Alliance of Youth Movements
Encyclopedia
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
Jared Cohen
Jared Cohen is the Director of Google Ideas, an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a non-fiction author. Previously he served as a member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff and a close advisor to both Condoleezza Rice and later Hillary Clinton...
, former advisor to both Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton and a director at Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Jason Liebman, CEO and co-founder of Howcast
Howcast
Howcast is a website that provides instructional short-form how-to video and text content that combines practical information with various filmmaking techniques such as humor, claymation and animation...
, 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.
Organization and history
Movements.org began with a December 2008 summit in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to identify, convene, and engage 21st century movements online for the first time in history. The US Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
partnered with Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, Howcast
Howcast
Howcast is a website that provides instructional short-form how-to video and text content that combines practical information with various filmmaking techniques such as humor, claymation and animation...
, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, JetBlue, Gen-Next, Access 360 Media, and Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
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
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
co-founder Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz is an American internet entrepreneur who co-founded the social networking website Facebook along with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes. Moskovitz owns a 6% share of Facebook. He is also a co-founder and the CEO of Asana. Moskovitz is Jewish...
, the Obama Campaign
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
’s New Media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
Team, and then-current Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs of the United States James K. Glassman
James K. Glassman
James K. Glassman is an American conservative editorialist, journalist, diplomat and author. He is currently the host of the television program Ideas in Action, which airs on PBS member stations across the country. On December 11, 2007 Glassman was nominated by President George W...
.
In March 2009 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced and endorsed the Second Alliance for Youth Movements Summit, held October 14–16, 2009 in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. This Summit explored the role of technology in mobilizing young people working to end violence throughout Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and around the world. Young delegates, described by Secretary Clinton as “the vanguard of a rising generation of citizen activists,” 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.
Recent activities
AYM's most recent summit look place in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
March 9-11, 2010. Speakers included: Scott Heiferman, CEO of MeetUp.com, Martin Sorrell, CEO and founder of WPP Group
WPP Group
WPP plc is a global media communications services company with its main management office in London, United Kingdom and its executive office in Dublin, Ireland. It is the world's largest advertising group by revenues, and employs over 150,000 people in 2,400 offices in 107 countries...
, and Skype conversation with Jack Dorsey co-founder and Chairman of Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
.
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
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
"run directly out of the US State Department with the support of corporate America." The conservative Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
on his television program on Fox also speculated on connections between the Alliance and the Egyptian revolution.