More on Community Organizing in Central America

I read an article in the Tico Times (the only English newspaper in Costa Rica) about the use of the internet for community organizing in Nicaragua. Just in case you are geography challenged like I am, Nicaragua is the country just north of Costa Rica. Nicaragua is very politically unstable. I wrote previously on how people from this country go to Costa Rica for the low wage jobs working in the coffee bean fields, etc. Last month, a number of problems cumulated into a huge fiascal. A medical-worker strike took place with confrontations with police and takeovers of government buildings. An illegal hike in bus fare caused students to riot- throwing rocks through windows of passing busses, hijacking busses and other government vehicles then setting them on fire. The president of the country, on his way out the door after elections in 6 months, sat back and did nothing saying it was a municipal government issue. In addition, there is problems with the power company Union Fenosa. There have been power blackouts in recent times and the National Consumer Defense Network is working to do something about that. They are demanding discounts for blackout periods and are denouncing pricing policies of this company.
The NCDN who were organizing these protests turned to the computer and the use of mass e-mail to mobilize people. Few people in Nicaragua own a computer, but internet cafes are popular as they are in Costa Rica and many people have e-mail accounts. The NCDN are urging Nicaraguians to not pay their electric bills for April and May until positive change occurs. They sent out a mass e-mail to 6,000 inboxes on June 1. The article states that more than 25 people responded on the first day and wanted to know what more can be done to solve the problem. This is a very new concept in this country and the 25 responses which seem unimpressive in our world, is quite noteworthy in Nicaragua. There was no follow-up information in the article regarding actual participation.