Who’s Who Wiki Brings Corporate Transparency to Latin America

Looking back on 2011, one of the biggest stories of the year was the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Occupy Wall Street spread throughout the world sending a message representing the 99% of the population who suffers the consequences of choices made by the richest 1%. Protesters decided they would no longer stand idly by and watch big corporations and banks strip them of their basic rights. In Latin America, particularly, corporate interests hold all the power. Mexico - home to the richest man on the planet - has 13% of its people living in absolute poverty. This is the most unequal region on earth. PODER Mexico will bridge this inequality with its new campaign for an open data website, Who’s Who Wiki.

Who’s Who Wiki is the first corporate transparency tool of its kind - an innovative open data website that holds Latin American companies and corporate elites accountable. The brain child of Ben Cokelet, founder of PODER, and winner of Ashoka and Echoing Green fellowships in 2010, Who’s Who Wiki fills an information gap for communities and empowers citizen stakeholders. The overall goal is to protect human rights, fair labor and the environment from unethical corporate actions and hold such corporations accountable.

Exactly how Who’s Who Wiki works is outlined in meticulously transparent detail on the campaign page. Impressively, just a week after the campaign began, it reached its tipping point. With your help, it will reach its campaign goal, bringing the alpha version to fruition within six months and opening it up to wiki users. The alpha version of the Who’s Who Wiki will focus on Mexican corporate elites as they represent the paradigm of inequality in Latin America. This progress will shake up Latin America for the better. For a more transparent Latin America, tweet about the campaign, share it on Facebook or make a contribution and let democracy win out.

________________________________________________________

Joe Donnellan

I have a BA in Public and Social Policy at NUI, Galway and have very recently relocated to Boston to live the American dream and to dive head first into the global community. I am still finding my feet here but I am trying to gain as much valuable experience as I possibly can. I enjoy the game that is politics and I also feel quite strongly about the subjects of genocide, human rights abuses and social exclusion. I love all manner of sport but have become more of an arm chair fan in recent year. My personal philosophy is that I want to leave everything in a better place than it was when I came in contact with it. You can follow me on twitter @joeydonn.