|
|
Joma taps Facebook for social networking
By Tarra Quismundo
Infotech / Infotech
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: December 27, 2008
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20081227-180154/Joma-taps-Facebook-for-social-networking
MANILA, Philippines—You can “poke” Joma, send him a message or gift
him with a red flag and virtual copy of “The Communist Manifesto.”
Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP), apparently digs the hugely popular social networking site Facebook
that Barack Obama himself used in his successful campaign for the US presidency.
Here, Sison, on self-exile in the Dutch city of Utrecht, keeps in touch with
more than 1,200 friends from around the world, among them fellow
revolutionaries, militants, journalists and, yes, even sexy star Asia Agcaoili.
And while he became tech-savvy only recently, the 69-year-old leader of
the party tagged by the United States as a terrorist organization adapts to
cyber-cool and simply uses his nickname for his online persona.
Sison’s latest status update, a Facebook feature where users talk about their
current state of mind, recent activity or any message, reads in apparent
reference to yesterday’s 40th CPP anniversary: “Joma Sison is conveying the
season’s greetings to everyone and celebrating a historic event.”
On the other hand, the CPP’s birthday statement was true to its cause,
unveiling a five-year plan to step up the insurgency and establish a Marxist
state. This includes battling officials “perpetrating treason, plunder and human
rights violations.”
His Facebook page is Sison’s alternate outlet to his presence on video-sharing
website YouTube and his official website, a rather formal .org bearing his full
name where his writings and information on his legal cases are posted.
“It is meant to reach a wider audience and to show people another side of
Joma, that he’s not a foreign terrorist but someone funny. It gives you an
idea what kind of person he is,” said Renato Reyes Jr. of the leftist group
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.
“You can interact with him and when he can respond, he will discuss with
you issues like the global economic crisis,” Reyes said.
“Seven years ago, Joma would not go near a computer. He was initially
intimidated by the technology of the Internet. But he got into the World
Wide Web in 2001. It was a complete transformation; he’s now Internet-savvy
and uses different platforms,” Reyes said.
©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
|
|