Within the space of a month, collective action against the Colombian guerrilla group FARC grew from a humble Facebook group to street protests in 130 cities around the world, including this rally in Madrid. I'm exploring Facebook's role in this action, the attention paid to repression in Burma, and activism over the Beijing Olympics and Tibet in an article on AlterNet.

Certainly, there are plenty of very valid concerns about using Facebook as a tool of political activism. I'm usually the first to worry about handing over our personal agency to our corporate overlords. But as I've said elsewhere, you go to revolution with the tools you have, not the tools you want. When and if Facebook fades away, there will still be a great many lessons learned about how we exploit networks to advance our political agendas. You can't discount an online tool that has facilitated the gathering of millions of protesting boots on the ground. (Photo thx juanpg)