In the past couple of weeks there have been a a couple of articles written about the booming use of mobile technology for political events around the world. I thought I would just write one post to point them all out to you since most of them have been written about at one point or another already either on my Personal Democracy Blog or at MOpocket.

Mobile Political Iraq.

Text messages, cellphone ring tones all the rage among young Iraqis. "The content of the text messages and ringtones speak volumes about the state of affairs here: jokes and songs about suicide bombings, sectarianism, power outages, gas prices, Saddam Hussein and George Bush. Its one of the only ways Iraqi's currently have to express themselves as most entertainment venues have shutdown.

[USA Today]

Relevant Articles:

Politics Gets a New Ring To It (and Mobile Is Setting the Tone)

"Call Connected Through The NSA" Ringtone

Mobile Political Philippines

The Filipino examples of political usages of mobile technology are probably the most well known and popular. In 2001 Filipino protesters organized via SMS to overthrew then President Estrada. Now, yet again, we find that text messages are Guiding Filipino protesters. Protests once publicized on coffeehouse bulletin boards are now organized entirely through text-messaging networks that can reach vast numbers of people in a matter of minutes.

The technology is also changing the organization and dynamics of protests, allowing leaders to control, virtually minute-by-minute, the movements of demonstrators, like military generals in the field. Using texts that communicate orders instantly, organizers can call for advances or retreats of waves of protesters.

This tool has changed the balance of political power in places where governments have a history of outmuscling dissent.

[Washington Post]

Related Article's:

MobileActive: Going Beyond the Mobile Buzz,

A Tribute To Text Power,

Politics Gets a New Ring To It (and Mobile Is Setting the Tone)

Mobile Political Spain

SMS and the March 2004 Spanish general elections. Andre Serranho writes for the Communities Dominate Blog about how SMS helped bring down an incumbent prime minister in the March 2004 Spanish elections. While the goverment tried to say the bombings were from ETA terrorists - internal groups - rumors began to spread, fueled by SMS messaging, that the Spanish goverment had lied.

Saturday, March 13 should have been a calm reflection day before the elections. Instead, as evidences contradicting the government thesis kept appearing, many started to wonder about the honesty of the officials’ declarations: simply put, had the terrorist attack come from ETA, it would benefit their political agenda; had it come from Al-Qaeda, it would be a severe blow. Around noon, the first SMS with the simple message: The government lied. Pass it on.

[Communities Dominate]

Related Article: SMS/MMS, Bluetooth and Viral Mobile Politics - A Spanish Example

Mobile Political Congo

In War-Torn Congo, Going Wireless to Reach Home.

As surely as the light bulb and the automobile before them, the cellphone and text messaging are radically changing the way people live in the developing world. In widespread use for about five years in much of Africa, technology long taken for granted by the world's rich has made life easier, safer and more prosperous for the world's poor.

For the first time, millions of Africans are able to communicate easily with people who are beyond shouting distance. Farmers and fishermen, for example, use text messaging to check market prices, eliminating middlemen and increasing profits -- and preventing long trips to the market on days it is canceled.

In cities, cellphones are becoming a basic tool of electronic commerce, allowing consumers to transfer money to merchants with a few presses on the keypad.

Restaurant owners now can advertise by sending bulk texts to their customers, promising something delicious for lunch. People call a doctor, mechanic or police officer instead of walking miles to find one. News of births, deaths and illnesses instantly reaches the farthest corners of the jungle, where mothers like Iyombe's struggle with the concept of their children's voices emerging from a little plastic box with buttons.

"People would rather be without a shirt and trousers," Nkuli said, "and they'd rather go for days without food, instead of not having a phone."

[Washington Post]

Related Articles:

Cell Phones and Human Rights In Africa Speaker In New York,

What Sally Struthers Does On TV But On Mobile

Rwanda: A Mobile In Every Pocket

An Amazing Mobile Story From Kenya

Mobile Phones Join Fight against African Poverty

SMS, Social Justice Style, in Africa

Mobile Political Middle East

A nice little post over at MobileActive chronicles the roles mobile phones played in the current Middle East Crisis.

[MobileActive]

Mobile Political USA

Thoughts on why we don't get the (text) message in the US, from me.

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