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November 12, 2007
Pakistani Flash Mobs Protest State of Emergency
NPR's Bryant Park Project has a fascinating audio slideshow about an ingenious protesting strategy being employed in Pakistan. Pakistani dentist and blogger Dr. Awab Alvi has taken Howard Rheingold's concept of "flash mobs" and applied it to rallying against the state of emergency in Pakistan.
"If you announce a date a day in advance, the army and police show up" and they "beat the hell out of you," Dr. Alvi told the show. So he concluded it made more sense to organize very brief protests through telephone calls and other communication channels. At an appointed time, the protesters show up, pull out signs and shout slogans demanding an end to the state of emergency. After 10 minutes, they put away their signs and leave before the authorities can interfere with them.
"These flash protests are basically citizens protesting in a very smart way," Alvi said. So far the largest protest attracted around 50 protesters, who were quickly joined by random passers-by on the street. Pedestrians, though, have been somewhat puzzled by the brevity of each event.
"It's almost called a guerilla protest," he added.
Tags: Bryant Park Project | flash mobs | free speech | NPR | Pakistan | protests
Posted by acarvin at November 12, 2007 1:37 PM
Listen to a computer-generated podcast of this article
