#activismandprotest

Activism is defined as the use of direct and noticeable action to achieve a result, usually a political or social one. (Cambridge Dictionary 2020). On the contrary, Cambridge Dictionary defines protest as a strong complaint expressing disagreement, disapproval, or opposition.

The influence social media has in activism and protest.

People often portrays social media as a new ground for political and social activism. Although it is relatively easy to just create a social movement on Twitter or Facebook, translating that into actual policy change is very different and challenging. Ever since the involvement of social media for social movement, it has been more effective compared to the era before internet involvement. An effective protest requires not just the right of the people to gather, but accessible public paced in which gathering is possible and citizen who understand what those rights are. (Mahlchik 2019).

Take for example, in June 2019, Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum was rattled by a violent government crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Security forces killed and wounded hundreds of activists and protestors, most notably in the invasion of a protest camp. Mohamad Mattar, a 26-year-old activist was reportedly shot and killed while trying to protect two women during the violence. (Sudan Pro-Democracy Groups Vow to Continue Protests after Deadly Crackdown 2019). So, in a wave of online solidarity, global social media was draped in his favourite colour, blue. Besides that, activists and layfolk alike shared infographics about the unfolding events and plastered the hashtag #BlueforSudan on stories and posts on their social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, to show their support for the people in Sudan.

In Sudan and other developing global regions, social media has provided an infrastructure for organizing, meeting and protesting that would otherwise be impaired by feasibility or government intervention. Social media activism is a way of including the voices that cannot be physically protest. Social media is also a sphere interaction that strengthens democratic attitudes and increase democratic sentiment. #BlueforSudan is a clear example of social media facilitating human healing and emotional solidarity in a larger way. #BlueforSudan started off as a symbolic thing which eventually became a symbol of revolution. (Mahajan 2020).

Digital technology has opened up unimaginable worlds of access and connectivity. (Malchik 2019). Social media could help bring visibility to issues that might otherwise never reach over the border of their own country alone. Thus, social media can dramatically cause a huge influence in activism and protest when it is used in the right way.

List of reference

Cambridge Dictionary 2020, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/activism>.

Cambridge Dictionary 2020, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/protest>.

Mahajan, S 2020, Online Fever: The Subversive Social Media Activism Movement, Harvard Political Review, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://harvardpolitics.com/world/social-media-activism/>.

Malchik, A 2019, The Problem With Social-Media Protests, The Atlantic, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/05/in-person-protests-stronger-online-activism-a-walking-life/578905/>.

It has been 4 months since the 2019 Hong Kong protests (Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement) sparked with wrath around different areas in the city and in fact, it is still ongoing. In the wake of the protests, numerous Hong Kong celebrities have shown their political stances, either in real life or social media platforms. Assuredly, some chose to side with their own hometown while some otherwise.

The Icon of pro-democracy

Denice Ho, one of the most well-known Hong Kong pop stars stood up for her city. She has voiced out at demonstrations, distributed voter registration forms at marches and went to the battlefield with protesters, persuading the riot police not to assault. Ho has always been extraordinary among the celebrities when it comes to political issues. She was involved in a protest movement in Hong Kong that asked for freer elections in the semi-autonomous land.

As a result, she was banned by The Chinese government from performing in China and her music were removed from the playlists of streaming websites. Her manager claimed that the blacklisting diminished around US$120,000 from her annual income (New York Times 2019).

However, the ban only spurred Ho to defend the freedom of speech as well as other civil liberties that isolate Hong Kong from the rest of China.

“For me, it is always about the people, for the people to be empowered and for them to believe that we can control our destiny.”

The pro-Beijing Man

To the contrary, the Hong Kong-born Kung Fu star, Jackie Chan showed his support for China on social media.

After protesters removed and dumped China’s national flag into the sea (August 3), CCTV, China’s state broadcaster initiated a trend on Weibo declaring that “The five-starred red flag has 1.4 billion guardians.” The hashtag was viewed over 2.9 billion times and has nearly 10 million shares. Soon after, Jackie Chan has proclaimed his pro-Beijing stance by sharing the post and affirmed “I am a flag bearer.”

Unsurprisingly, it infuriated the Hong Kong netizens and he has received tons of hate comments. Jackie Chan has long been criticised in Hong Kong for his pro-Beijing view. The actor always sings out China’s praises boldly, simply doing so at two straight CCTV Spring Festival Galas. In May, he was one of 200 of Hong Kong’s elite who took part to sing the Chinese national anthem in a “flash mob” propaganda video (Linder 2019).

