is their alleged violence and anarchist-like behaviour. In a year’s time, with fading memories, the violence could be unduly highlighted by the detractors.

The Democrats, led by Obama’s recent speeches, seem to be slowly and subtly aligning themselves with the protests. The Republicans could then play on that and discredit the Democrats by attacking the movement. It’s a political long-play, but it wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. That may well also be the reason Obama hasn’t explicitly backed the movement.

A Citizenside member from DC who has been taking pictures of the movement adds his view on the matter:

"If the Occupy movements become progressively aggressive, the situation will almost certainly benefit the Republican party since the protesters represent the more liberal strata (identifying with the Democratic party) of American politics. This is because there is a "silent majority" which is not as vocal as the individuals who are participating in the movements, and they will be angered at the misplaced efforts and disruption caused by the extreme elements of the Occupy movements. The movements will only boost President Obama within a small segment of the voting population."

On the other side, we have reports from another member who thinks Obama’s time is up because protesters are actively upset with him:

"Obviously people are angry with the government economic policies, but the occupy movement has evolved into soup bowl of complaints about anything. The occupiers refer to Obama as "Barakstar" in sarcasm. It should be interesting to see what Obama's response will be to the Occupy movement, but I think it's too late for him to salvage his career. When “Saturday Night Live” starts to make fun of you, it's game over."

Photo: Phroso_Photography

It’s all about the money, money, money...

The OWS protesters wouldn’t, as a whole, be happy helping any party get into power in the upcoming elections. Their focus seems to be on Wall Street, the money-makers, the 1%.

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, film-maker and activist Michael Moore explained the stance of the occupiers: “The reason we’re not occupying Washington right now is the congressmen or senators are the employees of Wall Street. We’re kind of tired of dealing with the middleman or the servant."

He added that the problem with the US was the current brand of capitalism and today’s “corporate America”. He talks about the need to change that system.

Through all of that, though, the OWS protesters can’t be naïve enough to imagine that their actions won’t have any political impact. Even if they don’t back a side, don’t support a candidate or party, the politicians will use them to further their agendas.

Turkey earthquake: eyewitness images and video

Arya Yuyutsu — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:51:33 +0000

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey on Sunday, October 23, 2011, devastating the city of Van. Rescue crews have been working around the clock to save people from collapsed buildings. Here is some of the best citizen media documenting the quake and rescue efforts.

Seven die as floods hit Italy

Safia Azizi — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:17:25 +0000

Flooding and mudslides hit northern Italy on October 27, 2011. Seven people are confirmed dead and seven others are missing. The Italian Council of Ministers has declared a state of emergency in the flood regions. Here are the best eyewitness videos and pictures.