tonyo's blog
Posted by tonyo on Sep 19, 2007
I compiled an initial list of papers and articles on the use of mobile phones for activism. It includes research papers, presentations and commentaries. If you know of other links, please comment and post them there for inclusion in the next installment.
Find the compilation here.
Posted by tonyo on Sep 07, 2007
TXTPower was born on Aug. 27, 2001, a few months after the People Power 2 revolt of mobile phone-wielding Filipinos. Six years into the future, TXTPower is now known as an advocate of consumer rights, civil liberties and the creative use of mobile phones for social change.
The group's convenors in 2001 never expected TXTPower to last longer than the campaign to protest the "free text reduction" implemented by telcos Smart and Globe.
Soon after the campaign that delayed the implementation of the "free text reduction" through court cases and high-profile protests, we continued and raised the level of TXTPower advocacy: We stood up against repeated attempts to impose a "text tax" -- culminating in the frontpage banner story that rocked Congress and compelled the Speaker to promise to the nation that no "text tax" will be enacted.
SIM card registration -- purportedly to address crime and terror -- is likewise another Frankenstein that refuses to die. But TXTPower is relentless in opposing it to preserve the right to privacy of the public.
Posted by tonyo on Jun 24, 2006
On Monday, June 26, people's organizations and prominent individuals will file an impeachment complaint against Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for crimes that include foisting a de facto dictatorship, curtailment of civil liberties, the mass killing of activists and other acts that aimed to cover-up her tracks in the fraud she committed in the 2004 elections.
A vigil has been arranged jointly by the mass movement outside Congress and the congressional opposition so that the said impeachment complaint would be filed ahead of any sham impeachment complaint that may be lodged by allies of Mrs. Arroyo. (Last year, a lawyer was the first to file such a complaint, but it was so weak the opposition had to amend it. Congress rejected the amendments and voted on the basis of the lawyer's week complaint. Nobody wishes the lawyer to mke a repeat.)
Mobile phones are endlessly buzzing, in an effort to mobilize thousands, if not tens of thousands, to form a human barricade just outside Congress. The barricade would start in the form of a vigil starting tonight, and ends with the filing of the impeachment complaint at the opening of Congress' office hours at 8:00 am tomorrow.
