Protest on YouTube

In the last edition of 'Foreign Policy' there was a brief article on YouTube-like websites popping up all over the world. These "YouTube Clones", as FP called them, are doing more than offering endless entertainment for its viewers. In places like Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia, and even China, these websites are creating means for citizens to express political protest.

Xiao Qiang, a professor at the University of California Berkely, leads the "China Internet Project." He explains, "Video has certain power that text doesn't have. Visual media has a powerful effect on the human psyche." Even more importantly, these sites provide a safer means of expression than taking protest to the streets.

Specifically in China, amateur photographers created a slideshow featuring pictures from a coal mine disaster. The sideshow has the country's national anthem playing behind it and generated massive amounts of viewers on 6rooms.com (China's YouTube Clone). The central government was not pleased by the amount of attention given to the disaster.