‘What tools should we use?’: Politicized youth’s perspectives on digital activism in the Basque Country (original) (raw)

Mass, publics and multitudes: digital activism an some of its paradoxes

From Multitude to Crods : Collectiuve action and the media,, 2015

(1)The presence of mass behavior and mass propaganda in digital media, frequently expressed in pre-modern forms of sociability (flaming, digital hooliganism and bullying); and, (2), simultaneously, the recent emergence of forms of sociability that act politically with internal discussion and critical intervention, exhibiting features of rational publics or new characteristics of fluidity and spontaneity proper of the so-called multitudes. Nowadays, the rebirth of political activism is evident. People seem to be awakening from political apathy, as the first years of the second decade appear to announce. In spite of that rebirth, the political dissent and the informal spaces of public dialog seem to be simultaneously less seduced by normative discourses. Fast social mutations, multicultural challenges, growing social inequality, and the different kinds of threat disseminated by the media for public imagery consumption, have given rise to mixed phenomena by combining anti-elite and anti-immigrant nationalism with nationally and locally bounded demands of social justice and alternative globalization, expressing manners of populism that seems to take by surprise traditional normative approaches. Suddenly, in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, and Athens, activists began to occupy streets and squares, setting their agenda in a process that seems highly flexible, autonomous and susceptible of being understood by using the concept of multitudes. The concept embraces a fluid diversity of movements available to be connected and networked. According to some approaches, multitudes cannot be departed from the digital economy, emerging from computers and its social and cultural consequences. The concept of multitude embraces the power of educated individuals, which connected themselves in a world where the innovation increasingly accelerate itself, with technological costs increasingly shrinking. "This is the world in which people have a creative power, unprecedented communication and coordination forming a creative community connected and mobile, the multitude 1" (Colin et Verdier 2015: 33). Actions and protest are performed with ritualistic means of expression, detonating a new grammar and aesthetic of political identities. Simultaneously, behind many demonstrations from indignados, it seems difficult to find a program or a strong ideological commitment. In a certain way, digital movements seem to be prepared to resist to anti-austerity measures and to propose alternative solutions, more or less realistic. Simply, their agendas are much more focused on discussing the issues and its consequences, being not particularly attracted by ideological frameworks or by major utopian proposals to transform society in the sense given by the grand narratives from modernity. Heavy activism goes along with a kind of self-restrained utopia or even with a kind of pragmatic interventionism without promised Utopian paradises or trust in universal happiness. "No moralist condemnation of capitalism is necessary as facts and events speak for themselves. The few remaining leftists can no longer provide the movement with an ideology, as it works perfectly without one. We don't need your revolution.’ (Lowinsky and Schneider, s/d). Behind those movements, one finds certain contradictory novelties: the insistence on performative arts and ritualistic means of expression as being part of their public communication; the use of deliberative assemblies to communicate with several population strata. Sometimes ritualistic elements seem to confirm Pascal statement according to which “are often led to believe, not by evidence but by liking" (Pascal cit. by LeBon, s/d.). Alternatively, the use of public street forums and assemblies seems to put into practice, in an informal way, some discursive and argumentative rationality. Considering several ideal types of publicness, in the broader sense of acting in public, one finds it as a strong, complex and contradictory social variable present in many different ways in the construction of political identities in late modernity

Activismo ciudadano y acontecimientos políticos en la transformación de la esfera pública digital en españa: del sms ¡pásalo! a Podemos

2019

This paper discusses digital communication, activism and political system in Spain from a critical-historical perspective. The results of combined empirical and analytical research indicate that a critical digital public sphere emerged in 2004 affecting the evolution of the political sphere to this day. Traditional parties had a slow and instrumental approach to the digital realm. Conversely, cyber-activism unfolded new options of political action, both in the short and long term, transforming the bipartisan system.El artículo aborda la comunicación digital, el activismo y el sistema político en España desde una perspectiva crítica-histórica. Los resultados de una investigación empírica y analítica indican que en 2004 surgió una esfera pública digital crítica que afectó la evolución de la esfera política hasta hoy. Los partidos tradicionales se acercaron al entorno digital de manera lenta e instrumental. En cambio, el ciberactivismo abrió nuevas opciones de acción política, a corto ...

Digital media, youth practices and representations of recent activism in Portugal

Communications, 2018

In recent years we have witnessed in several countries the rise of new and unexpected forms of collective mobilization and activism. The main goal of this article is to discuss the role played by digital devices and online platforms in how activism is currently being represented and practiced by young people. Our reflection is empirically grounded on a recent exploratory research project carried out in Portugal. This project, using an array of qualitative methods (ethnographic observation, in-depth interviews, etc.), had as its main purpose to explore young people’s digital activism. In this article we will discuss this project’s findings, analyzing not only the uses of digital media within a set of activist practices, but also the social representations built around this issue by different social actors participating in several activist groups.

Cabo Delgado Também é Moçambique: The Paths of Youth Digital Activism in a Restrictive Context

Routledge - Taylor and Francis, 2023

Digital platforms have transformed the way young people get involved in politics. Digital media have brought about “new arenas” of political engagement for the youth which transcend traditional platforms such as political parties. This chapter examines the digital activism of Cabo Delgado Também é Moçambique (in Portuguese) a Mozambican social media movement created by young people to defend victims of terrorism in northern Mozambique. The movement was composed of activists who were mobilised through social networks to promote actions of support and draw attention to the conflict taking place. The attacks began in 2017 and caused more than 900,000 to be internally displaced and over 3,000 deaths. The chapter spotlights how the movement used digital channels of communication and mobilisation between 2019 and 2021. Data were drawn from individual interviews and digital ethnography focusing how members of the movement engaged through digital activism to raise awareness about the political crisis in 2021 Cabo Delgado in a context of restrictions on democratic rights. The chapter argues that that even though Mozambique has registered low levels of Internet connection (21%), there is an emergence of youth digital activism that cannot be ignored, even if the civic space tends to be limited or restricted in the country.

