Modern Technology Changes Art of Protest

Broadcast: Mar¹ 11, 2003

 

It's hard to say when or where the world's first signature petition was circulated, but in general, historians believe two things had to happen before the petition could truly become an effective form of protest. First, common people had to become literate², and then they had to believe they had a right to tell their government what to do. For that reason, the modern-day petition is usually traced to the 18th century, the so-called 'Enlightenment' period in the West. But it wasn't until the 19th century that the petition really came of age. It was then that the first ¹⁾blockbuster petitions, gathering³ more than a million signatures each, were circulated throughout England. And now, says Kevin Matthews, director of the website PetitionOnline.com, the petition has come of age again.

"The real strength of on-line petitioning comes, of course, from the characteristics of the Internet. Word about a petition can be communicated quickly. People can sign it quickly wherever they have computer access. In addition, some issues really are international, so the response to people's ideas and feelings can happen so much more quickly than on a paper petition," Mr. Matthews said.

And Mr. Matthews said that in an increasing number of nations - including the United States, Japan, and the countries of the European Union - a digital signature enjoys the same legal recognition traditional signatures enjoy. Kevin Matthew's website is one of several "clearing houses" for on-line petitions. People can post their ²⁾grievances there for free, and the website is regulated largely by software that filters out obscene language and alerts administrators⁴ whenever multiple signatures have been posted from the same server. This is an attempt to avoid fraud and make it difficult for anyone to sabotage⁵ a petition. The website is nearly self-sustaining, but every now and then, Kevin Matthews and his colleagues do have to take a look at the petitions, to make sure no one's advocating violence. They don't get paid to do this, but Mr. Matthews says there are other rewards.

"We get really excited about the passion that people have. That's not necessarily why we started Petition Online in the first place, which was sort of a pure, abstract idea about grassroots democracy on the web. But what keeps us putting our efforts into this public service that we tend to kind of lose money on, on a month-to-month, basis is the connection that it makes for people around the world," Mr. Matthews said.

Anyone can post a petition on the site. There are calls for suicide bombing to be declared a "crime against humanity" and campaigns for the diplomatic recognition of Palestine as a ³⁾sovereign state. Not all of the petitions are quite so serious. So far, more than 500 people have signed one calling for the 2003 Cricket World Cup to be broadcast live in the United States. It's up to the person who created each petition to print it out and make sure it gets delivered. But sometimes, that isn't even necessary, according to Cindy Crandelmere, who posted a petition earlier this year, calling for a local newspaper to stop printing the names of rape^{6 4)}victims. Ms. Crandelmere said the newspaper's publisher saw the petition on the web before she'd had a chance to deliver it.

"It was definitely effective because the publisher called my daughter and her co-workers into his office and told them that he had changed his mind about publishing the names. He had a copy of the petition in his hands when he said so," Ms. Crandelmere said.

But in order for a petition to be effective, said Kevin Matthews, it doesn't necessarily have to accomplish its stated goal. "Sometimes just the act of joining your voices together gives people the support that they need to maintain their ⁵⁾integrity, to keep working on the things that they care about. So a petition can work in other ways that are maybe a little subtler," Mr. Matthews said.

And for that reason, Kevin Matthews says he considers every one of the more than 50,000 petitions posted on PetitionOnline.com since 1999 to be a success.

I'm Maura Farrelly.

1)    blockbuster[5blCk5bQstE]n. (破坏力极大的)巨型炸弹, 一鸣惊人者

2)    grievance[5^ri:vEns]n. 委屈, 冤情, 不平

3)    sovereign[5sCvrin]adj. 独立自主的

4)    victim[5viktim]n. 受害人, 牺牲者, 牺牲品

5)    integrity[in5te^riti]n. 完全, 完整性

1 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

2 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。

3 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

4 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

5 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

6 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。