On Online Protests

In the last few years, most social and political movements have forged a space on the internet. From mullahs preaching against globalisation, to Colombians organising demonstrations against the FARC, from presidential candidates campaigning, to grassroots associations promoting the legal use of medicinal or recreational drugs, almost everybody has had the chance to express their views online. One of the direct consequences of the starting of political activity on the web was, of course, social and political organisations based primarily on virtual exchanges – the creation of communities, groups and forums.

A little bit later, through the development of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, discussions that were once relegated to online forums became, in many cases, the source of real life social activity, and in a few cases, protests. Yes, it is now certain that the web (and specifically web 2.0) has revolutionised the ways in which humans interact with each other. The internet, which I would define as a the shared mirror in which human imagination reflects and interacts, perhaps represents one of the greatest sociological transformations in human history. However, having said that, and as with all historical social transformations, there seems to be a huge deal of confusion around how virtual communication affects our traditional ways of acting in real political and social life.

Since its emergence, the internet has been hailed as the ultimate democratising tool. The advocates of this view seem to believe that the web provides a space in which civil society could build a stronghold against repressive, authoritarian regimes. It is a fact that the internet’s media environment has facilitated communication, enhancing the ability of those who share common values or ideas to unite. Based on this, many a commentator has praised the internet for its spread would bring regime change to hopeless and oppressed lands – something highly debatable if we pay attention to the ways in which authoritarian governments have been dealing with the internet (check out Evgeny Morozov’s hopeless views on the internet as a democratising tool). However, online protests have been considered as the forefront leading arm in this democratising process brought about by the web – so far an elusive process.

The idea of online protests is closely linked to the idea of empowerment of the people through the web. We are still in the early stages of online protests history, and yet we have witnessed some of its potential. Yes, it is highly difficult to prove to what extent social networks have influenced developments in real life (real-time) protest movements, like the one currently happening in Thailand – or last’s year massive protests after the Iranian election, check out this interesting discussion. However, we should not yet underestimate the power of online protests as a vehicle of organised social activity. In terms of international politics, over the last year we have all witnessed a day-by-day growing relationship between online protests (or online organisation) and real life protests (or offline activity).

Of course, there are several kinds of online protests and not all of them deal with political issues. There have been protests organised by workers to gain rights or increased wages; online protests have sparked the virtual arena of internet games (check out what happened when the Chinese government tried to regulate Azeroth). Second Life, and different sorts of commercial activity have also witnessed how online protests can inject an element of change in a given situation.

More examples and deeper analysis will be provided in following posts.