Over half a million students and counting are rallying, holding decision-makers accountable and demanding real change...on Facebook.
The Facebook frenzy has left many student organizers (myself included) in awe, if not a little frustrated. "Great, now can you get this excited about things that actually matter?"
The answer is yes. Figuring there'd be few opportunities to reach such a broad audience, a handful of activists commandeered the mushrooming discussion forums and torrent of wall posts in hopes of channeling some of that energy into a forum for substantive social change.
In a matter of hours, over 300 students had formed a global network based on the idea of an umbrella group capable of uniting thousands of progressive-themed groups on Facebook and streamlining the potential power of single-minded students into affecting REAL change. It's not a new struggle (after all, isn't that what netroots was made for?) but we concluded that it's all in the attempt.
"Students for Changing the Post Mini-Feed World" has great expectations--it aims to eradicate student apathy:
Join many others who think if students can mobilize to change Facebook, we can change much bigger things.
Here's its mission statement:
The core idea behind the group is that we can be a forum and communication center for active students all across the country. We can help each other help each other. If people get involved with each other's pet causes, we can strengthen our voice, and make the media and our leaders listen to us. The Internet/Facebook's ability to bridge geographical divides makes it possible for us to organize in ways we never have before... sooooooo we should take advantage of that, right?
What's new is that people discovered the still unrealized potential Facebook had--it could take weeks to gather 150 people on a single campus, but twice that amount could come together in one night. And one large centralized online group could effectively link all the smaller campus orgs that fall under the general umbrella of social justice. The plan is to promote a handful of issues at a time (focusing on one if there was a call-in day), allowing students the freedom to choose from one day to the next. It would be single-minded, not single-issued.
Obviously the value of networking is in pooling resources, but it's also a support system, reminding people "you're not the only one," and renewing confidence in a collective ability to make change.
...there're a million people across the world who are like you and your friends. You just don't know them yet.
So, maybe you don't know a peasant farmer in Hunan province, China, but that doesn't mean he isn't just like you or your friends.
The differences between individuals in our world only seek to underscore the similiarities, and vice versa.
So, just cause you don't know someone doesn't relieve you of an obligation to them.
The muppet movie says it best: Peoples is peoples.
And they need your help.
Clearly we've got some college Kossaks:
S.L. (Maryland) wrote at 8:06pm
Haha, on DKos they've called this the "Great Facebook Riot of 2006"
It's time Facebook got politicized.
Join the group.