Protests online and offline

“One of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know we are not alone.”
bell hooks

I ran into this quote on an Instagram account that shares information on demonstrations and protests that are happening in Finland in support of Palestinians. The idea of resistance as a comforting action, a way of building community is fascinating.

For me taking part in a demonstration has always been an emotional experience. 2018 when huge climate marches happened everywhere, also in Finland, it felt good, and comforting to realise that millions of others are concerned about climate issues and are willing to use their time to come together, make signs, and march together. For a moment it felt like together we can change the development and heal the environment.

For the past year, pro-Palestine demonstrations have taken place all around Finland, in Helsinki every week. Coming together, and showing solidarity has felt important, and personally also a place where you can grieve. Over 14 000 children have died in the war in Gaza after October 2023. Witnessing that horror – through digital channels – is overwhelming and deeply sad. Some of the demonstrations have been silent candle demonstrations, they felt a kind of memorial service for those who lost their lives.

A homeplace

The quote in the beginning is from the book Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. In the same book hooks describes a site of resistance, a homeplace, like this:

“This task of making homeplace was not simply a matter of black women providing service; it was about the construction of a safe place where black people could affirm one another and by so doing heal many of the wounds inflicted by racist domination. We could not learn to love or respect ourselves in the culture of white supremacy, on the outside; it was there on the inside, in that “homeplace,” most often created and kept by black women, that we had the opportunity to grow and develop, to nurture our spirits.”

What kind of communities of resistance are there in the digital world? And how the protests and demonstrations in real life are in connection with the digital world? Protests are photographed and live-streamed to social media, social media channels are used as a way to share information and educate people. But the idea of a homeplace, a community of resistance highlights the importance of collective support and a feeling of community – can you get that also digitally?

In my IDA blogposts, I will explore this topic. The links between online and offline activism. This blog post-series is also my journey of finding ways and methodologies to study the topic.

Online, offline, or both?

I come from Finland, where even small children have their mobile phones. The digital world is intertwined in everything we do. From my perspective, all offline activism is somehow connected to digital channels. Can online and offline activism even be separated?

“The success of online activism is reliant on several factors, chief among them, the effective coordination with offline activities. Even those who believe the internet was instrumental in determining the success of the Arab Spring would admit that had activists not taken to the streets, then perhaps, having typically overstayed his mandate, the ex-President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, would not have seen the need to give up.” Mutsvairo (2016)

This quote from the book Digital Activism in the Social Media Era argues that online activism needs offline activism, to be able to achieve change. Mutsvairo continues with an explanation of an argument by Anduiza et al. (2009) who have characterized activism in three different categories, drawing a distinction between activities that are only possible online, those only conceivable offline, and offline activities that can also be carried out online. This distinction seems like a good starting point for my expedition in digital activism.

What next?

Having a channel where to communicate and finding the right audience is already the first step of building a community. The digital world is not accessible to all, but for those who can access digital channels, it offers a way to speak for themselves. A study from Zimbabwe argues that digital tools are empowering activists:

“The study found that social media has given Zimbabwe’s unique digital activists the power, in real or illusory sense, to challenge narratives of-ten advanced by post-colonial hegemonies.“ Karam et al. (2021)

The text also suggests that social media platforms offer a space and a voice perhaps in the same way that coffee houses and restaurants before. Could you even say: a digital homebase?

Best,
Noora

Before you go, I would like to ask about your experiences. What kind of experiences do you have about taking part in digital activism? Did you feel you were a part of a community of resistance, a homeplace?

References:

• Anduiza, E., Cantijoch, M., & Gallego, A. (2009). ‘Political participation and the Internet.’ Information, Communication & Society.
• hooks, bell (2015): Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics.
• Karam, Beschara; Mutsvairo, Bruce (eds.) (2021): Decolonising Political Communication in Africa-Reframing Ontologies.
• Mutsvairo, Bruce (2016): Digital Activism in the Social Media Era.