Euromaidan: The Future of Activism
#Euromaidan
Watching how quickly protests erupted in Ukraine has people wondering how much of an impact social media has had on these protests. In the book The New Digital Age, Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen Chapter 4 “The Future of Revolution” discusses social media as an important tool for activism. Malcolm Gladwell, a writer for The New Yorker would argue the use of the word revolution when discussing social media in his article, “Small Change”. Gladwell sees this issue in black and white but Ukraine is evidence that there is a huge gray area. It is not just traditional activism or social media activism, they can work hand in hand. The event in Ukraine demonstrates the importance of both traditional activism and social media activism when trying for a social change. Social media is an effective way to gather people on the streets to make a change.
Tools of Social Media
Social media helps spread protests because of how easy it is to repost someone else’s idea without having to make your own claim.The safety of hiding behind a screen rather than actually getting involved in street protests gives people courage. “It’s fairly easy to re-tweet an anti-government slogan or share a video of violent police brutality from a safe distance, especially when compared with the risks taken by whoever shot the video” (Cohen and Schmidt 127). Re-tweeting is simply sharing someone else’s twitter post in your own twitter post. Twitter is currently being used for these purposes in Ukraine. People feel safer, videoing the police beating people up while standing at a safe distance than they would feel stepping in to stop it. They are less likely to get caught and punished for a video gone viral on the internet. While the violence happens in the streets and people post the videos and photos, people around the world are able to view and re-tweet them. On the blog for the New York Times, Robert Mackey discusses the use of twitter in Ukraine, “The activists also shared photographs on Twitter of young men volunteering to defend Ukraine against the threatened Russian invasion in the same city, and a rally in support of the interim government in Zaporizhzhya and Odessa, where pro-Russia demonstrators had also gathered the day before”. As these pictures get re-tweeted, the rally becomes more widespread and gives other countries a look into what is happening in Ukraine.
Combining the network of strangers that have a common background with some traditional activism would be most effective in making a social change.According to Gladwell, traditional activism is higher risk than social media activism. Gladwell considers high risk activism, “ A challenge to the establishment mounted with precision and discipline”. Liking a facebook page isn’t going to change anything on its own but it will connect a person with other people wanting to make a change. This page could network people who then go out and prove they are passionate about the issue. Joining a group on facebook or liking a page usually wouldn’t get a person thrown in jail, brutally beaten or killed.Liking a page is too easy and low risk, a person typically has to make a sacrifice in order to prove their point. Social media is a good start to a larger protest.
Superior Power For Success
Social Networking is not effective alone, it does require some leadership. The amount of protesters gathering together would not be possible had it not been properly organized. “Technology can help find the people with leadership skills- thinkers, intellectuals and others- but it cannot create them” (Cohen and Schmidt 129). Without the creative minds behind these gatherings, they wouldn’t happen. The leadership of these creative minds helps to round up other protesters. The creativity of how these protests are presented spreads word much faster than traditional activism is capable of. Global economics reporter of The Star, Tanya Talaga observes the social media activity of Ukraine, “Word spread quickly throughout Ukraine via social media, and protests were organized under the hashtags #euromaidan, #євромайдан and #евромайдан according to the news website Global Voices ”. People would see the trending hashtags and click on them to find out information. When looking through the posts that are organized by hashtag, people would discover gatherings that they could attend if interested. The trending hashtags make large gatherings possible.
Facebook has also brought people together in Ukraine to build up street protests. Most of the updates about these protests are done online because it can spread news quickly and internationally. Political scientist from Oxford University, Olga Onuch has been studying these protests for the Washington Post, “We have noticed a pattern whereby a sign or slogan first goes viral on Facebook, and then seems to show up more often in protester signs” People are obviously connecting together on Facebook if these slogans are going viral. Kateryna Kapliuk, a writer for Kyiv Post reports,
The official EuroMaidan Facebook page, created by journalists and civil activists, became the fastest growing page in the Ukrainian segment of the social network. Since its beginning late on Nov. 21, it has garnered more than 102,000 subscribers. During the first days of the demonstrations the page appeared in the top 20 of Ukrainian Facebook pages and became the most ‘talked about’,with almost 110,000 people who commented, liked or shared the page’s content.
Unfortunately, Facebook itself won’t do the protesting so the only way people can get anything accomplished is to take their Facebook rants to the streets with other people. “Building a Facebook page does not constitute a plan; actual operational skills are what will carry a revolution to a successful conclusion” (Cohen and Schmidt 129). The people who make the facebook pages have to be ready to take the next step once they get people on board with their idea. Onuch and Kapliuk both present the importance of facebook but also show that Cohen and Schmidt have a good point about it’s limits. Facebook protests have been overflowing into the streets of Ukraine otherwise they probably wouldn’t make as much of an impact. Facebook will connect people in groups which then have to figure out what they want to accomplish and how they will do it.
There has to be superior power in order to make a plan towards a social change. Without proper leadership, people would be less united in their street protests. Anyone can rant on social media, but it is the real leaders that are able to turn an internet rant into a fight against “the man”. “Unlike hierarchies, with their rules and procedures, networks aren’t controlled by a single central authority. Decisions are made through consensus, and the ties that bind people to the group are loose” (Gladwell). He is saying that with no real leader, it is hard to organize a group. In networks, everything is decided as a group which makes it real hard to come to an agreement or team up on anything. “it makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact”(Gladwell). It is easier to make a point via social media, however it is harder for that point to be acted upon because of everyone else’s beliefs that are posted on the internet.
Close Ties
Close ties are a key element in activism. Gladwell belives that the only reason that traditional activism works is because of close ties. “The primary determinant of who showed up was ‘critical friends’ — the more friends you had who were critical to the regime the more likely you were to join the protest” (Gladwell). These friends that Gladwell is referring to are not just random facebook friends, they have to be people that care enough about you to stand by you in high risk activism. In Ukraine, Twitter and Facebook are important instruments however, strong ties are still present in these protests. In Ukraine, it is not uncommon for families to be protesting together. It is much easier to be part of a risky protest with people close to you by your side. “Most protest participants come with family or friends to the protest and so it is clear that social networks (and specifically close ties) are key in understanding how people come to join a protest” (Onuch). Knowing that family will always be there makes it easier because then you know that they most likely won’t back out on you. Malcolm Gladwell discusses research that was done by a sociologist named Doug McAdam.”High-risk activism, McAdam concluded, is a strong tie phenomenon” (Gladwell). History shows several examples of strong ties such as civil rights movements, terrorists groups, and many other protests. The protests in Ukraine, like many others rely on strong ties.
Although I disagree with most of what Gladwell says, he does bring up good points. The high risk and strong tie ideas carry over into some current real world events. The protests in Ukraine follow a lot of the patterns mentioned by Gladwell as well as the patterns mentioned by Schmidt and Cohen. Based on these protests, it becomes apparent that both forms of activism must be present in modern day social change. People rant on twitter and facebook and then meet in the streets. Social networking doesn’t take the place of traditional activism, it just simplifies the process. To argue for either form of activism would be pointless when in reality both are necessary. Ukraine is just one of the many places that this hashtag phenomenon is taking place.
