People from around the world gathered in front of their computer screens to watch the live stream of a three-day conference at the Columbia University Law School from Dec. 3 to Dec. 5.
It seemed fitting that the organizers of the event would choose a campus known for its student activism to host its first annual Alliance of Youth Movements Summit. The event was organized by Howcast, Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, the U.S. Department of State, and Columbia Law School to “empower young people to mobilize against violence and oppression” by teaching them to “effect social change using online tools,” according to the conference’s mission statement.
“Ultimately, the goal was to bring together people from around the world to meet and share stories with one another, and to teach them to use platforms like Facebook in a really creative way,” Jason Liebman, CEO of Howcast, said.
The idea for the conference was conceived just over a month ago, and the logistics came together with surprising speed. “In five weeks we were able to bring people together from all over the world,” Liebman said. “It was important not to wait. Sometimes if you have an idea, you just need to do it.”
The inspiration for the Howcast publication on which the conference was built—Creating Grassroots Movements for Change: A Field Manual—came from an unexpected source: an al Qaeda how-to manual discovered by coalition forces outside Baghdad in 2007.
“If terrorists have their own playbook on how to do bad things, we should have a playbook on how to fight violence, extremism, and oppression,” Liebman said.
The conference was also inspired by Oscar Morales’ founding of “One Million Voices Against the FARC,” a movement whose high-profile stand against the terrorist organization Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was launched on Facebook. Liebman said that this movement, along with Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, showed the world the impact that can be made through online platforms.
The event involved several panels featuring such high profile figures as Luke Russert of MSNBC, Adam Kushner of Newsweek, and the online content managers for the Obama presidential campaign. One prominent moderator was actress and The View hostess Whoopi Goldberg.
The event was organized so that members of several campaigns that had established themselves online and learned to use new technology to further their causes were featured on panels, and the audience was composed mainly of nonprofit executives and representatives who were trying to learn how to tap into the same resources.
news@columbiaspectator.com
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy