Twitter and the protests in Moldova
Posted on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 1:22pm
9 responses
Here are a few links to the news articles on the protests in Moldova against the election results and the use of twitter by young people who attended the protest. I’ve been following what is happening by following twitterers in Molodova- Mihai Moscovici amongst others. They also have a searchable tag on twitter (hash pman) so that you can see instant updates, uploads of videos and pictures from the scene- ranging from furniture and books on fire outside the parliament building, to protestors standing on the ledge of the Presidential Palace, to information on possible political negotiation amongst leaders, and calls for more action. I am fascinated about how it has happened, and how it seems to have had little mainstream media attention. This is despite the fact that the blogosphere is buzzing with news on events, and how young Moldovan people who are based in other European countries are stating that they are being blocked from entering Moldova. Two youth movements, Hyde Park and ThinkMoldova are thought to be the organisers of the protests, and it was all organised online in one shape or form.
From what I can see now from the live updates, there are pro and anti communists protests being initiated in other parts of Moldova- in a nothern town called Sorco. Voronin meanwhile has reportedly blamed Romania for speerheading the protest, and has told the Romanian ambassador to leave the country, although Romanian leaders have been quick to deny such accusations, stating, ‘ It is not acceptable that the communist power in Chisinau transfers responsibility for the Moldovan Republic’s domestic problems onto Romania’.
The BBC has also reported today that Baroness Emma Nicholson who was on the OSCE panel monitoring the elections, has said that she has found it “difficult to endorse the very warm press statement’ by the OSCE as this does not reflect her experience. Again, events continue, and I will keep an eye on the ins and outs…
nice one BJ, thanks 4 your contributions.
delpassatto from #pman
well it is worth noting that the OSCE observers have endorsed the moldovan election in their preliminary findings, and they have also issued a statement on the ‘protests’ at the results that can be found here
http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_37175.html
I also wonder how bethan you and i would feel if plaid won the next set of Welsh Assembly elections only for those who didnt like the result to occupy the streets demanding that the results were thrown out and trashed the assembly building? I dont think we would be very happy!
So perhaps another way of describing the response of the losers in the moldovan elections might be an attempt at mob rule?
This posting only highlights the dangers of relying solely on twitter and other new media forms for informed news. The fact that a tiny number of wealthy young centre and right wing students and professionals are able to communicate with other wealthy people without debating the real issues does not mean that they are in the right. The fact is that in a country such as Moldova the vast majority of people, especially the poor, deprived, rural and elderly people would not be using twitter and other such new media. They would rather use the ballot box. The mainstream media had rightly reported that the OSCE and other reputable international observer groups have declared the election to be generally credible. We have seen situations before in Eastern and Central Europe where capitalist pro EU parties have tried to circumvent the democratic view of the majority of poor and deprived people through often violent protests. The most worrying aspect of this posting is that an elected representative seemingly thinks that 10,000 wealthy young people have the right to resort to violent protests if parties that are supported by the poor and excluded win elections. If you are ignorant of the reality, don’t blog on it.
Thank you for your comments. I am not relying solely on twitter- I am trying to read all news articles too. But there are not as many articles as there are people online on facebook and twitter. It is still their right to have an opinion.
I am merely blogging on what I have gathered from information, and from personal experience while I was out there. I haven’t stated who is right or wrong. I don’t think that I should be in a position to say that as an outsider to the whole affair. I am just interested in what is happening.
‘The most worrying aspect of this posting is that an elected representative seemingly thinks that 10,000 wealthy young people have the right to resort to violent protests if parties that are supported by the poor and excluded win elections.’
anon- I have not indicated whether this was right or wrong. Please read the blog again. If they are wealthy or poor, they still have the right to demonstrate, surely?!
This looks like another US-funded “color revolution”…
It is an interesting point, and I agree that the neoliberals and the wealthy have as much right as the left or the deprived to demonstrate even if their demands are unjust as in this case. It is also true that right wing and far right groups in Britain have the right to protest but I would hope that a member of the Plaid Cymru Party such as yourself would not promote these protests and provide links as to where people can get more information, or will you also be highlighting these protests in your blog in future?
Charlie Marks is right that this is another of the “color revolutions” probably funded at the very least by Moldovan or international business interests if not by certain foreign governments. To be fair to Bethan, I have to say that from reading her previous postings she seems generally to be a left of centre AM on most issues and seems hard working and honest. She is a new AM and this is her first posting on international issues. She has been naive in raising her excitement about the protests and failing to ask questions about who is protesting and why, but she has herself said that she is not an expert on these issues or on Moldovan politics. I’m sure she will be more careful in the future and I hope that she continues to blog on these issues because we in Wales need our politicians to talk about international affairs even if on this occasion she was badly misguided.
dyma_ni- I don’t think I have been misguided at all, and I do feel a little bit patronized because I have done blogs on international issues before such as what is happening in Gaza, Northern Ireland, US elections, my role in the Transatlantic Network, Iraq war. I am not an authority on Moldovan politics but I am sure that there are many people out there who want to understand in a balanced way what is happening. The Observer yesterday was far more biased towards the campaigners than I have ever been on this blog.