Virtual resistance f2014
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VIRTUAL RESISTANCE Media, technology and transformation
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Transcript of Virtual resistance f2014
VIRTUAL RESISTANCE
Media, technology and transformation
Today we will
Introduce the relevance of resistance and social protest for media and globalisation
Analyse the use of social media in contemporary social movements
Discuss the role of digital media in protest in regards to three case studies: The Arab Spring The Occupy movement The English riots of 2011
Consider state responses to digital activism
Using the case studies discussed in the lecture, critically examine the relationship between communication technology and social protest
Why social protest?
In analysing the relationship between globalisation and media, we have been considering the dynamics of cultural change
We have examined how the consumption of global media influences local cultures
In this lecture we consider how the use of social media leads to the possibility of social and political transformation on local and global scales
Most of all, we are examining how social media facilitates resistance to the dominant messages in different localities
State: Political and cultural homogeneity
Protestors: Political and cultural reinvention
Vs.
The agents of resistance
Cultures establish relatively fixed patterns of behaviour that are difficult to change: we generally repeat and reproduce what is expected of us
Resistance seeks to break from these patterns and occurs whenever social norms, structures or institutions are rejected or disrupted (transformative action)
What counts as resistance or deviance is socially defined: alternative fashions might be transformative, but not deviant – what might be deviant use of social media in Saudi Arabia is not in Britain
Virtual resistance
Resistance is an everyday element of life, from social disagreement to physical protests
Because social media allows for active audience participation, it facilitates resistance to dominant or received messages
We see this process in the responses to famous twitter personalities
Social (media) movements
Traditional protest movements have relied on the physical and local presence of protestors
Social media have allowed for the creation of vast communities of interest – including those of protest and resistance – beyond geography
Social media also greatly increases the speed at which ideas can be communicated and causes generated
Protests and revolutions significantly pre-date social media, but how has this media affected these movements?
Creating communities
Social media allows for potentially greater control of the message by activists, even though the most influential information comes from a small range of sources
Social media also allows groups to circumvent traditional means of communication, particularly the mass media, in order to get its message across to a diverse audience
Through mechanisms like Twitter #hashtags, a greater sense of connectedness can be developed as individual concerns become more identifiably common and psychological fear is replaced by solidarity
Movements can also be ‘crowd sourced’ and organised through social media to transcend locality
Intensifying communities of resistance
The speed of social media, along with the possibility of collective communication, allows protests and movements to move far more rapidly than ‘word of mouth’
Because of the speed of communication, social media has the potential to ‘outwit’ the state– the use of BBM messaging in the London riots being a strong example
This is vital in repressive states in which activists could possibly be arrested before arriving at the protests
It also allows activists more opportunity to ‘set the agenda’ for the news
Challenges
Protests and movements generally require a physical presence to have a real affect
Although social media protests can be highly decentralised and participatory, without leadership they can struggle to produce demands or negotiate with those in power
Participating in social causes through social media also allows us to feel like we are doing something without having to do anything
Virtual friends
The dynamic between social media and protest movements mirrors arguments about ‘virtual friends’
We are often now more nominally connected to people around the world, but have fewer close attachments
Malcolm Gladwell argues that social media only produces ‘weak ties’ that do not produce the strong commitment necessary to create any social change that requires sacrifice
Estimate how many social media ‘connections’ you have
Estimate how many people you have
meaningful contact with
Would you sacrifice anything for the rest?
Clicktivism
The internet is often said to bring in a whole new wave of means of social resistance and political participation
The other side of digital activism is ‘clicktivism’ in which internet users can engage in passive resistance (slacktivism) by ‘liking’ pages or ‘signing petitions’
This form of engagement makes us feel like we are participating and resisting without actually having to do anything
Do you participate in ‘Clicktivism’?
