Social Media for Social Justice

Much has been written about how social media was used to organize the riots in Vancouver after the Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final. But here's an example of a more positive use of social media - trying to save a potentially innocent man's life.

Last week, supporters of Troy Davis mobilized an international social media campaign to save him from the death penalty. Davis was convicted of killing a police officer in 1989. Since then, seven of the nine witnesses against him have recanted their testimony, saying they felt pressured by the police to name Davis as the killer.

His supporters, including the NAACP, the Coalition to End the Death Penalty, and Amnesty International, organized a social media campaign called #TooMuchDoubt. Amnesty urged people to change their Facebook pictures with photos of Davis with the words Too Much Doubt written across it. The NAACP also launched an "I am Troy Davis" campaign via Facebook and Twitter.

But the power of social media has its limits. It can be much easier to organize a fruitless riot than to right an apparent injustice.

Sadly, Davis lost his last appeal today before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. He is slated for execution on Wednesday. While his supporters may have succeeded in mobilizing support for Davis, they appear to have lost the battle to save his life. According an AFP article, not even the governor of Georgia has the power to save him.

What does this have to do with social media for development? Not much directly, unless you consider the quest for social justice to be an aspect of development. We think of development in terms so-called Third World nations, but we in the so-called first world have not perfected our political and legal institutions either. They need to be further developed.

I don't know if Davis is guilty or not, but there appears to be enough reasonable doubt to at least spare his life. And, for the record, I am not opposed to the idea of a death penalty. I don't believe that Clifford Olsen and Paul Bernardo should be breathing the same air as the rest of us. But I'm not sure the death penalty can function as it should in a deeply flawed justice system.

If he is put to death on Wednesday, Davis's supporters need not feel they have failed him. If Davis is not guilty, then the American justice system has failed him instead. Civil society actors such as Amnesty did succeed in mobilizing support for Davis, and the lessons learned may pay off in future cases. The lessons learned may also assist civil society mobilize social media for other causes as well.