With the rise of Social Computing, many different types of possibilities are being realized. There are a number of political blogs that shed light on what the news media may push under the rug or leave behind. In addition, events such as Critical Mass, a planned protest against the overuse of cars started in San Francisco, are organized with the aid of online forums and email. With the aid of the internet and other forms of communication technology, people have been organizing other real events for activism in countries all over the world. In Madrid the election was swung with the aid of communications technology. In Latin America people meet face to face, after communicating via the internet and cell phones, so they can discuss current situations and plan protests from a more personal perspective, which is free of the slant imposed by the unreliable media. Recent events in Venezuela are a good example of this new shift in grassroots organization. On April 25, 2002 there was a mass uprising against a CIA sponsored coup. The people siezed the presidential palace and overthrew the military that tried to put in a new chamber of commerce. While these people did learn about this with the aid of communications technology it was up to people to work together, with unity and solidarity. Though computers can aid grassroots movements they must also be pervasive and transparent enough to not interfere detrimentally with the important emergent processes that arise as the result of real human interaction.
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