[Archive] US: Social media spreads and grows the anti-SB1070 movement

Billie Greenwood
All Voices
July 29, 2010

The growing movement of migrant rights proponents who are in opposition to Arizona's anti-immigrant SB 1070 law --enacted today-- is propelled by social media networking sites, like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Pro-migrant organizations use social media to engage community members, utilize volunteers, share images and news events, and alert the press.

Two organizations in the vanguard of the effort are the Puente Movement and the National Day Labor Organizing Network. Their live-tweeting of events on-the-ground in Phoenix on the first day of the implementation of SB 1070 communicate actions of protest and civil disobedience to national and international sympathizers as well as to local participants in the events.

Several other registered Twitter users are focusing attention not only on the actions in Phoenix, but also on a variety of aspects of the pro-migrant news nationwide. They include: @mrdaveyd, @thinkmexican, @detentionwatch, @newman_chris, @theSoundStrike, @willcoley, @4onelove, @opalayo, @izofice, @kyledeb, @trail2010, @BstandsforB, and @lafronteratimes. These various users focus on particular relevant dimensions of the issues: immigrant detention, boycott of Arizona, the DREAM Act, and news affecting immigrants and migrants, particularly from Latin America.

Opal Tometi from Arizona's PUENTE movement recounts that Twitter opened up a dialogue between Phoenix activists and rap superstar, Talib Kweli. Kweli subsequently denounced SB 1070 as the result of communication with his fans on Twitter.

According to Tometi: "SB 1070 was intended to silence the voices of immigrants and communities of color, but Twitter has served as a vehicle for communication, a space for non-violent resistance, and a platform for liberation."

The Puente Movement and the National Day Labor Organizing Network have launched the Alto Arizona campaign and use the Twitter hashtag "#AltoArizona." They will use this hashtag throughout July 29th to tag their tweets on the various events they have planned. The hashtag "#SB1070" documents the growing conversation around SB 1070's implementation and the popular resistance to the law.

The groups' Facebook pages, the Puente Human Rights Movement and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, have garnered thousands of fans.

Breaking news on social networking sites is a phenomenon on the rise as agents of change use cell phones, cameras and the written word to communicate what's occurring in their locale to the wider world.

Original Link: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6415128-social-media-spreads-and-grows-the-antisb1070-movement