Online Activism under Censorship: China’s 2022 White Paper Protests
Introduction
Online activism has become a powerful tool for social and political change in many parts of the world (Tüfekçi, 2017). In many regions, however, the internet is not as open and free of a space as we would like to think. China is a prime example of a country where online activism faces significant challenges due to government censorship and control. Yet, despite the rigorous censorship and control of online activism in China, there have been instances of protests and resistance. For this final article, I have chosen to discuss a recent and rather significant case of such Chinese online activism against all odds: China’s White Paper Protests of 2022 – a case of online activism in a censored digital environment, which combines the two main themes in focus of my earlier articles: Silence as a form of activism, and the use of symbols in activism. […]
Full article available at request: Reach out to Stefan.
Personal Learning Reflections
Creating a blog site and writing engaging and well-researched content for it, together with a group of people I had not worked with before, was a daunting task and the opportunities for learning and growth were plentiful over the last few weeks:
I practiced writing for non-academic audiences, which is something I rarely do and something I find challenging. One of the hardest lessons here was probably how to keep my writing much shorter and to the point, and I now fully appreciate the famous saying if I had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter.
A group process I particularly enjoyed was finding our overarching blog theme, which we did based on our different individual motivations and interests behind choosing course theme two. I experienced going back and forth between team members and letting connections and themes emerge as we were building from one idea onto the next an extremely fun, creative, and rewarding process, which I hope I can replicate in future projects, as I believe this engagement with each other and each other’s ideas early on was what empowered us to pursue our individual interests while also strongly identifying with – and working towards – the overarching theme of (il)legit activism.
Finally, I experienced first hand – and really appreciate – the incredible power of a truly collaborative, supportive, and well-aligned group, which can calmly and securely stand its ground against even the most offensive and disruptive behaviors, while co-creating what I’d like to think of as a very successful group project outcome.
Thank you my dear colleagues of NMICT&D23 group 7 – it has been remarkable!
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