Activists, bloggers, journalists and students in Egypt are using their mobile phones to alert their networks if they are in danger or have been arrested using SMS text messaging and the micro-blogging service Twitter. Egyptian activists who have informed their network of arrest by police have proved this to be an effective means of getting the word out quickly of their detention so that fellow activists can pressure the government for a quick release, or mount a longer-term campaign in the result of formal charges.

When Egyptian journalist and blogger Wael Abbas returned to Egypt from a forum in Sweden in June of 2009 he was detained at Cairo Airport by authorities and his passport, papers and laptop were taken. Abbas is known for his blog posts exposing incidents of torture and police brutality in Egypt, and is outspoken about political reform and democracy in Egypt. When he was detained at Cairo Airport, Abbas was able to use his Twitter account to alert his followers and give numerous updates on the situation. Issandr El Amrani of The Arabist reported that Abbas’s tweets reached the president of an Egyptian human rights organization, Hisham Kassem, who is also a Twitter user. After hearing about Abbas’s detention Kassem started tweeting about his efforts to dispatch a human rights lawyer to talk to the Egyptian authorities to get Abbas released. Abbas was eventually freed within hours. El Amrani writes, “It may not be a Twitter revolution, but it's a very practical, transparent and engaging way to rally people around a cause.”

photo: Guerilla postering by Amnesty International in Belarus.

While everything and everyone ages all the time, new people come into this world every day. This is why every movement will need to rejuvenate its membership and tactics, eventually.

How do you appeal to a younger generation? What can you do to actively reach out to the youth of today?

cc photo by Flickmor

This month’s tactical discussion focuses on using mobile phones for action. From the time the tactical notebook by Amnesty International on the use of short messaging services was published here in 2004, mobile phones have only become more powerful, multifunctional and almost universal. We can now record sound, photos, even video on our phones. The pocket devices can be used to send email, files, pictures, music, surf the web and chat, wherever we are, whenever we want.

In what ways can the power of the small computers we still call “phones” be harnessed as tools for collective action, as instruments for improving the world? What technology do we see emerging that could create innovative life-changing and life-saving tactics?