Tweet, Meet & Give at Twestival with IndyACT

Do something for your community: The Live Aid of the digital world, Twestival (a Twitter-Festival), is about to happen again!

On Sunday September 13, twitterers, sponsors and others will get together at 4p.m. in the Rawda Café (near Sporting Club) in Ras Beirut for a charity fund-raising event. Twestival Beirut will run for the first time simultaneously in parallel with more than 133 countries worldwide.

It all started in London about a year ago. Amanda Rose, a Canadian entrepreneur and social media graduate student, came up with the idea of bringing together twitterers in the offline world to have fun, exchange technology tips and do something good. Organized in two weeks, the first twestival attracted 250 people who connected via twitter and raised money for a homeless charity in London. With £1000 raised and 14 boxes of canned food packed, the team started planning the idea of simultaneously hosting Twestivals all around the world.

12 months later and Twestival has literally gone global. From Rio de Janeiro to Toronto to Dubai to Copenhagen to Beirut – are celebrating Twestivals that will raise money for local causes.

In Beirut, Twestival is supporting IndyACT, The League of Independent Activists, in its continuous campaigns to fight the increasing climate change crisis. There is less than 3 months to Copenhagen where world leaders will come together in the most important meeting of a generation to decide if they will save the planet or not. Unfortunately, our Arab governments still lag behind with no true leadership and avoiding responsibility. Twestival Beirut with the help of volunteers and civil society will help change that. They will call for climate change action and moving away from the path of destruction, continued poverty and despair.

With Billions on email lists, 100+ Million blogs, 50 million Facebook users, 55 Million users/month on YouTube, 14 Million twitterers; roughly 25% of the world’s population is online. All is needed is true leadership and commitment to humanity and its future. IndyACT has always realized the immense potential of real-time social media particularly for advocacy and charity work.
Twestival Beirut and IndyACT call on everyone whether media savvy or not, to buy the ticket, invite their friends on twitter and other social networking sites and GET INVOLVED! It is about time they started following on the negotiations and the role of their governments in these negotiations, as well as to seriously commit to the cause and the critical urgency of the matter and help push for an ambitious, fair and binding climate change agreement!
IndyACT’s key Dates to take reference of:

- 21 September (coinciding with world leaders meeting in NY): Global Wake-Up Call: Calling people to come with their alarm clocks, musical instruments, horns, etc. and meet as at Ain Al-Mreiseh at 8pm facing McDonalds. Our aim is to make as much noise as possible to remind our leaders to Act Against Climate Change!
- 24 October (coinciding with Global Day of Action Against Climate Change): Screening of Age of Stupid Blockbuster Movie.
- Copenhagen’s Final Push: IndyACT will be taking around 10 journalists and bloggers from around the Arab region to Copenhagen to cover the negotiation process and be witnesses to human stories affected by climate change.


Further information on IndyACT can be found on:
www.indyact.org

Further information on Twestival Beirut:
http://beirut.twestival.com/

Further information on the Global Campaign for Climate Action can be found on:
www.gc-ca.org
www.tcktcktck.org