Pre-programmed mass movements

This page was created on Jan 19, 2009 and was last updated on Feb 01, 2011

Definition

Pre-programing means preparing the masses in advance to react to different outcomes of a future action. The action can be a protest, or a popular revolt against a tyrannical government. This preparation becomes necessary in situations where technology-based lines of communication are temporarily cut during the events, or in preparation for such an eventuality. But even with the most sophisticated one-to-many means of communication, pre-programing is always advised in order to reduce panic during events, and to increase the level of cohesion of the masses. Pre-programming requires knowledge about the situation to come, and a lot of experience. The organizers must imagine different possible scenarios, and must be able to identify patterns and cues that will be recognizable by the masses in the middle of the action. A response action must be decided for every possible outcome, associated to every identifiable pattern or cue. This knowledge must be communicated to all participants before the event takes place. Additional rudimentary means of communication can also be established to increase the coordination level during the event. Information about different types of situations is readily available on the Internet, you can find it on activists' websites. Videos of similar events are also available on the Internet. They can give the organizers a more textured idea about what will come. And to fill the remaining gaps, organizers can always chat with an experienced person situated in a more democratic country. In fact, the entire preparation can be driven from a different country. An example of the type of information passed to the general population before the event would be: Description of the event including its goals.
Location: maps of the location of the event, specific locations, access to these locations, and escape routes.
Opposing forces: how the forces of order will organize, what sort of weapons they will use, how to protect against these weapons?
Actions: list of actions to take and goals to achieve, schedule of events and their locations.
Logistics: how to get there, what to bring, how to communicate, when and how to (re)group, etc.
Reactions: list of possible outcomes, associated patterns and cues to recognize them, and responses associated.
Safety: location of medical assistance, escape routes, access to other necessities.
To DOs and NOT to dos.

Knowledge-based pre-programing

In the case of knowledge-based pre-programing all the information given to the participants is stored in their memory. To pass this information the organizers can use Internet technology coupled with live events. There is a fundamental limitation to a live training event: not every participant can attend it, and are almost impossible in non democratic countries. In this case it becomes preferable to form groups and to train only their designated leaders (hierarchy is needed in absence of efficient means of communication and coordination). But more general information can be delivered through the Internet to the general population through videos, mp3-s and text, in preparation for the event.

Technology-based pre-programing

This can become helpful for events that last for a longer time and during which the participants are cut from the rest of the world (Egyptian Revolution (2011) for example). The idea is to provide the participants with all the information about the situation, possible outcomes, patterns and cues that trigger responses, response actions to every cue, and others, through the Internet (mass distribution), before the event takes place, in a digital format. This information is downloaded by all the participants or leaders of small units into personal multimedia devices, like an iPod, for example, and carried on the ground. See The Mp3 Experiment and the Flash Mob videos. The difference between technology-based and knowledge-based pre-programing is that in the former case digital devices are used to store information. The most important advantage is that a great quantity of information can be stored in different formats such as interactive maps, pictures, videos, etc.

Emergency EXIT TO FREEDOM plan

Serious organizations always plan ahead for emergency situations. From time to time, emergency plans rehearsals are enacted to test the efficiency of these plans and to get people used to the emergency systems in place. We propose a similar plan to be implemented for every community/society on this planet, to be put into practice whenever tyranny takes over.

This can take the form of a wiki, an open and collaborative up-to-date repository containing crucial information about how to take the emergency EXIT TO FREEDOM. All the information gathered on this wiki is downloadable with a ONE click operation into a popular format, to be carried on ubiquitous digital devices. Information can contain maps, the architecture of the power structure in place and its weak points, action plans, how to-s, list of important resources and where to find them, etc. It must be self contained, no need to be connected to operate on it. Every citizen has the duty to keep an updated version of the entire repository in times of crisis.

The repository must be able to resist to all imaginable cyber attacks from the tyrannical government. All repositories can be integrated into a decentralized global network, exchanging information, know-how and tactics.

Transmission: the repository must be compressed and made ready to spread within a densely packed crowd from one device to another through Wifi or bluetooth connections.