Clicktivism: an empowering response to changing times

I was contacted this week by Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo (pdf in Spanish) to discuss the issue of clicktivism, an issue that I have spoken about in other media in Spain on several occasions.

During the interview we talked about the increase in clicktivism as a way of adapting protest to the digital age, an empowering phenomenon that potentially makes it easier than ever to respond to events around us, reducing the initial need to mobilize large numbers of people in a specific location, and significantly reducing the corresponding logistical and security problems of street protests.

Some might argue that clicktivism runs the risk of turning us into sofa protesters or mouse activists, but this need not be the case. Working online means that it is easier to inform greater numbers of people about a particular issue, who can then, for example, be mobilized to take part in a protest march. Global platforms such as Change.org or Avaaz, give the public time to really get to know the ins and outs of an issue, and make people feel that they are part of something really big, as well as allowing us to take the time to read contrasting views on the question.

My impression is that the online process that leads somebody to putting their name to a petition or supporting a cause is likely to be the result of serious thought and research, and that once somebody’s attention has been caught, that they will continue to inform themselves about the issue. The important thing here obviously is that the outcome will be to make protest more tangible, and support more visible, which is not to say that there is no risk of fraud through multiple voting by the same person, either through a misplaced sense of trying to offer greater help, or, equally, by opponents seeking to discredit said protest.

Once somebody has been informed about a cause, and they take it up, experience shows that they then begin to identify with it, which in many cases leads to them becoming activists themselves over many years. As has always been the case, there is the initial question of what we might call the Damascene moment: not everybody who signs a petition ends up taking to the streets, but research suggests that the likelihood of doing so is greater in cases where people sign up to a cause first.

Is there a danger that clicktivism could lead to a decline in activism? I don’t think so. At worst it might lead people to make light of some causes: supporting via a signature without the individual having really engaged with those promoting it, but this is an issue that can be resolved through the conversion process. Clicktivism can make us more reactive, and in many cases, even proactive. Clicktivism can also act as a social barometer, a way of highlighting support for, or increasing awareness of, issues, and is a phenomenon that we are going to see more of.

At the same time, clicktivism highlights the importance of our power of boycott, an aspect of activism that is perfectly legitimate. The idea that a boycott is in some way anti-democratic is utterly absurd: a boycott is simply a way for the public to vote with their actions, as well as their wallet, and is perfectly democratic. Supporters of boycotting, as long as they do not impose them undemocratically, are simply asking for wider support for a protest: there are few more democratic means of doing so. Clicktivism, boycotts, and similar activities are the means we have at our disposal to register protest in this day and age, a way of adapting society’s response mechanisms to a bi-directional environment, one in which we can now express ourselves and our opinions through simple tools at everybody’s disposal. In fact, the trend towards delegitimization of clicktivism (aside from trying to improve it from a technical perspective) or criminalization of the boycott can be interpreted as the way the old structures try to resist its progressively growing strength and impact.

In the wake of the collapse of a world in which only those with access to, or control over, the mass media or large organizations had the power to influence public opinion, clicktivism is now something that we should all give some serious thought to.

(En español, aquí)