Hillary Clinton’s advisor Alec Ross said ‘dictatorships are now more vulnerable than ever’ due to protest movements on social media, Facebook and Twitter.
Hillary Clinton’s senior adviser for innovation at the US state department has praised the way the internet has become “the Che Guevara of the 21st century” in the Arab Spring uprisings.
İnternet is Che Guevara of the new century
Speaking at the Guardian’s Activate summit in London on Wednesday, Alec Ross said “dictatorships are now more vulnerable than ever been before, in part – but not entirely – because of the devolution of power from the nation state to the individual” as disaffected citizens organise influential protest movements on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
The US has pledged to back the pro-democracy movements that have swept the Middle East and north Africa since January. Ross welcomed the “redistribution of power” from autocratic regimes to individuals, describing the internet as “wildly disruptive” during the protests in Egypt and Tunisia.
US president Barack Obama, whose 2008 election campaign Ross helped co-ordinate, threw US support behind the pro-democracy movements in a landmark speech in May. “The status quo is not sustainable,” he said, describing the movements as a “historic opportunity”.
Ory Okolloh, the manager of government policy and relations at Google Africa, speaking in the Guardian Activate session, said: “A lot of these uprisings underline that young people not only frustrated – they’ve been frustrate for a long time – but the internet brings you closer to what your life could be and should be like.
“We have this revolution, but what happens after it? Technology cannot answer that question: it won’t give you jobs or financing, and won’t help rebuild the economy. If we get too caught up in the role of technology we will be missing a huge opportunity.”
Not to forget : Che Guevera is said to be killed by an USA aided raid in Bolivia.
