[Reader-list] Gaurav Mishra: The Role of Citizen Journalism in the Aftermath of the 11/26 Mumbai Terror Attack

[Patrice Riemens]

from Gaurav Mishra’s Weblog, dated November 30th, 2008
check original for all links, etc.):

http://tinyurl.com/5layv3

The Role of Citizen Journalism in the Aftermath of the 11/26 Mumbai Terror
Attack

I have been tracking the role of citizen journalism in the 11/26 Mumbai
terror attack in a timeline, a work-in-progress case study and a Flickr
set of screenshots.

Hundreds of people — led by Vinukumar Ranganathan, Dina Mehta and Peter
Griffin — shared news and other useful information from Mumbai on Twitter,
Flickr and their blogs. Several bloggers live-blogged the event while
Global Voices and DesiPundit worked hard to highlight the best posts.

However, even as we spent sleepless nights highlighting the most useful
information on the Mumbai terror attack, several other people were busy
spreading hate through some of the same online tools.

I don’t think of myself as particularly political and, in three years of
blogging, I haven’t written even one post that is political in nature. My
first tendency is to shy away from participating in emotionally charged
political discussions like the ones beginning to dominate the Indian
blogosphere now. I’m sure many of you feel the same way.

However, we will be doing ourselves great disservice if we step back and
let the loonies take over. The 11/26 Mumbai terror attack is over, but the
work of the online community in India is not over.

We need to ensure that these extremist fundamentalist elements don’t
spread hate in the aftermath of the attack. We need to ensure that several
more innocent lives are not lost in a Hindu-Muslim riot or an
India-Pakistan war triggered off by the 11/26 terror attack. We need to
ensure that the upcoming Indian elections are not hijacked by extremist
reactions to what happened in Mumbai. And, for those, who insist on
comparing 11/26 to 9/11, we need to ensure that we remember to learn from
America’s excesses post-9/11.

Finally, we need to ensure that we come together and mobilize a more
nuanced discussion on the 11/26 Mumbai terror attacks and drown out the
voices of these extremist, fundamentalist elements.

Here is what you can do –

1. Delete such extremist comments from your blog posts. If required,
activated comment moderation for a week. I have already deleted close to a
hundred such comments from my blog and activated comment moderation.

2. Do not link to sensationalist posts that spread hate or blame the
government/ media/ security forces and propose conspiracy theories without
offering constructive solutions. I would especially urge Global Voices and
DesiPundit to refrain from linking to such posts. It’s not the time to
highlight all perspectives, when some of these perspectives may result in
more violence.

3. At the same time, do comment on as many of these extremist posts as you
can, to temper the emotionally charged discussions with reason. You may
receive some hate mail yourself, but that’s surely a small price to pay.

4. If you write a blog, write a post advocating a calm, sensitive approach
to the 11/26 terror attack. It doesn’t matter if you have 10 readers or
10,000; even if your post has a calming influence on one person, you would
have made a difference.

5. Link to posts and news article which promote such an approach, like
these posts –

    Take the time to be a Mumbaikar rather than parasites that live off
its resources. Stop looking the other way when unscrupulous
politicians and crass media barons offend our sense of civility. Speak
up when family, friends or colleagues voice their bigotry. Turn up to
vote. Look at, really look, and listen to, and care about the people
we share this city with.

    And keep doing it, whether anyone else does or not, whether the change
it makes is visible or not, whether it makes headlines or not. Or, at
the very least, stop the damned platitudes. (Ingrid Srinath)

    If the rest of the world wants to help, it should run toward the
explosion. It should fly to Mumbai, and spend money. Where else are
you going to be safe? New York? London? Madrid?

    So I’m booking flights to Mumbai. I’m going to go get a beer at the
Leopold, stroll over to the Taj for samosas at the Sea Lounge, and
watch a Bollywood movie at the Metro. (NYT op-ed from Suketu Mehta)

    What I would like to see is a grass-root, decentralized guerrilla
movement of our own– Not one that equips youth, the lonely and the
estranged with hatred, propaganda, fanaticism, weapon skills and fake
passports, but one that equips (them)
 with an awareness of what it
takes to preserve one’s home and city– the community skills and ideas
that make individuals realize that they are the first care-taker and
good neighbor, not the police, and that there is no entitlement to
safety and well being based solely on social or income levels,
anymore. (Priyanka Joseph)

6. Organize an event to show your support to the victims of the 11/26
terror attack or highlight such events organized by other — Nov 30 Tweetup
at Leopold Cafe, Facebook Wear White Event, Facebook Support 11/26
Fighters Event.

(Update: Here are two posts from Shefaly on understanding evil before
choosing to ignore it or engage with it.)

Let’s come together to shape a moderate, nuanced online discussion on the
11/26 Mumbai terror attack. Let’s come together to ensure that we don’t
repeat the mistakes others have made after such tragedies. Let’s come
together to bring back calm and peace to Mumbai.