In response to those criticism, he clarified that seeing how China is rapidly developing, he feels very proud to be Chinese. The Chinese flag makes him feel safe, stable and peaceful. He said Hong Kong is his hometown while China is his country. He loves Hong Kong and hopes it can be peaceful again (Fam 2019).

Thoughts...

Overview Of Social Media Activism

The use of social networking sites and other online platforms to advance an agenda or cause is known as social media activism, which is a new type of political activity. It entails communicating with others through a variety of platforms, including blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts, in order to raise awareness of a specific issue. The main goal of this kind of activism is to engage people to participate in the conversation by expressing their opinions on a particular issue. Social media activism offers chances for grassroots movements to emerge and develop. Successful social media movements include the Ice Bucket Challenge, #MeToo, and Black Lives Matter (Woods 2022).

Overview Of Social Media Protest

Social media protest is a type of social action that uses social media to plan, coordinate, and disseminate information about an occasion or cause. It can also be used to organize individuals around a particular problem. This kind of protest is frequently planned by organizations that were not initially present at the event but discovered about it through social media use.

Affordances Of Graffiti Or Street Art For Social Media Activism And Protest

Street art and graffiti are two approaches to public communication. They are also a type of protest since they criticize or are dissatisfied at the authorities. Graffiti has been utilized by revolutionaries like Che Guevara, who was well-known for his work on Cuban walls, to convey political beliefs in many other nations. Because graffiti is uncensored by governments or other organizations that regulate media sources, it can be considered an effective form of communication. It enables people to communicate their thoughts without worrying about facing consequences for doing so. However, activists frequently employ street art to express their views on political topics that they feel need to be discussed on the streets rather than in the congressional chambers or the local council.

Malaysia Youth Communities’ Activity On Social Media As Activists And Protesters

Young individuals who have grown up with cell phones predominate among this group of activists. The internet has made it simple for them to get online data from all around the world. Additionally, they are more at ease utilizing technology than prior Malaysian generations who were raised solely using landlines. Youth in Malaysia have organized protests in the past using Facebook and Twitter. For instance, "Bersatu," a group of youth activists, established a Facebook page for their movement during Bersih 5 in 2012. Additionally, they set up an online petition that attracted more than 100,000 signatures from Malaysians who agreed with their cause. A group of young people known as the Youth Coalition for Action (YCA) has also participated in the Bersih movement. To raise awareness of concerns like election reform and corruption, they have been actively involved in planning protests and rallies and maintaining their own Facebook page. The YCA also maintains a blog where they provide content on youth-related topics like politics, human rights, education, and social problems.

Role Of Social Media In Malaysia’s Digital Activism And Protest

In Malaysia, social media has become a significant platform for political and social activism. The country’s vibrant digital community can mobilize quickly and effectively through social media platforms. They discovered that in the Bersih campaign, the social media network of weak ties is crucial to maintaining the bonds between activists and participants. People can keep their Facebook networks up and running for almost free. People can be virtually immediately activated when the next campaign takes place. Many of the grassroots organizers of the global movement, known as Global Bersih, have never met one another. For notetaking, idea-sharing, and decision-making, they used Facebook and WhatsApp. Additionally, a global network of the Malaysian diaspora is actively supporting the Bersih campaign in Malaysia. At a rally in 2015, Malaysians living abroad organized parallel protests in more than 90 places throughout the globe (Leong 2016).

Summary

Social media activism is a new type of political activity in which people use social media to plan, coordinate, and spread information about an event or cause. It can also be used to unite people around a common cause. Social media has become an important platform for political and social activism in Malaysia.

Reference List

Woods, K 2022, Social media activism: This is how you start a movement, Sprout Social, viewed 17 October 2022, <https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-activism/>.

"Social media alter the key tenets of collective action and, in doing so, create new vulnerabilities for even the most durable of authoritarian regimes” (Tufekci and Wilson, 2012).

Social media plays a vital role in today’s generation. It has become a place where we obtain news and indulge in it more than we read the newspaper. (Well, most of us do be scrolling Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms the first thing we wake up as if it’s a piece of daily news :p). Social media, too, has become a tool that helps many people worldwide to voice their opinions, spread awareness, and whatnot. For instance, the hashtag in Twitter helps to categorize and connect the happenings around the world, and categorizes based on your interest too.

