Protest.com by Dean de la Paz (Businessworld Columnist) In the old days, you might have just needed a soapbox, strong vocal chords, fair weather and a good spot along the boardwalk. Or maybe a rim of mimeograph paper, short sleeves, long arms and a good pair of shoes to pound the pavement. If you were bolder, you could carry a can of mucilage, a large paintbrush, pre-labeled newsprint and a map of where the largest, most visible blank walls, center islands, waiting sheds, underpass tunnels and the walls around Congress and City Hall were. As these places are public properties one needed to carry basic protection against fascist agents. A well-equipped street parliamentarian also had a good pair of rubber shoes, a bandana large enough to cover the face, a plastic bag filled with a small pre-moistened towel or a water canteen. Both are needed to flush out eyes and noses, just in case the Kamikaze designated to carry wet towels fails to jump on top and blanket fuming canisters of tear gas thrown by the Metrocom. Unless one enjoys the toxic meta-amphetamine effects of omega chloroacetophenone spiced with red oleoresin capsicum on one's lachrymatory glands, mucous membranes and nasal passages, protesting was generally hard work. These days, technology has made protesting more convenient with the evolution of cyberspace as a medium of expression. From monosyllabic punctuation marks to text messages, to whole websites dedicated to personal views, opinions and protest. Everyone has an opinion and within seconds, everyone will know it. Simply click on the "Write Messages" option on one's cellular phone and press the number "1" key four times to get to the "exclamation mark". Key this in and send it to all the numbers in your phone's memory. The network of texters will do the rest. In fact the network is so efficient that within the hour one can expect that same message beeping in full circle. The only downside would be incompetent cellular providers negotiating a flood of other protest messages and "Jueteng Edition" Erap jokes. These messages, like those on placards are often substantially true. But whatever the content, they remain calls of protest. Because, just as in protest demonstrations, it is not the graffiti that is important. It is that someone had bothered to be counted. The same is true for those computerized polls on television and radio talk shows and newscasts. The forced categorization of the choices may skew opinions but the simple act of ruining one's manicure over the "redial" button is enough to indicate concern over the country's sad state of affairs. Protest, even its simplest form, from the deafening electric cacophony of Woodstock, to blocking tanks on EDSA, to today's text tirades and protest websites, are protest actions nonetheless. To some, local political cyber protest crystallized with Stratfor.com's predictions of a collapse of the Estrada presidency. Officials were stupid enough to give the site credence by calling it a plot instigated by political forces. Familiar scapegoat. But the fact that these are cyber placards for the world to see cannot but invite a reaction. Because these protests are free-for-all cyberspace material, they lack the force of frontal advocacy. But lacking a face, it compensates with bravado. Substance and veracity are simply implied. That is the tradeoff of non-censorship and virtual anonymity. And in a dispensation marked with vindictiveness and unthinking brawn, anonymity may itself be an effective countermeasure. In the world of e-mail, what one may consider personal protests against a restaurant that serves rotting food or a movie house that serves as a haven for sexual abuse may cascade into widespread public opinion. Because friends have friends and some have e-groups and websites. In a way these are microcosmic societies whose interaction in cyberspace can be as brief as the time it takes to click either the "delete" or the "forward" icon. Or it can be even longer when cyberspace societies are mobilized to pursue common concerns. From high school reunions to protest movements. PLDT.com is one such website. It presents not only the collective angst of telephone subscribers still struggling to get a dial-tone but also rapier-sharp commentary on issues and personalities of the day. And as it presents these with the best humor that Filipinos, even in times of crisis, can muster, it reshapes social values and opinion. In a strange way, it discusses crises in such an uplifting and un-censored manner that the site becomes a coping mechanism for troubles without necessarily avoiding them. For more current issues, one can access the often suppressed and back-burnered Jueteng transcripts at the archives of inquirer.net or relate to the erap_resign.html at alamat.com. While these are not interactive sites, concerned citizens, protesting their right to know, have imported the transcripts and other material via e-mail. Now, it has become a mini-movement as e-groups have joined the concerned citizen's bandwagon by analyzing the Presidential corruption issues in more detail and depth than even the Blue Ribbon committee can, with or without its elective clowns and mad-hatters. Now the authorities are opening their own website in an attempt to present their case. Probably fumigated from the self-serving privilege statements of political parasites. For even more specific concerns, depositors of the closed Orient Bank have opened a website to coordinate efforts to retrieve their money and re-open the bank. Likewise at www.urbancase.freeservers.com the controversial issues surrounding the forced closure of Urban Bank are discussed complete with relevant documents and affidavits. Cyber-communication is not only two-way, it is "every-way" where traditional one-way press releases and official statements are neutered if not placed under serious suspicion. The public's right to know is a pillar of democracy and its collective views, including those that are ill thought of, false, irreverent, shallow, secondary, subversive and silly, form part of the dynamism of thought and the exchange of ideas. In cyberspace, politics has achieved rodent proportions with opinion and protest websites as virtual Pied Pipers. Sites like impeacherapnow.com, dnet.com, speakout.com, rockthevote.com and PLDT.com are only a few that not only paste political and economic issues on the cyberspace bulletin board but also invite inter-active participation. As such, better than placards or graffiti, they become policy-making tools, soundboards and listening posts in support of the democratic search for truth. Now isn't that better than listening to the whispers of a harem of harlots and meddling mistresses? Or the cackle and crows of a midnight mah-jongg game that serves as the highest policy-making body of the land? |