Social networks have become the new public spaces for debate and accountability

It all started in a tweet. After Mexican President Felipe Calderón announced his tax package proposal for 2010 last month, which among other things suggested taxing telecommunications with a 4 percent tax for considering them “a luxury,” Alejandro Pisanty, a professor of UNAM in sabbatical leave and Chair of the Mexican chapter of the Internet Society, decided to write a statement against it and posted on his blog. On it, Pisanty raised the rejection of the tax and suggested using the phrase “Internet Necesario” (Necessary Internet) in all further assertions that were related to this concern.

“Alejandro came to me and ask me to support him and to help him spreading this initiative,” says León Felipe Sánchez, Intellectual Property attorney who also drafted a bill for the Protection of the Rights of Internet Users that is currently in the Senate. And so he did. On October 19 Sánchez wrote the first tweet that was marked under the #internetnecesario hash tag and “it turned out to spread like wildfire because the malaise pushed people to identify themselves immediately with the rejection and began using the label.” He did not think on doing it through Facebook only because he uses Twitter more often but apparently the immediacy of this platform resulted very effective.

In two weeks, 12 thousand users participated in the protest and sent more than 100 thousand tweets with the hash tag, which for Mexico’s Internet users –around 21 per cent of the total population according to gapminder.org- was quite an achievement. Interestingly enough, although there were several thousands of tweets on the subject, #internetnecesario didn’t become a Tweeter Trend, which was understood by many as reflect of the anglocentrism of the platform.

Two days after Sánchez´s tweet on October 21, the Commission on Science and Technology of the Senate, for which he is a consultant in Intellectual Property, hosted a round table debate with some of the members of the Internet user’s community to hear their arguments about the disadvantages that would have taxing telecommunications.

“I found it very interesting to see how concerned citizens were able to attract the attention of the Senate in a matter of days to address an issue that concerned us,” says Francisco Alanis, a radio anchor and one of Mexico´s most “followed” people on Twitter. “We are normally accustomed to seeing politicians only speaking to other politicians and citizen proposals being ignored unless streets are closed, more drastic measures are taken or represent a big chunk for their parties.”

The debate showed the importance of the Internet Necesario movement, which in Sánchez opinion lies in that it went from a virtual to the real protest in an orderly manner, with reasoning and foundations, without blocking streets, excesses, anything.

But the movement did not stopped there. On November 1 some of the organizers called for Internet users to gather at Parque Hundido in Mexico City and some other spots around the country to take a massive picture to continue stressing the importance of the Internet. “I don’t usually complain but this was peaceful demonstration against a tax that would take away people’s opportunity to take part of their education in their own hands. And even worse in a country where formal education is so bad,” says Federico Casas, one of the participants.

The Internet Necesario movement not only caught the attention of legislators and other political actors who realized that “things are not like they used to and that there are sectors of civil society, without any political tags or parties, and a plethora of opinions and positions that are watching and demanding accountability. They cannot continue to do things at their discretion,” states Sanchez.

But also, and most importantly for the purpose of the movement itself, it achieved to curb the tax Internet services when purchased independently. In the case of Internet packages that include cable and telephone services it succeeded on exempting up to 30% per cent of the total bill.

However, the implications of this initiative that according to its organizers was meant to remain among friends, go far beyond. “In Mexico we’re used to being a passive society,” says Alanis, “we always complain but hardly take the initiative to act in the way that was done in this case. That´s the greatest lesson of Internet Needed, that we understood that it was time to stop waiting for a great messiah who will work for people before for his party, because he simply does not exist!”

It is estimated that there are around 32 thousand Twitter users in Mexico of which about 8 thousand are active members who made the #internetnecesario movement a success. People’s reaction toward this initiative that according to Sánchez was meant to remain among friends, caught everyone by surprise. For the first time in Mexico, civil society and politicians realized that there is a virtual sphere in which people can organize without needing a political leader, and that goes beyond their jurisdiction.  It seems very likely that from now on things will never be as they used to.

More for less

According to some of the members of Internet Necesario, Mexico is one of the countries with the most expensive Internet service relative to the speed offered.