Flashback 2021~

Ain Husniza, who is 18 years old and is now known as one of the Malaysian activists for sexual harassment in schools, posted a video on TikTok and Twitter sharing an incident regarding her teacher who made a rape joke back in 2021. The video and the issue went viral in Malaysia, sparking a worldwide debate about sexual harassment, misogyny, and school violence. The video shared by Ain is eye-opening as such incidents are considered “normal” in school. The debate, therefore, prompted Ain to produce the hashtag #/MakeSchoolASaferPlace to advocate for making schools a safe and secure learning environment and empower other students to come forward and share their unpleasant school experiences (Taylors University, 2022). The hashtag gained attention and therefore made a lot of people share other than sexual harassment that has been going on in their schools, such as bullying and abuse. Due to this movement, everyone became aware of the issue and therefore be alert and not normalize such incidents.

Source: @/ainhsaifulnizam twitter

<link to her twitter thread on the incident, in case y’all are interested in knowing more on the issue~

https://twitter.com/ainhsaifulnizam/status/1385715912746012672 >

Well, what we can learn from this incident? To be careful on what we say, especially on the sensitive issues! #SelfReminder.

Next, let's go back to the #/BlackLivesMatter (BLM) protest. The protesters have helped spread the movement's message and information through the hashtag across every social media platform. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter in social media posts enables more personalized and extensive public discourse. Due to the accessibility of digital media networks, many groups can join forces to exchange information and personal experiences and mobilize around a common cause through the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter (Mundt et al., 2018). The BLM movement became a global movement through social media due to the issue spreading across different platforms. Through Twitter, one of Nashville's largest peaceful protests was organized in 2020 by six teenagers, bringing a massive number of protestors to the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville in June 2004.

Source: (The Tennessean, 2020)

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/williamson/franklin/2020/07/02/meet-nashville-teens-who-launched-movement-social-change/5349352002/

Source: (Good Morning America, 2020) https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/teen-girls-organizers-nashvilles-massive-black-live-matters-71129776

Hence, through social media, The Black Lives Matter movement has raised awareness about the racial injustices Black people face worldwide. It has evolved into a means of opposing police brutality and racialized violence against Black people. As said by Masummi (2009), “As a whole, social media flows “bring the collectivity of shared events to the fore.”

Conclusion

To conclude, social media brings an impact on activism and protest. As mentioned, #BLM and #MakeSchoolASafer are some of the few successful movements pointing out unfairness and misogyny. Therefore, social media plays a vital role in activism and protests in building communities and promoting awareness of the happenings around the globe.

References

Tufekci, Z. and Wilson, C., 2012. Social media and the decision to participate in political protest: Observations from Tahrir Square. Journal of communication, 62(2), pp.363-379.

Massumi, B., 2009. National enterprise emergency: Steps toward an ecology of powers. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(6), pp.153-185.

Mundt, M., Ross, K. and Burnett, C.M., 2018. Scaling social movements through social media: The case of Black Lives Matter. Social Media+ Society, 4(4), p.2056305118807911.

For the longest time, protests have brought voice to the voiceless to reflect the change they need in their countries from their governments. It was a platform for them to speak up and express the anger they suppressed for so long, but it has almost always had its negative consequences on none more than the protesters themselves.

For the longest time, I’ve been pro protesting all the way. It’s the most beautiful and terrifying statement that can be mad against corruption or any form of injustice you’ve expressed or seen. If anything it makes you feel human. I’m Egyptian, and I grew up witnessing everything that has happened in my country before, during and after the 25th of January revolution. Recently, many countries have been rising against their governments again, it feels almost like a global spring and not just Arab. Including Egypt. But with the results I can currently see in Egypt post revolution, it got me thinking, do protests really work? At all?

Protesting has definitely brought about some sort of change in some scenarios, but in some others they almost never did, and it anything, they’ve made things worse. And in some others if not most, it has been completely ignored.

Ok. Story time.

Taking Egypt as an example, the 25th of January revolution was the most beautiful and chaotic thing that has happened for Egyptians and in Egyptian history. 30 years, if not a lot more, of utter suppression of anger. Of daily witnessing some form of injustice or the other. Has suddenly exploded. Egyptians reached a state of mania. Nobody cared whether they’d die at Tahrir square or not. Some people walked straight towards policemen who were shooting them and kept walking. All to make a statement. Thousands were killed and millions were injured. After around 11 days, they were heard and the president stepped down. It was a state of hope that nobody has ever experienced, the air in Egypt felt different. 

But it all went downhill, and before we knew it, Egypt went into military coup. Thousands were put in jails for no reason at all. Thousands were put in jail because they were expressing the voice they fought so hard for during the 25th of January revolution to keep. Thousands were killed for protesting towards all of that. Thousands were killed.

Corruption slowly seeped back in, almost like it never left. Its 10 years later, and Egypt’s economy is worse than it’s ever been. Our current president put thousands in jails, stole millions, and even made agreements with other countries to claim parts of the Egyptian land as theirs.

