[Infowarrior] - 'Usenet Revolution' predates 'Twitter' / 'Facebook' revolution

[Richard Forno]

How a handful of geeks defied the USSR

When twenty years ago Gorbatchev was faced with the challenge of a coup, only one channel was able to survive Soviet censorship. This is the story of how Usenet invented online activism.

by Olivier Tesquet On February 4, 2011

http://owni.eu/2011/02/04/how-a-handful-of-geeks-defied-the-ussr/

USSR, August 19 1991: While Mikhaïl Gorbatchev was on holiday in his datcha located in Crimea, Eight apparatchiks attempted to seize power over the state. Hostile to reforms, the “Gang of Eight” tried to prevent the Perestoika reforms and the loss of their satellite states. These eight orthodox Communists launched an attempted coup d’état by installing themselves as The State Committee of the State of Emergency. After Gobatchev returned he tried to restore order and save face, but it was clear that this episode would eventually lead to his downfall.

In this well documented event, there is an interesting historically episode which is often overlooked. During the two days of the coup the Russian media was shut down, and thus not covering Boris Yeltsin ranting on top of a tank for the crowd, nor the shock of the international community. All channels were blacked-out except for one; Usenet, which is the grandfather of chat-rooms and is capable or surviving without the Internet. For these precious 48 hours, a few dozen individuals contributed to this last means of communication with the outside world.

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Nearly twenty years before the coining of the term “Twitter revolution,” when the web didn’t really exist and the concept of an Internet connection at home was still in its infancy, Usenet was paving the road for the technology we depend on today.

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http://owni.eu/2011/02/04/how-a-handful-of-geeks-defied-the-ussr/