The cellphone technology has changed the face of communication in Malawi for the past ten years. Today the cellphone commodity is no longer the luxury it used to be a few years ago. Apart from the budget phones introduced by the communication giants Airtel, TNM and MTL), most phone sets used by Malawians, have more advanced facilities besides the talking facility. These functions include digital cameras, video cameras, voice recording and many more.
From a historical point of view, communication technology has been used by the authorities for policing protests, from video cameras, CCTV and now social media. The Malawi Police for example, have utilized radio messages to communicate to each other during protests. However in this new day and age, it is the protesters who are now using technology to their advantage. This is an ideal moment in time for Malawians to embrace technology and use our everyday gadgets as aids during demonstrations. aMalawi tiyeni nazo Moto!
With new visual and audio technologies, demonstrators can be able to utilize camera phones to shoot photos, audio clips and videos that they can instantly upload on internet sites (for those with blackberries and other smart phones). Those with less sophisticated phones can also download and upload these items later) thanks to high-speed wireless technology.
The photo shows people using their cellphones to document and perhaps even broadcast the situation.
Social media is also a very important tool during protests. Social media has become the easiest and fastest way of communicating to friends and family. Fresh in my memory is how through Facebook, I got to know about the collapse of Kips restaurant barely minutes after the collapse.
Social networking sites and internet forums can be used to get and to send very important information during the 20th July demonstrations. With one ‘status’, or one ‘tweet’, one can send out information on rallying points, riot presence or police presence. In Malawi Facebook has caught on like a bush fire, you would be surprised at the people who you find on Facebook. Managers, secretaries, school levers, parents, aunts, uncles, sometimes even grandparents! All these can be kept informed about current developments.
As the nation is being informed about DPP youth cadets plan to infest the streets to counter the protestors (Nyasatimes 13th July 2011) and as speculations begin to spread about a special police training aimed at suppressing the planned civil disobedience (Nyasatimes 15th July), capturing images from the demonstrations becomes even more important for those who want to exercise their constitutional right to march freely against the country’s economic and governance crisis. Not only does visual evidence of a demonstration give power to the cause, the act of ‘shooting’ a video, picture, voice recording could save your life and that of others.
Demonstrators can take pictures and videos whenever police and other groupings use violence or arrest people. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter for text, Flickr for photos and Bambuser for live video has become and will continue to be important tools for live reporting. Protesters can then upload these images on these sites at any moment in the protests. Protestors can also experiment with IReporting: where ordinary people, the independent voices, contribute in shaping how and what news stations and websites covers every day. Demonstrators could email their footage to Nyasatimes www.nyasatimes.com, Nation online www.nationmw.net, Zodiak online www.zodiakmalawi.com, The daily times: www.bnltimes.com, capital Radio: www.capitalradiomalawi.com and other stations to notify your loved ones, the nation at large and the international audience of any brutalities witnessed.
During the 2009 G20 protests in London, protestor footage became a vital piece of evidence against an act of police brutality. The footage shot by a protestor, shows a man being pushed to the ground by a police officer shortly before he collapsed and died from a heart attack. The man, Ian Tomlinson, was attacked from behind and thrown to the ground by a police officer in riot gear. It was later revealed that the man was not even part of the demonstrations. Rather, he was on his way home from work when he was confronted by lines of riot police near the Bank of England. In the footage, the man simply walked, with his hands in his pockets, he did not appear to speak to police or offer any resistance.
The Guardian newspaper was the first to obtain the dramatic footage and it prepared a -dossier of evidence to the police Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). This evidence shed fresh light on the events ¬surrounding the death of the man. A full investigation and trial followed. The protestor who recorded the footage was a New York fund manager who only came to the protest out of curiosity.
We have also witnessed some attempts to hack and shut down some of the most important websites of our time. Nyasatimes comes to mind. But there are ways in which ordinary people can circumvent the games being played by the government. Egypt for example fell off the internet as virtually all international connections were cut following an order from the government during the protest. Dial-up modems are one of the most popular routes for Egyptians to get back online and independent blogs gave advice about how to use it. Fax machines were also drafted in by online activists and others who wanted to contact people inside Egypt and pass on information about how to restore net access. Some Egyptians also reported that they could get at websites such as Google, Twitter and Facebook by using the numeric addresses for the sites rather than the English language name. Malawi is not Egypt. The point is that even when we get to more critical situations, there is always a way. Information technology experts could find a way to seize the situation.
I urge all information technology experts in Malawi to get working and help to get our communication system going. We are counting on you!, a group of students in London created and run a smartphone app called Sukey which directs people away from trouble during protests. This is an example of how technologically advanced young blood can contribute enormously to protests.
I’m wishing Malawians peaceful demonstrations free from intimidation and brutality. It is my hope that the images you shoot from these protest remain colorful memoirs of an important moment in our history. With our limited, erratic and unstable internet connections, it will surely be e difficult to upload these important images. However where there is a will there is a way.
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