He changed the rules to be in his favor, changing the presidential period terms to make him potentially stay till 2034 (G Jonathan 2019). A little while before the elections day back in 2018, all other candidates stepped down, overnight at the same time. And there was no other option but him.

I can go on and on about this forever, but the point I’m trying to make is that if anything, things are getting worse. Corruption is too deeply rooted in some nations that simply protesting would not work.

If anything I’m having a very hard time deciding myself, whether protesting is ever a good idea anymore. And that is solely because protesting in most corrupt nations is never peaceful or harmonious. You can never guarantee that you are going to protest and come back alive. And looking at the results, of not only Egypt but of almost all countries that set revolutions like Syria and Yemen and Algeria and many more, I think. It’s still beautiful, but at what cost?

Thousands have died for almost, and it breaks my heart to say this, nothing. Is it really worth it to protest in the first place, at all?

I’ve had this conversation with at least 20 people, and I can’t get myself to have a stand about this. Because on one hand, having a voice and expressing it against evil is what makes us feel alive and human but on the flip side of it, at what cost does that come? And is there ever any actual impact change after that?

 References - 

Have you ever heard about the activism before? And what is the relationship between activism and social media? This topic might many people have no knowledge about it. 

If we look at the meaning of it. Activism is an action of campaigning by activists, people who strongly believe in social and political changes, be it in a public place or private such as an organization workplace in order to achieve their required changes. Most highly visible and impactful activism often comes in form of collective action, in which numerous individuals coordinate and act of protest together in order to make a bigger impact. Collective action that is purposeful organized and sustained over a period of time becomes knows as social movements. There are a list full of social movements in the world today. These social movements are such as Black Lives Matter, animal rights movement, feminist movement, political movement, cultural movement and many more. I remembered I came across a few post on Facebook shared by friends seeking for Facebook users’ attention and also to sign petitions for campaigns anywhere around the world. People make use of the petition feature on Facebook called the Community Actions, just by providing a title, a description and then tagging relevant authority, agency and community that can act on it. This Facebook feature can get other users to support the petition and share the cause to their own feeds to help gather more and bigger momentum (Metha 2019).A website and petition has been circulating around seeking every possible Facebook users’ attention and support to ban oil spill in the Great Australian Bight which is said that the problem is reaching as far as Bondi caused by drilling for oil in deep wild waters in the oil and gas industry (Save Our Marine Life 2019). So that means, if any oil spill happened in the Great Australian Bight, it can go as far east as Port Macquaries’s beaches! According to a leaked draft environment plan obtained by the ABC, it is two thirds of the way up New South Wales Coast! Petitions on other protection on wildlife especially is also emphasized. All caused and destroyed by our none other human species who only thought of money and themselves. 

Many petitions means that there is so much problems going on out there. Usually sites that has a particular aim, objective and similar agreement or disagreement will unite people or members alike to bond and work together in achieving that aim. When like that come together online, they will make sure attention will be circulating the every social media whereas placard and actions do the talking when they come together offline. While the rise of social movements has the ability to create such huge impact, it also increases the surveillance of marginalized groups in law enforcement agencies secretly having the ability to acquire social media spying software that can sweet activist into a web of digital surveillance (Gonzalez 2018). And you may ask how might activist use social media in the near future? Well, social media has allowed activist to form like never before but has also made them much easier to track which puts their safety at risk and has the effect on the future of social media activism. And who knows? Technology is always growing, people are always growing, ideas and ways are always generating. I am sure these people can find ways that no one ever thought of to convey their message to the world. Through world of social media.

References:

Boisvert, E & Puddy, R 2018, ‘Bight oil spills could reach Sydney's beaches, planning document shows’, ABC News, 13th of November, viewed 14 April 2019, <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-14/great-australian-bight-oil-spill-leaked-planning-document/10472922?pfmredir=sm&fbclid=IwAR1cmw-QjwqhG1CZ5pCq4WcDv4ulJS-h7cxa7BUZKSXuWQTC_Bj3adaMyA4>.

González, C 2018, ‘The future of social media activism’, medium.com, 27th of May, viewed 14 April 2019, <https://medium.com/@wordsbyacloud/the-future-of-social-media-activism-35e57ae8232b?fbclid=IwAR3gUndK6yOpMq1hWgP0AGQYok996w3b_k45dFfxDqQUz34iBkh8DPcdh0E>.

