[Social Media] Revolution in Moldova

In Chisinau, the capital of ex-Soviet state Moldova, the social media revolution might have found its face - in a real-life revolution.

Tens of thousands of people, most of them students and other young adults, have gathered in the capital city to protest what they call a rigged election by the Communist Party, headed by president Vladimir Voronin. Protestors say the ruling party manipulated elections to show a 50% majority, which allows them to change the nation's constitution to hand Voronin a third term, currently not allowed under Moldovan law.

President Voronin claims neighboring Romania, whose relationship with the Moldovan premier has continually deteriorated since Voronin came into office as president in 2001, has played a major role in the opposition protests. Voronin does have a history of bad blood with Romania, stemming from his time as Moldova's Interior Minister from 1989-90 under Soviet rule. Pro-Romanian protesters set his headquarters on fire in 1989. He has claimed recently that Romania, a newly-inducted member of the European Union, was trying to "absorb" Moldova.

Wenesday, Voronin declared Romanian ambassador to Moldova Filip Teodorescu "personae non grata", and ordered him and his envoy expelled from the state within 24 hours. Later that day, Romania appointed a new envoy, headed by diplomat Mihnea Constantinescu, who served as chief of staff to the past two Romanian prime ministers, Adrian Nastase and Calin Popescu Tariceanu. Prior to that, he was the Romanian secretary of state.

The most interesting facet of this story, however, is the manner in which the protests, which have destroyed government buildings and led to over 200 arrests so far since they began Tuesday, were organized. Much of the organization came via online social media networks Twitter and Facebook, a hint that such sites might finally be recognized internationally as something more than mere places to chat and network.

On Twitter, which allows users 140 characters to post messages, which are consolidated in a search-engine type of forum, the hashtag #pman served as a place for protesters to organize themselves and communicate with thousands of other protesters in Chisinau.

Another website has mashed up a Twitter feed with pictures, video, blog posts, and articles relating to the protests.

Thursday afternoon, Twitter users involved in the protests were claiming that Russian instigators were inducing rioting within crowds to spurn more arrests, as well as Moldovan secret police using surveillance and undercover operations to quell protesters. Reports that Facebook was shut down by the Moldovan government were also coming out via Twitter. Still, Thursday, sentiments remained strong amongst the online community involved in the protests, who were "Tweeting" in several languages, including Romanian, Russian, and English.

"[Voronin] must understand, we no longer support communism," said one protester. Another message being "Tweeted" by protesters stated: "Friday, at 10 a.m., we will be there. With a flower in our hand, and without vandalism. We are not thugs!"

As technology has evolved so quickly over the past ten years, so has the generation that was brought up with that technology. As this generation, my generation, comes of age and realizes its potential, so it is realizing the tool belt around its waist is larger and contains more tools than any generation before it. And so it just might be this generation, the online generation, that could use that ever-expanding tool belt to rebuild and restructure the world we live in.