During the Ayala rally last week against the House of Representatives’ Con-Ass resolution, the Computer Professionals Union (CPU) organized a cell phone-to-Twitter link for texters to be able to update and participate in the protest event. Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that allows users to post 140-character messages called “tweets” to keep fellow users updated on any topic of conversation under the sun. “Hashtags” are keywords with the “#” symbol affixed that are included in a tweet used to indicate what topic the message is about.

As part of its campaign to engage more people in the issue, the Twitter account of Pio, CPU’s mascot, was linked to a mobile phone to tweet on-the-ground updates and comments from the Ayala rally. By inviting people to send SMS messages to a number, CPU developed a tool that will repost these messages as tweets. As long as the SMS messages were sent using the “no2conass message” format, the cell phone was programmed to directly update Twitter via a computer linked to the Internet. People can type no2conass in Twitter’s search engine to see all messages related to the June 10 protest mobilization.

The overwhelming response on Twitter, Facebook, online blogs and petitions against the Con-Ass simply shows the extent of the opposition to the issue at hand. However, some groups were content to limit their opposition to cyberspace and even claim that this is superior to mobilizing people by their numbers.

The idea that online activism alone can replace activism in real life is questionable. There simply is no substitute for the real thing. While web tools and other new media are useful in being able to efficiently communicate information all over the country and the globe, using it for protest is nothing but a toothless proxy that lacks the physical presence that a huge protest mobilization provides.

CPU has used information and communication technologies (ICT) and new media in all its campaigns and advocacies. It has likewise utilized these tools in coordination with the June 10 anti-Charter change protests, where it launched its Mobile-to-Twitter campaign against Charter change and provided a live video-stream of the rally in the Internet, where over 300 simultaneous viewers from different parts of the globe tuned in.

The use of the Internet and the like is in fact complementary to people’s actions. Applications in the Internet make networking, coordination and information dissemination a cinch for cause-oriented organizations. However it does not have the same nature and impact as on-the-ground protest actions.

Without the numbers on the ground, what effect would a virtual campaign do? If not geared toward mobilizing people into action, virtual campaigns produce virtual gains. At most, the cyberworld becomes another outlet for opinions and discussions. Clicking a button to join a cause is easy and would actually contribute to the high numbers in virtual causes like that in Facebook. Yet translating these mouse-clicks into attendance in rallies and action should be the real target.

The perceived inconvenience of having physical rallies is belied by the fact that all over the country, people have mobilized against the Con-Ass. Farmers and ordinary workers took time out to march from nearby provinces and their factories to air out their grievances. The religious were also in force. Even with the suspension of classes, students together with other youth groups mobilized their friends and families.

Let us recall People Power 2, a landmark event in the history of Philippine social change that was popular for having SMS or texting as integral to its success. It wasn’t the mobile phone users themselves who ousted then President Erap Estrada, but the multitudes who marched to call for his ouster. ICT and new media are mere tools: in the final analysis, it is the people that matter.

True, a single physical rally is a transient event. Yet we should not look at it as an end-all and be-all of our activities. Yet to effect real change, a series of rallies, educational discussions, forums, cyber-activities, and suchlike should be continued until the desired outcome is reached. An example of a movement that goes beyond cyberactivism and transient events is the Pagbabago! People’s Movement for Change (www.pagbabago.org).

Activists around the world have utilized these new media tools as a means of effectively reaching out to the people, as was demonstrated in the successful Barack Obama presidential campaign. Twitter in particular would jive with the texting culture of Filipinos. If utilized in coordination with real grassroots mobilization, it can be instrumental to achieve the change we need.

(Jose Leon A. Dulce is a Fine Arts student at UP Diliman and Head of the Data Visualization Team of the Computer Professionals’ Union. He is also a volunteer of AGHAM. You can still tweet Pio by sending “no2conass your message” to +639071134503.) prom.bound@gmail.com