Net Activism as a Process of Citizen Emancipation. A View from some Experiences of Appropriating Digital Media in Spain

RAZÓN Y PALABRA Revista Electrónica en Iberoamérica Especializada en Comunicación, 2018

In the article, we will show how in Spain the appropriation and use of digital communication media has become another way of making politics. In our analysis, which is based on a bottom up approach - focused on individuals who have participated in this experience - we will explore how the appropriation and alternative use of media influence empowerment processes for people and social transformations, always bearing in mind that we are discussing media experiences that arise from social protest.

New Social Movements, the Use of ICTs, and Their Social Impact

2016

The following work is an analysis of new social movements and the use of new technologies from the perspective of political philosophy. It stems from the results obtained in the dissertation "New Social Movements and the Use of ICTs: Case Studies," presented at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid as part of the Communication, Social Change and Development program. While it is true that these movements have existed for a long time, new digital technologies allow for political agendas and proposals to increase in visibility, scope and dissemination. The "know-how" of these new movements and their ability to drive social transformation are expressions of a framework made up of different strategies to those proposed by traditional groups framed by political parties. The methods employed by civic action require a natural flow of information which political parties cannot reproduce. Symbolic resources and expressions of sentiments and emotions play a crucial role in structuring a new form of language and a different way of being. The implications are important, not only in terms of mass media and politics, but also in terms of social change.

Online communication spaces and their impact on Basque politics: strategies for a dialogue 2.0

ACTAS DEL III SIMPOSIO INTERNACIONAL SOBRE GESTIÓN DE LA COMUNICACIÓN LA INNOVACIÓN DE LA INNOVACIÓN: DEL MEDIO AL CONTENIDO PREDICTIVO, 2018

With its intrinsic potentialities, the web has transformed the public sphere in different ways: by making vast amounts of information available to the public; promoting decentralization, diversity and personal communication; offering an unlimited communicative space, as well as instantaneity and speed. In this context, the search of political information through digital networks has increased in recent years (Agirre, 2012: 10), something that is evident in countries with high levels of online accessibility, where the levels of the regular use for obtaining political information and news is increasingly closer to the ones done by conventional media outlets. However, within the Internet, with few exceptions, political parties tend to duplicate traditional communication strategies, hey do it without integrating the general public into their processes of reflection, debate and political action (Fagués-Ramió, 2008; Padró-Solanet and Cardenal, 2008, Lilleker and Jackson, 2010, etc.). This is mainly due to their inability to exploit the interactive and dialogue potential of online media (Silva, 2013). In this scenario in which cyber-political communication strategies require further analysis, this paper enquires about the impact of online communication spaces in a specific social and geographic context, such as the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, where politics has traditionally shown great weight and interest. The paper summarizes research results within two funded projects focused on the analysis of organizational political communication (EHUA10 / 13) (Larrondo et al., 2016) and the role and influence of active audiences, respectively MINECO, CSO2012-39518-C04-03).

Papa, V. (2017). 'To activists: Please post and share your story': Renewing understandings on civic participation and the role of Facebook in the Indignados movement. European Journal of Communication, 1-15.

European Journal of Communication

The global upsurge in protest, which has accompanied the current international financial crisis, has highlighted the extensive use of online social media in activism, leaving aside the extent to which citizenship is enacted, empowered and potentially transformed by social media use within these movements. Drawing on citizenship and communication theories, this study employs a cross- country analysis of the relationship between citizenship, civic practices and social media within the Indignados movement in Greece and France. By the use of semi-structured interviews, we attempt to discern the degree of involvement of actors with the political community in question and explore the complex layers of their motivations and goals around participation. Content analysis employed in the movement’s Facebook groups allows us to critically evaluate the potential of social media in (re)defining the meaning and practice of civic participation. Findings indicate that the failure of traditional forms of civic participation to attain and resolve everyday political issues becomes its potential to transfer the political activity in other sites of struggle. The role of Facebook is double: it can reinforce civic talk and debate through activists’ digital story telling (around shared feelings and personal stories) significant for meaningful activist participation online and offline. Second, it can support new forms of alternative politics inspired by more participatory modes of engagement.

Information, Communication & Society Varieties of digital activist practices: students and mobilization in Chile

INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY, 2018

Recent protests throughout the world have fueled debates about how social movement organizations use digital tools. In this article, we analyze the variety of digital activist practices (DAPs) enacted by Chilean student movement organizations over time (2011–2016). We define DAPs as proactive actions that seek to achieve political impacts in a particular context through the use of digital tools. Based on content analysis of Facebook posts and indepth interviews with key informants, we show that movement actors have appropriated digital tools in diverse and asymmetric ways, and that asymmetries have remained constant over time. The article also shows that DAPs sponsored by organizations vary across three dimensions: online presence, goals, and the audiences to which they speak. This variation is explained by differing levels of financial and human resources, and, most importantly, by the choices actors make as they interpret political constraints and challenges in particular contexts. These choices are, in turn, informed by the political views of rotating sets of student leaders.