A Hundred Cellphones Bloom, and Chinese Take to the Streets

Cellphone text messaging may be the next big thing for China’s grassroots organizers. A swift and convenient method of mass communication, cellphones have already spread among the general population like wildfire. Users proved in the recent anti-Japanese protests that cellphones could also be a powerful tool in organizing marches, boycotts, and public demonstrations. Although the recent protests were aligned with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) line, the government tried to suppress the mass messaging, writes the New York Times. The regime may have done so out of the fear that the passion now directed against Japan could one day turn inwards, and that the public may one day mobilize against the CCP. It seems that Chinese politicians are right to fear: Text messaging was a key factor in the success of other recent popular movements, such as the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine and the democracy movement in Lebanon. – YaleGlobal