NowActivism: Hacking as Social Change

The news is filled with stories of suffering and oppression these past couple of weeks — from Kashmir to Baghdad to Dhaka, Dallas, and beyond. While the media is not necessarily a good pulse of “what’s going on” in the world, what with the privileging of certain conflicts (mainly western) and violence that sells, leaving others almost completely uncovered, these stories of injustice are deeply disturbing; as MLK said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Where to go? What to do? I’ve worked on a lot of different efforts — from more traditional ‘development,’ like education and skilling, to social movements and protests to community building and everything in between. I think parts of all of these methods are important and play an important role in different situations.

But recently, after my fellowship at Shikshantar on Hacking the Education System, I’ve become more interested in ‘hacking’ as a method for social change. Before I joined the fellowship, I always thought of hacks in terms of computers. In the US, hackers are presented as mad spies, who break into our computers and use the information to create mayhem. The second place in which I had heard the term was in university, where techies came together to create new apps under a tight time crunch and compete for prize money.

During my fellowship, though, I gained a new understanding for what hacking means. As far as I understand, hacking is about changing power relationships via a process of awakening the public to a reality that we know and dislike, but that has become so normalized that we have come to basically accept it as simply the way things are.

This is important, because those in power gain their power from us. Even in cases, where domination and violence are used, the powerful person is powerful because of their control over us. And it’s similar for cases, where we tacitly accept those in power out of fear. A person who stands up and claims that he is a king will be laughed at and nothing will change until others begin to follow him.

It’s easier to see and criticize explicit hierarchies and power structures, where there is a clear dictator controlling over everyone else. However, there are many other invisible arrangements that underlie our society and limit our freedom in ways that are not necessarily immediately obvious. This could be a company exploiting its labor, grabbing land under unfair conditions, or polluting the environment. It could be a government department making policies without any consultation of citizens. It could be seemingly well-intentioned philanthropists forcing programs and technologies on far away people, who they’ve never met and probably never will meet.

True, the legal system exists and can be used in some situations, but it’s inaccessible to most citizens, and is subject to its own vagaries. It’s also not suited well for dealing with policies made by the government, which break no rules, but which nonetheless may be harmful in invisible ways to countless people. On the other hand, when the curtain is pulled back and people begin to consider different perspectives, as opposed to passively accepting the status quo, then real, lasting change is possible.

And that’s where hacking comes in. We humans aren’t rational all the time, and I think rationality follows emotion more than vice versa. Meaning, a change in perspective is significantly more likely to follow some kind of experience that engages us emotionally. And only once our perspective has changed do we start to engage our rational mind, coming up with justifications for what we believe. This is why art, photographs, music, videos, poetry and experiences tend to be much more powerful than written or verbal rational arguments (which makes me wonder why I spend so much time writing…)

So what are some examples of hacks? When I think of individual hackers, I think first of Charlie Chaplin; he offered social critique by humorously showing the absurdity of our political, social, economic, and technological institutions. For a more modern example, I think of talkshow host Steven Colbert, whose show and TV personality is a parody of conservative talkshow hosts in the US.

When I think about groups and communities of hackers, I think about the Onion, a satirical newspaper in the US, which writes spoofs of current events. Another hacking crew are the Yes Men, who create false identities and pose as representatives from large corporations, government, or multilateral organizations, like the World Bank or World Trade Organization. They especially hack those institutions, which have created harm, but are yet to acknowledge it or offer compensation to the victims. In holding press conferences and going on talk shows, they are able to directly hack the messaging of these large institutions, which forces them to then respond — something that court cases, protests, and mass petitions often times fail to do.

Beyond that, hacking can come in the form of posters, community events, or even by promoting alternatives that challenge the current status quo.

So what did our hackers come up with in a quick 8-hour challenge? What did they want to hack? How did the process go for them? What challenges did they encounter? What did they ultimately create? I will share a few examples over the next few days!