Arab Spring
The ‘Arab Spring’ was a series of political uprisings in the Arab world
These begun in Tunisia with the death of a street trader and most notably spread to Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen
These movements were built on mass demonstrations, occupations and direct action
Building on the movements in Moldova and Iran in 2009, the Arab Spring was the first widespread revolutionary movement engaged with social media According to Emma Hall, Facebook users in Egypt increased from 450,000 to 3 million
in the six months following the revolution, and have now risen to 5 million
Springing social
Social media was particularly vital in establishing the Arab Spring
Government censorship in the Middle East had made control of information one of the most powerful weapons
Protestors were able to communicate with each other outside of the state and gain a wider audience through collective solidarity, but also act as ‘citizen journalists’ for the rest of the world
Mediating sources
For many journalists, the most direct information in chaotic situations comes from social media, particularly following popular hashtags such as #iranrevolution
Indeed, during the attempted Iranian revolution of 2009, the majority of the tweets were from the Western world
Whilst those invested in the events and engaged with social media might investigate social media for themselves, we still rely on mass media reproductions of these events
Organising information
Because internet access was often shut down, information often came from key ‘nodal points’ outside of the protests who dominated the discussion and were most often retweeted
Information via social media user is by definition partial and it can be very difficult to capture the full story as it is difficult to trust internet sources and rumours often spin out of control, and thus trusted sources remain dominant
Nonetheless, access to social media was a powerful tool against state propaganda and control of information during the Arab Spring
How do you normally know that an ‘event’ has happened?
Getting physical in Egypt
Alex Choudhary argued social media was a powerful device for establishing emotional connections amongst demonstrators in Egypt by sharing stories
Twitter and YouTube in particular were able to convey counter-hegemonic messages
Yet, it is easy to exaggerate the impact of social media
How social was the Arab Spring?
Social media usage is particularly low [.26% in Egypt] in Arab countries leading to the possibility of a ‘Dissident Elite’ that is not representative of the general population
As twitter usage is very low in poorer countries (Tunis 0.10%, Libya 0.07% and Yemen 0.02%) and in censored regions such as China, these methods of social protest may not be available to those who might need it the most
Social activism requires a deep commitment and social movements have always built from person to person communication, as well as through mass media
Most of the gains made can be attributed to the physical presence of protestors in the face of government violence
Occupy
The ‘Occupy’ movement begun when people ‘occupied’ Zuccotti Park beside Wall Street in New York on 17/11/2011, although organising meetings had been previously held
Occupy’s initial motivation was to protest corporate influence over democracy, beginning with the slogan ‘We are the 99%’
Occupy soon became an international movement, including Occupy London outside of St.Paul’s Cathedral, and is evidence of the dynamics of globalisation
Occupying
Through direct action as part of a global movement, Occupy sought to evoke collective solidarity amongst the majority
The Occupy movement has been defined by its non-hierarchical organisation and a commitment to participatory democracy, which required the physical presence of activists
The group has also refused to posit specific alternatives and demands, which has been the subject of significant criticism
Whilst the momentum of the movement has slowed considerably, at the time it tapped into popular dissent over economic conditions and bankers
Occupied
The movement was also one of the first in the Western world to utilise the potential of social media
Through this use of social media the initially small occupy movement was able to mobilise activists outside of the mainstream media and beyond those involved locally
Social media also allowed the ideas to change through participation and spread to other parts of the country
Occupy demonstrated how a counter-hegemonic cause could challenge dominant government, corporate and mass-media messages, this time predominately through Facebook
Nonetheless participation was far higher amongst the young, particularly college students
Creating solidarity
Occupy sought to create connections through social media, but required a physical presence to be successful
The occupations produced strong reactions from authorities, often arresting protestors and clearing sites of activists
These clearance were often violent and solidarity required strong commitment from the activists
Maintaining Occupation
Such was the necessity of maintaining social media contact, the Occupiers used a stationary bike to fuel battery chargers (Deborah Gambs, 2012)
That they didn’t want to leave to charge phones, but required phones to maintain the movements, demonstrates the difficult balance of the movement
Had you heard of the ‘Occupy’ movement?
The English Riots
Ranging from August 6-11 in 2011, the riots began in London and spread to various towns in England
The catalyst for the riots was the police shooting of Mark Duggan
What began as a protest gathering became widespread rioting and looting
Excluded populations
Whilst the 2011 riots were not specifically ‘race riots’, there are suggestions that half the rioters were black and many of the areas where there was rioting are predominately black
Others suggest that ethnicity was not the central issue, but was highlighted by common social exclusion Analysis of more than 1,000 court records suggests 59% of the England rioters come
from the most deprived 20% of areas in the UK. Other analysis carried out by the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice
on young riot defendants found 64% came from the poorest fifth of areas – and only 3% came from the richest fifth.
