That is what seems to be going on now, with the revolution being fought on the web-pages of Facebook and Twitter, which is astounding in its implications. After all, these social networking sites, and others, were originally conceived as a portal for communicating with friends, for finding out the whereabouts of old ones and making new ones, for making professional contacts and plugging blogs or businesses, even finding work-and/or sex and love. They are used as advertising tools, for good or ill, and for the general dissemination of all varieties of news-and sometimes pornography, and various types of spam.
But this, this "pman", is something that is at a whole new level. The government of Moldava, probably the last stronghold of European communism, is teetering on the brink of dissolution. The citizens of Moldava, which was formerly the Romanian province of Bessarabia before being forcibly excised by the Soviet Union for the richness of its oil reserves, have taken to the streets in protest of yet another allegedly sham election held by the communist government. The movement has grown and become violent, with injuries reported on both sides.
And, while the government there keeps on teetering, the protesters keep on twittering, under the code name "pman". How will it all play out?
No wonder repressive governments (and for that matter, supposedly not-so-repressive ones) tend to hold freedom of speech in one or another degree of fear and loathing.
Death by a thousand tweets.
1 comment:
Stradfor says Georgia's government is on its last days as well.
See this BBC Report.
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