2009 Programs and Events

Obama’s New Media Director Encourages Civic Engagement

U.S. Speaker Joe Rospars, New Media Director for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, visited Belarus on March 25-29.  Rospars drew from his experience in the 2008 elections and Obama’s highly successful new media operations to make points about the use of Internet technology in informational campaigns. The Obama campaign’s innovative and highly successful approach to motivating people to build a broad organizational infrastructure meshed beautifully with the interests of various Belarusian publics, including civil society organizers, new and traditional independent media representatives, students and PR professionals.  Mr. Rospars’ presentations not only provided first-hand insights into the philosophy behind Barack Obama’s bottom-up presidential campaign but also offered Belarusian audiences an understanding of how to effectively mobilize people behind a cause as well as reasons why the tools for people to organize themselves and work independently are powerful mechanisms to the overall development of civil society.