The Alliance of Youth Movements was an event in 2008 which led to the creation of Movements.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying, connecting, and supporting, digital activists.
Founders of Movements.org include Jared Cohen, former advisor to both Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton and a director at Google, Jason Liebman, CEO and co-founder of Howcast, the How-to website, and Roman Tsunder, co-founder of Access 360 Media. Movements.org hosts annual conferences, events, and trainings that link influential leaders in technology, media, in the private and public sectors with the some of the world's most promising digital activists. The organization’s website, Movements.org, serves as a hub for discussion, resources, and news about digital activism around the world.
Contents |
Movements.org began with a December 2008 summit in New York City to identify, convene, and engage 21st century movements online for the first time in history. The US Department of State partnered with Facebook, Howcast, MTV, Google, YouTube, AT&T, JetBlue, Gen-Next, Access 360 Media, and Columbia Law School to launch a global network and empower young people mobilizing against violence and oppression. The inaugural summit was called the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit. Later when the organization launched its website in 2011, Movements.org, they began to refer to the organization as Movements.org.
Speakers at the inaugural 2008 summit included actress Whoopi Goldberg, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, the Obama Campaign’s New Media Team, and then-current Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs of the United States James K. Glassman.
In March 2009 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced and endorsed the Second Alliance for Youth Movements Summit[1], held October 14–16, 2009 in Mexico City. This Summit explored the role of technology in mobilizing young people working to end violence throughout Latin America and around the world. Young delegates, described by Secretary Clinton as “the vanguard of a rising generation of citizen activists,”[2] were joined by more than 15 private and public partners, including the world’s leading technology companies. Together they launched discussions on how best to use the latest technological tools to catalyze change, build movements, and transform lives.
AYM's most recent summit look place in London March 9-11, 2010. Speakers included: Scott Heiferman, CEO of MeetUp.com, Martin Sorrell, CEO and founder of WPP Group, and Skype conversation with Jack Dorsey co-founder and Chairman of Twitter.
In 2011, the conspiracy-oriented Global Research published an opinion that it was creating a "very selective group of activists working on problem spots the US State Department would like to see changed. Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eastern Europe, Venezuela, and even Thailand". They saw the April 6 Movement of Egypt is one of many movements undermining governments impeding "corporate America's agenda" with the ousting of Hosni Mubarak "run directly out of the US State Department with the support of corporate America."[3] The conservative Glenn Beck on his television program on Fox also speculated on connections between the Alliance and the Egyptian revolution.[4]