40% of those arrested were classified as Black, 37% white and 6% Asian
Nonetheless, the events are generally characterised as criminal rather than revolutionary because they lacked a defined political message
BBM
Blackberry messages, or BBM, was the primary source of communication for the rioters, which allowed more targeted and specific contact between those involved – the riots were a local event, rather than attracting any global solidarity
Communication was within a encrypted private network, rather than a public ‘call to arms’ "Everyone in edmonton enfield wood green everywhere in north link up at enfield town station at 4 o clock sharp!!!!...Start leaving ur yards n linking up with your niggas. Fuck da feds, bring your ballys and your bags trollys, cars vans, hammers the lot!!"
Twitter was used to communicate about the riots (a UK record was set), but not specifically by those rioting
Nonetheless, it has been argued that the ‘real-time’ coverage of the riots was one of the reasons they lasted so long
The clean up
Following the riots, a large community based clean up movement was formed
This movement utilised Facebook and Twitter to mobilise an ‘army’ of volunteers that captured significant media attention
This was co-ordinated through accounts like @cleanup and the hashtag #riotcleanup
Have you ever participated in any kind of social movement?
State surveillance
CCTV picked up many of the looters and sites like Flickr were used to crowd-source identifications of the rioters
The police also monitored BBM messages to see how the riots would develop
Blackberry, along with other mobile phone networks, were required to handover electronic communication records to authorities
The control of the state over social media reveals the difficulty of social media based movements
The NSA and you
The National Security Agency (NSA) scandal broke in June 2013 when a massive domestic and foreign spying surveillance programme was revealed
This programme had long been rumoured, but the scale and specific details still stood as a shock to the establishment and to the public
Not only was the US government spying on foreign governments, but it was revealed that access to personal social network accounts was also possible
Democratic surveillance
The explicit defence of these programmes, one passionately argued by many, is that total surveillance is required to stop terrorist activity
Conversely, this surveillance culture has entered into non-violent dissident groups, including student and environmental protest groups
For many, government infiltration into resistance movements is an extreme threat to democratic participation
That is, if governments have direct access to all information, do they have the total power to prevent anti-government protest and resistance?
Chinese resistance
China has a long history of state surveillance and repression, including of journalists and activists, but also of internet users
It has been reported by the BBC that China employs two million people to monitor social media
Western forms of social media are banned, as have been critical sites like The New York Times
Nonetheless, as Weibo has around 500 million users posting 100 million messages each day, total surveillance is almost impossible and the state struggles to respond to social media trends
The ‘Umbrella Revolution’ in Hong Kong demonstrated similar dynamics as the Occupy movement, combining physical presence with social media messaging
Do you ever feel like people are watching your internet use?
Chaotic Conclusions
Social media has changed the nature of social movements
Nonetheless, whilst social media is an efficient means of spreading messages and mobilising crowds, these ties are often weak
Instead, local physical presences remain necessary
The internet has also become the new frontier for state surveillance
MEDIA AND GLOBALISATION
Course Review and Essay Preparation
Today
Core aspects of essay writing
Course summary
Essay issues?
Basics
Choose ONE topic
Write 2,500 words (+/- 10%)
Submit to the MJ centre (and to BlackBoard Learn) before 3pm on the 13th of January
Grade: C+
This is a well researched essay that makes a number of salient points about the relevance of global consciousness and its
relationship with the development of a global communications system. Conversely, some of the points are significantly
undeveloped and, as a consequence, much of the reasoning lacks critical depth and there does not appear to be a strong argument
until the conclusion.
Grade: C
This essay demonstrates an understanding of the impact of global television upon cultural identity, but the discussion tends to
be descriptive rather than critical. That is, ideas are not analysed and critiqued in sufficient detail, nor is there any particular
engagement with academic literature or the development of a distinct argument in response to the essay question. As noted
below, this may be a consequence of the writing style – a number of important points are noted in sentences, but then not
developed further into paragraphs or linked with other ideas. Please read through the specific feedback below and let me know
if you would like any more assistance.
What I’m looking for…
Make a clear argument in response to the essay question
Engage with the main academic debates identified in the lecture, but go beyond the lecture notes
Use authoritative supporting evidence to support your ideas
Ultimately, academic writing is about expressing an informed and authoritative opinion objectively and concisely
Academic writing is what you think,
but it isn’t simply your opinion
Your opinion becomes an academic argument because it is defended with evidence and analysis
Taking a Stand
Your argument is previewed at the beginning of your work: the thesis statement
Thesis statements contain your justified response to the assignment question
Thesis statements contain a claim, a justification and are often supplemented by a qualifying statement.
