Connective action: how the internet is changing political and social movements
“In the prevailing Western liberal tradition, freedom of expression is perceived as a fundamental human right requiring the uninhibited free flow of information. This is especially true for the internet” Cohen-Almagor, 2015.
Introduction
This blog post will explore how online communication has changed the nature of political and social movements. It will be argued that technology has been overwhelmingly successful in democratising information, thereby increasing political education, engagement and pluralism. Academics have made a strong case in favour of the internet, as it has been able to give movements new opportunities to engage people and inspire action. Through this, the rise of “cyberactivism” has aided political movements across the world, helping more people to mobilise for the issues they care about. It will also critically examine the implications of living in a digital world, in specificity to the Zapatista movement in Southern Mexico, which gained worldwide support over the internet.
Cyberactivism
In most of the developed world, the internet is low-cost and easy to access, making it a useful tool for interaction with people who hold similar beliefs. Cyberactivism is described as “the use of electronic communication technologies for various forms of ‘politically oriented’ activism, namely an activism in the civic political sphere through the internet. In fact, cyberactivism crosses disciplines, mixes theories with practical activist approaches, and represents a broad range of online activist strategies, from online awareness campaigns to internet-transmitted laser-project messaging”.
Conventional topics, unconventional methods
The issues targeted by cyberactivism are mostly the same issues which have been contested by human beings for decades: environmental degradation; racism; LGBTQ+ rights; gender equality; wealth distribution. However, the mechanisms behind organising action have been informalised and personalised. You can care about a certain topic and contribute to change without ascribing to a certain group or political party’s wider ideology. The wide-spread information online has enabled people to develop more flexible political identities based on their own lives and experiences.
So although the things people care about haven’t really changed, the way these issues are engaged with has. Grassroots movements, particularly left-wing ones, have been quick to incorporate digital communication into their strategy. The internet is a vehicle for rapid mobilisation and communication, drawing attention to the news that that mainstream outlets often do not publish.
Large-scale movements such as the Arab Spring, Los Indignados and Occupy Wall Street have used digital media to collectively organise and draw attention to their aims. Compared to traditional social movements, the internet-led personalised collective action formations have been able to be larger, and more flexible in their aims, bridging the gap between separate but related issues. Using online media, movements are able to sustain and build their efforts, despite seemingly informal organisation. Supporters communicate collective identities of being leaderless, with no hierarchical power structures, and making sure unions and other formal political groups are not centred in their activities. Using social media platforms, organisations can share simplified ideologically-driven messages to garner support from the wider public. These messages are then dispersed again by traditional forms of news reporting, and social media sharing. However, this direct digital marketing enables political movements to have more control over the media narrative surrounding them. It is harder to spread misinformation about a cause if those involved are monitoring and contributing to their media output.
The case of the Zapatistas
No-one has utilised the political possibilities of the internet better than “the first informational guerrilla movement”, the Zapatistas. Focused on indigenous rights and alternative economic development, the Zapatistas are based in Chiapas in Southern Mexico, but their message has spread across the globe due to having such a well-organised and engaging internet presence.
Just two days after their initial uprising in 1994, Subcommondante Marcus, the leader of the movement, was broadcasting the group’s message online. Using a digital media strategy, the Zapatistas have successfully communicated their ideas with the world and captured the attention of the press, academics and wider populations to draw attention to their movement. They use online communication to diffuse their message from Chiapas, and to organise a global network of solidarity groups with sympathetic aims, producing a movement of international public opinion which made it impossible for the Mexican government to repress them on any large scale. Mexico, like any country, is conscious of its public image, and so the vast online coverage of the Zapatistas has meant any military offensive, prosecution or subjugation against them by the Mexican state has become impossible. They have secured their own safety by broadcasting their message; after an initially violent uprising, they have now lived in Chiapas for over 20 years independently and without government intervention.
Conclusion
The Zapatista movement has been called both a revolutionary social movement and the first instance of online warfare. One academic even named it a “social netwar”. Whichever way this behaviour is interpreted, it is undeniable that the movement has been so successful due to the internet and the strategic networks they have been able to build within it.
The Zapatista movement has also been instrumental in highlighting the power of the internet in political movements. This so-called “Zapatista Effect” has signalled to wider social movements — the ability for this small, grassroots project of indigenous people in one of the poorest parts of the world to become mainstream news has huge ramifications for journalism, politics, technology and society itself. When the internet was created, it was held up as a leveller, a great feat in democratising information and exercising civil liberties. By using the internet to spread their message, and ultimately secure their own survival, the Zapatistas have essentially created their own digital society.
Reflection
In this section I will be using Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle to reflect on this module.
Concrete experience
When we began Digital Society in January, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I knew I wanted to learn something a bit different to my main degree. As I study International Business, Finance & Economics, I have previously covered how technology impacts businesses, however I was curious about how technology affects wider society and people’s everyday lives. I was particularly interested in the internet’s impact on democracy and political information, which I got to explore more in this final assessment. My concrete experience was formed in classes, where we were taught but also asked to discuss our thoughts in small groups. I really enjoyed the topics based around these ideas, and discussing things such as Wikileaks, the Panama Papers and the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Reflective observation
Most of my reflective observation was done in the homework when we were asked to do the reading then share our thoughts as comments on the blog posts. I’ve been intrigued by the topics we’ve covered throughout the course, and I remain curious about the Digital Society. I think I’ll leave this module with more questions than when I started — which, to me, is a sign of great teaching and an interesting topic. Although none of the questions I had at the beginning of the course were answered definitively (and there were no real definitive answers to them), I understand their context more, and I have a greater range of information to get me closer to the answers.
Abstract conceptualization
I’ve learned a lot more about the technology of the internet, and my personal highlight was the lecture on the history of the internet. I never knew before that the internet was initially invented for academics to communicate and share research, and that the reason we experience so many issues with its lack of censorship and regulation is because it’s a piece of technology built for individuals with a specific aim who would self-regulate their behaviour to a professional standard. However, when the internet reached a wider audience of private consumers, the lack of regulation turned into a lawless environment.
Abstract conceptualization allowed me to look at things in a new way. Since we began the module, I realised I started to interpret news in a new critical way. I was taking some of the ideas and concepts we’d discussed in lessons and applying them to new things.
Active experimentation
This blog post is definitely a large part of my active experimentation! I’ve definitely taken some of the discussion topics and chosen to expand upon them and look at them in a new way. We discussed Cambridge Analytica and how it had impacted the outcome of the Brexit Referendum in the UK and I wanted to find an instance where the availability of information on the internet was used towards something positive, which is how I came up with the idea for this blog.
I’ve also learned a lot of skills I could apply to future work — things like being digitally literate, commercial awareness, and even the blog writing style we’ve used throughout assessments.
Overall, I really enjoyed the module. It’s forced me to think outside of the box, challenged my existing beliefs and opinions, and made me develop my critical thinking skills. I think the idea of UCIL as a whole, to get you to learn about something outside of your degree, is amazing and I’d recommend it to any student.