Leak shows Great Australian Bight oil spill could reach as far as Bondi! 2019, saveourmarinelife.org.au, viewed 14 April 2019, <https://saveourmarinelife.org.au/sign-the-petition-to-ban-oil-in-the-great-australia-bight/?fbclid=IwAR0Vmwxh6mUi7OlYXDGcyKXjf22i9P5LwBPCFyssATc9J6JvbUrfcRBIfUI>.

In the technological age where information spreads like wildfire,  is it considered activism and protest of the public to share their knowledge of court imposed censorship?

In December of 2018, Australian, there was  been a high profile legal case involving a convicted individual, whose name has been suppressed by the magistrate. The case is of huge significance to Australia, understandably the journalists want to report on it.  However, legal ruling by the magistrate prevents journalists from being able to do so.  

The Australian media outlets were outraged.  Instead of posting about the case, the journalists wrote that they were being censored. The highlighting of censorship caused the general public to search for the information: the finding of which allowed them to understand what was going on.  That said, one media outlet in another continent chose to publish the information, and whilst the outlet tried to prevent the data from being spread to Australia, digital communities chose to spread the news by social media.  Members of the public took it upon themselves to then publish this international new-found information to their own social media account.  What is particularly interesting about this sharing of censored information, is that whilst the public might have thought they were simply sharing the information, they were also (perhaps unwittingly) protesting on behalf of journalistic organisations.

Social media “enables citizens to report news, expose wrongdoing, express opinions, mobilize protest, monitor elections, scrutinize government, deepen participation, and expand the horizons of freedom” (Diamond 2010, page 70), but what if the attempt liberate the censorship actually diminished the legal ability of the prosecutors, and rights of the defendant? 

The problem with the public activism of a court ordered media suppression order is the very real possibility of the defendant losing their right to a fair trial.  In Australia,  people tried of a crime are entitled to a fair trial and fair hearing which affords them an independent and impartial jury, and are also to be presumed innocent until proved guilty (Australian Law Reforms 2016).  As with the particular case of December 2018, the defendant had a second trial of charges to face. The outcome of the first case is not allowed to be submitted as evidence. With the general public choosing to share the information about the case, the jury could inadvertently found out about the first trial and subconsciously use this information to determine the outcome of the second trial. 

As is the case with many news articles, interest wanes and Australian’s can go back to their lives of freedom, an allowance we regularly take for granted. If the second trial was adversely affected by the online sharing of censored information, the users of social media have only themselves to blame. 

The ascension of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag – and the others like #MeToo and #MAGA (Make America Great Again) – has spurred an active discussion about how effective and viable social media is for web-fueled activism and protest. It is believed that social media has become an important tool for users to express their political views, or to participate in activities that are important to them (Anderson et al. 2018).

Given that social media has become the source of news and information, it has also emerged as a key platform for people to debate and engage in civic-related activities. Although social media does give a voice to the underrepresented groups, there is a considerably large group of people agree that social media also distracts people from “real” issues. Instead of focusing on the real issue, it sometimes ends up being a “trend” (Cohen 2018).

Social media is also where subactivism rises. Subactivism, defined as small-scale, decisions and actions that are often made by individuals that could have either political or ethical reference, and it easily submerges in our everyday life. Although subactivism often remains insulated in a private realm, it can sometimes leak out and become publicly visible. As social media is now the major facilitator of exchange of information, it gives rise to transforming them into over public activism (Bakardjieva 2009, p. 96). People can take part in a group, encourage one another to take action on issues that are important to them. Some even changed their profile picture or use hashtags in their posts to exhibit support for a cause. In fact, most people believe that social media engagement is one way to get the officials’ attention or to initiate a social movement (Anderson et al. 2018).

Yet, despite the wide network social media possesses, it is hard for a leader, a charismatic leader, to emerge in the midst of progressive web-fueled protests. A leaderless movement could spread really quickly; however, there is an inability to make functional or complex decisions without the rise of a powerful leader. Although having a leader may seem pretty insignificant in the case of thousands or even millions of people who stand together, leaders are the ones who shape the message to be delivered (Cohen 2018).

With that said, millions of voices do make an echo. Even if there was no leader who raises to speak or to lead the movements, the movements did not come out of nowhere and somehow happen themselves. Names or faces may not be remembered, but the movements pushed by the people who stand in the same belief through social media, will be remembered in the times to come.

References

Anderson, M, Toor, S, Rainie, L & Smith, A 2018, ‘Activism in the social media age’, Pewinternet, 11 June, viewed 11 October 2018, <https://wtop.com/social-media/2018/06/todays-protests-many-voices-social-media-not-1-leader/>.

Bakardjieva, M 2009, ‘Subactivism: lifeworld and politics in the age of the internet’, The Information Society, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 91-104.