I am writing this post from a tent city in the Martyrs' Square in central Beirut, a place which is filled with the energy and excitement of a burgeoning democratic movement. When Jim Hake, President of Spirit of America, contacted EchoDitto last week to help create an online voice for the movement, we — of course — agreed.
Spirit of America works to extend American goodwill by helping those on the ground in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq assist people in need. They've sent medical and school supplies, toys, clothing and just about anything else that's been needed in these countries. When a need for tech-support arose in Lebanon, and they asked us to help, it was a "no-brainer." Of course we would. I've been here in Lebanon ever since.
When Rafik Al-Hariri, former Prime Minister of Lebanon, was assassinated two months ago in Beirut by as-yet unknown perpetrators, it resulted in an escalating level of civil unrest within Lebanon. The main aim of the people is the explusion of the pro-Syrian government and democratic elections to elect a new government. This civil unrest has grown into what is now called the Cedar Revolution.
Beirut was once a bustling center of commerce and was known as the "Paris of the Middle East," but after a bloody civil war from 1975-1990, a complicated political situation allowed pro-Syrian forces to take control of the Lebanese government, and they have been in control ever since.
After the assassination of Prime Minister Al-Hariri, hundreds of thousands of protesters converged on Martyr's Square in this tent city, pressuring the government to hold elections to get Syrian forces out of Lebanon once and for all. To be honest, this situation is not as black and white as I'm making it out to be, but a) it's a good synposis and b) we can all agree that democracy is a good thing.
We are working with Spirit of America to help empower the Lebanese people through the use of technology. We've made tremendous progress in just the last seven days:
- Set up, to our knowledge, the first ever internet base station in tent city and provide wifi access to bloggers and others
- Get a pro-independence, attention building blog up and running. Pulse of Freedom is now live. Kudos to everyone who worked on this.
- Blog, podcast, photoblog like crazy — get as much information as possible up on the internet. After some initial content and the basics are in place here, a more experienced blogger will replace me in tent city.
- Try and obtain, though various channels available to us, increasing visibility on the internet for what's happening in Lebabon. My primary mode will be outreach to bloggers, with the aim of having this incredible event be covered by american and international mainstream media
EchoDitto is proud to be playing a small part in the Cedar Revolution, and we're very appreciative of Jim and the Spirit of America for giving us this opportunity. Personally, this has been an amazing experience, using the tools we use every day and take for granted — blogging with WordPress, sharing photos with Flickr, etc. — to promote our core, progressive values and help create something truly revolutionary. Stay tuned for more updates!
