Join in a collective Google Earth ‘Love’ Bomb on May 17 to cover sites of hate and repression, with expressions of love !
Made famous by Tunisian anti-censorship protesters, in 2005, who covered Ben Ali’s presidential palace with video testimonies of political prisoners, Google Earth Bombing is a really simple way to put love, justice and human rights on the map – especially where physical protests are impossible, due to state restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly. It’s also an effective way for people to participate who can’t attend a public event for other reasons (e.g. lack of community spaces, mobility issues).
Since anyone can upload images, videos or text additions to a particular place, all you really need are these instructions – absolutely no programming skills are required.
You could ‘love’ bomb anywhere you want – for example, by putting a picture of you and your partner kissing, in the place you first fell in love, or a huge rainbow coloured heart on the top of Mount Everest.
You could also organise as a community – identifying a particular local or national place for collective action, and spreading it out via social media.
If you are looking to join in an international effort, one would guess that the Congress/Parliament building of certain countries which criminalise same sex relationships or public Expressions of LGBT rights, might be quite popular on the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia 2014.
Once you’ve done it, post a link (or screen-shot) of your contribution to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #lovebomb (and #IDAHOT) to help get this viral.