Thesis statements
Asserting your Position
Context
Preview
Thesis Statement
Hook the reader and tell them what they need to know about the debate
Tell the reader your process for responding the question
Tell them what you will be arguing
Evidence
To convince the reader and to move our position from opinion to argument we need to incorporate evidence into our work
Here it is vital to go beyond describing this evidence into critically analysing it, particularly if it contrasts with your main point. Ask – ‘So what?’
The way you discuss this evidence is vital for making your writing more critical
Indirect quotations (Paraphrasing) • Demonstrates your understanding of
broad concepts or theories
• Distils points and saves word count
• Allows synthesis of various sources
“Direct quotations”
• “Adds authority by identifying key moments in the debate” (Taylor, 2010, p.12)
• Lends energy and ‘punch’ to a claim
• Should be integrated with your own sentences and ideas.
Only directly quote when you couldn’t have said it better yourself.
Summary
Academic writing is always what you think, but is defended with other scholars’ research
State your argument and defend this argument with a logical structure
Ensure that your writing is supported by authoritative and clearly integrated evidence
Go beyond description (So what?) and drive your reader around your research
1. To what extent do transnational news media corporations affect global cultural diversity?
2. To what extent do ‘new media’ stimulate cultural reinvention, rather than producing cultural uniformity?
3. Using the case studies discussed in the lecture, critically examine the relationship between communication technology and social protest
4. Using examples from a local (national/regional) context, critically evaluate the effect of global entertainment media on local cultural identities.
So, what is globalisation?
According to Anthony Giddens (1990, p.64), globalisation involves:
“the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa”
Globalisation is an evolving process, not a thing
Core problems
1. Why have local relations become increasingly affected by global structures and events?
2. Does ‘globalisation’ entail a progressive homogenisation of local cultures, and what role does media play in the battle between difference and sameness?
3. How does media ‘mediate’ interactions between the local and the global?
4. How have new forms of media changed the dynamics of interconnectivity between the local and the global?
Mediating the global village
The media ‘mediate’ communication between distant peoples
Consequently, how we understand the world around us is largely determined by how it is represented for us
The dynamics of this representation have been largely determined by the construction of a global communications system that has challenged the role of traditional local media
Globalisation as a private sphere
The global communications system is primarily controlled by transnational media corporations
The explicit goal of these corporations is profit, rather than the public good
As Western corporate media becomes more dominant, there has been a fear that we are entering into a new stage of ‘cultural’ imperialism
To what extent do transnational news media corporations affect global cultural diversity?
The Difficulty
Cultural imperialism, which includes the spread of Western values, is based upon a mass consumption model of media
Cultures, people and media are highly differentiated and actors are locally situated and are active consumers of information
Moreover, the rise of the internet has allowed much more active participation in media
The plurality of social media
Social, or new, media encourages and relies upon audience participation
Social media has redefined media participation and geographical boundaries
It may be corporate owned, but breaks with the major critique of corporate media: that media is a one-way form of communication
These forms of participative media give rise to the hope of a mediated ‘cultural pluralism’
To what extent do ‘new media’ stimulate cultural reinvention, rather than producing cultural
uniformity?
Entertainment Media
Entertainment is a core aspect of our cultural identities, but also has a political function
American film remains culturally dominant, particularly amongst the global youth, and is an example of ‘soft power’/cultural imperialism
Conversely, the rise of the China film industry and the global spread of Bollywood reveal the presence of counter-hegemonic trends
Using examples from a local (national/regional) context, critically evaluate the effect of global
entertainment media on local cultural identities.
Media and Resistance
How social movements are communicated has been changed by social media
Social media allows for the speedy construction of vast communities beyond local boundaries, but also facilitates meaningless participation
The internet has become a battleground for government control of social resistance
Using the case studies discussed in the lecture, critically examine the relationship between
communication technology and social protest
Further Assistance
You can email me on [email protected] to discuss any concerns or to make a time to meet ( I will be away from Dec 20-27)
Make a time to see the Academic Skills Service or Brunel International
Please complete the module evaluation survey
Good Luck!
