[Air-l] ICT & young protest movement in Berlin

[Frank Thomas]

The authors of the following article published in German by DER SPIEGEL 
and translated in today's New York Times link the mobilisation of young Germans
for the peace movement and their use of SMS and the Internet. I guess the real effect of
these ICTs is on the speed of mobilisation. There already was a peace movement a couple of 
years before anyone dreamed of the Internet.

Frank Thomas


The Gulf War Generation

March 25, 2003
By DER SPIEGEL 

Most of those involved in the peace movement are young
people. A genuine and simple faith in the good is taking
the place of ideology. 

...

Last Thursday,
seven hours after the start of war in Iraq, 50,000
demonstrators surged out of the U-Bahn [subway] tunnels at
Alexanderplatz and the Friedrichstrasse train station. By
the time the police, who were taken by surprise, managed to
block access to all vehicular traffic, the young peace
marchers had already arrived at the Brandenburg Gate. 

...

The effects of ideological disarmament on the new protest
culture vary. ... In Leipzig where 30,000 people are once again
routinely coming to the Monday Demonstrations, Pastor
Christian Führer had to explain to the newcomers that one
does not make telephone calls or applaud in a House of God.
...

Professional guidance and support is only requested from
the organizers. ... The basic data can be accessed on their Internet
Web pages - the rest is done through the demonstrators’ own
means of communication. This new form of mass movement
would be inconceivable without the Internet, cell phones,
or SMS. And when like-minded people from Tokyo, Sydney, and
Rome penetrate the Berlin youth scene via e-mail chain
letters, you get the feeling they’re helping turn the
political setscrews on an international level. 

...

STEFAN BERG, ALEXANDER KÜHN, CAROLINE
SCHMIDT

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/international/europe/25SPIEGEL.html?ex=1049938394&ei=1&en=f0643a94d8617bbf