COMM 150: Gatekeepers, cellphones in Mynamar

As demonstrations continue in Mynamar, a former British colony still better known by its colonial name of Burma (and always called that in Britain), new communications media are serving the people who hope to overthrow a repressive military regime. According to The Guardian, a highly respected paper in the U.K., "the protesters challenging the government are ready to risk their lives so the world can hear their story. Armed with mobile phone cameras, they have become the eyes of the "saffron revolution."

Revolution or not, it's called by that name because it's being led by Buddhist monks, who wear saffron robes. Guardian correspondent David Jimenez, reporting from Rangoon, says:

Today, the regime has calculated that it can again win the propaganda battle if it controls the traditional media. It is wrong. The military had forgotten about the internet and the mobile phone, two weapons with which the protesters have managed to grab the world's attention.
Kyaw, 23, a medical student, says he has sent various videos to the BBC and dissident groups based in Thailand, using the camera in his mobile phone and a very slow internet connection.

"It is risk," he says. "The soldiers arrest anyone who takes photos, destroy their phones and beat them up. But we have to show the world what is happening."

Remember gatekeeper theory? In this case the gatekeepers are the regime, and the protesters are using new media to get around them. Another new media weapon is the social networking website Facebook, where 100,000 members have joined a group supporting revolution in Mynamar.

It's not at all certain at this point who will win. Jiminez reports:

Yesterday, the junta finally reacted, closing down the country's principal internet server - one of the many businesses it controls. One official claimed the shutdown was the result of damage suffered by a major supply cable connecting to the internet.

Internet cafes in Rangoon have been closed and their owners threatened with reprisals.

A London-based Burmese blogger, Ko Htike, said the move meant he would not be able to feed in pictures of "the brutality by the brutal Burmese military junta", but vowed to continue pushing information back into the country.

The regime has tried to counter the impact of information smuggled out of the country with monotonous news broadcasts that nobody follows, and surreal official versions that describe the soldiers as victims.

What is happening now in Mynamar is something that has played out time and time again.

When the Soviet Union fell apart and Eastern European nations like Hungary and what is now the Czech Republic overthrew their communist governments, fax machines were new ... and because they were new, the authorities didn't know how to control their use ... so they were an important medium of communication for the revolutionaries. When Serbian militias moved against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the late 90s, email and the Internet allowed Kosovars to evade the gatekeepers and tell the world about the repression. Repressive governments always try to control the means of communication ... to act as gatekeepers, in other words ... and those who seek to oppose them always seek new media to get around them.