Internet in Political Activism - Essay Example

Internet in political activism Summary: One has to understand the fact that in instances where the country and its government are able to exert strong control over the information that flies over the internet then the chances of political activism become automatically limited. In order to deal with the issues that characterize the modern day phenomena of political activism on the internet, the discipline of social sciences in general along with those of political and media sciences in particular have tried to delve into the causes characterizing the growth of the phenomena. The theoretical framework that has resulted has meant that the means through which the process of political communication actually takes place has ended up changing the very political and civic engagement in which the citizen interacts with others, making it a constant conviction among scholars and journalists. In the following artoicle, while delving into the causes of political activism, one will also try and analyzing and comparing how political activism in China and Indonesia have taken on different forms and how the repercussions of the two have differed over time and space. Introduction: Political activism and the internet To some extent, the question of whether the internet can foster political activism and knowledge of governance is somewhat simplistic, considering the fact that the internet itself interacts considerably with political, governmental, regulatory and economic institution and requires complex governance and debates over what kinds of governance are appropriate and possible (Margolis and Resnick, 2000). Further, few discussions of how the internet fosters democracy are clear about their underlying assumptions about the nature of the internet democracy. Political activism has on the internet medium has found new meaning on the back of the proliferation of social networking websites such as Orkut, Facebook, MySpace and the most recent and perhaps the most empowering, Twitter. The new platforms allow users to voice opinions and vent dissatisfaction in a manner that is most interactive and fits into the hustle and bustle of their daily routines (Hecter, 1988). One of the best ways to measure the importance of these new mediums is the simple Egyptian example, wherein users were able to plan meetings and define agendas on Facebook without having to come out in the open or having to reveal their identities. This could be attributable to what Kahn and Kellner (2004) dub as the perpetration of internet subcultures promoting democratisation of opinions and their dissemination through the world of the internet. Yet others like Luengo (2006) argue that the growing utilisation of the information and technology (IT) regimes has meant that there has been a change in the very essence of the process of politics in general and the mobilization of social classes in particular (Friedland, 1996).   Diano (2000) defines the concept of social movements as “networks of informal relationships between a multiplicity of individuals and organizations, who share a distinctive collective identity, and mobilize resources on conflictual issues”  (Diani, 2000, p387). These dimensions are social movement actors’  behavior (individuals and organizations), the relationship between social movement actors, the feelings of mutual identification and solidarity which bond movement actors together, and access to resources such as money, materials, time, and skilled assistance needed by social movements. In order to deal with the issues that characterize the modern day phenomena of political activism on the internet, the discipline of social sciences in general along with those of political and media sciences in particular have tried to delve into the causes characterizing the growth of the phenomena. The theoretical framework that has resulted has meant that the means through which the process of political communication actually takes place has ended up changing the very political and civic engagement in which the citizen interacts with others, making it a constant conviction among scholars and journalists. However, the development of the discipline of political communication has meant that that there an opposing explanation that could be arrived at in the context of the existing relationship between political engagement and mediums of mass communication. While on the one hand, one finds that some have come up with accusations vis-à-vis the media that there is an element of “narcotizing” the citizens, because of which increasingly less participative and less trusting of political institutions and are, in the terms of Robert Putnam, disaffected democrats Putnam & Pharr, 2000; Putnam, 2000). On the other hand, some recent analyses state that the empirical evidence points out in the opposite direction (Norris, 2000). China One of the best known and the earliest measures which in more ways than one, ended up defining the scope and role of political activism in China was the bombing of the Chinese embassy at the end of which People’s Daily Online set up a protest forum which had over 10,000 replies within a matter of hours. The incident occurred in 1999 and showed that the internet was first, there to stay and second, that it would become a forum legitimately usable for the expression of dissent. One has to understand the fact that the Chinese government has for the longest period of time been able to keep tabs on internet within China and on the information that flew within the country. The BBC news site is for example, is inaccessible, while a search on Google.cn for the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement directs users to a string of condemnatory articles. It also has to be understood that china was never a market where Google was the market leader and if it had to live up its dream of being the numero uno search engine in the world there was no way in which it could have avoided the burgeoning Chinese market. This would also then automatically mean that Google would have to compete on a regular basis with Beijing based Baidu.com, the primary search engine for the Chinese. The importance of the activism on the internet also meant that the Google version in China or Google.cn would restrict/deny access to thousands of sensitive terms and web sites. Such topics are likely to include independence for Taiwan and even Tibet and the Tiananmen Square which happened in 1989 (BBC Report, 2006). Interestingly, when the information embargo was on, one would find two vastly varying results for the search on Tiananmen, for a search on Taiwan while someone outside China would see the UN map, someone inside China would get to see the Chinese government sponsored map (Google Faces Corporate Social Responsibility Problem In China, 2010). In this light therefore it would be easy to assume that acquiescing on the issue of information restriction was unjustified and morally incorrect-this did nothing  any way confirm to the “Don’t be evil” mission that Google had set for itself. Also since February, China was in the grips of the now famous Jasmine revolution, which took the Egyptian world by storm and led to the collapse of a 60 year old dictatorial government. Some of the best documented proof of the assertion that the Jasmine revolution was fast becoming a threat was the fact that on the whiff of the revolution brewing within the Chinese cities, and the war on the revolution made the first casualties out of the bloggers and the democracy advocates along with other would-be troublemakers who were detained on a preemptive basis by local police and public security personnel. One of the better known names includes the artist provocateur Ai Weiwei, who continues to remain in police custody after being seized at Beijing’s international airport in February. This kind of security arrangement was made possible by mass security efforts that had been put in place by the Chinese, who have made sure that the internal security plays top spot on their list of priorities. According to data that was made public last year, the Chinese government had allocated as much to the maintenance of internal security as they had on defence expenses. In fact a leading government think-tank has stated that China has witnessed more than 90,000 so-called "mass incidents" - examples of public unrest - in China every year since 2007, as much as 40 per cent having their source on unrest initiated on the internet. The jasmine revolution also meant that the flower was banned in China. Much like the first calls on the Internet for protesters to “stroll silently holding a jasmine flower,” the floral ban is shrouded in some mystery. In fact things took on such proportions that if news reports are to be believed many cut flower and live plant business owners received “special” visits by members of the Chinese special security teams. The Beijing Public Security Bureau declined to answer questions about jasmine (New York Times Report, 2011). Indonesia Nugroho (2008) has argued that the perpetration of the internet within the civil society organisations (CSO) which led to the collapse of the New Order government. Research has shown that the usage of the internet as a medium in the Indonesian CSOs has had a major effect on one of at least four organisational aspects: identity, role, political orientation (including organisational focus on issues and concerns), and organisational consistency and structure. Despite this, however, the use of the internet in Indonesia could not by any means by considered homogenous due to the uneven access to technology and patchy allocation of abilities in the usage of the technology among CSOs. This, in despite the fact that, the internet is still largely unadapted in terms of it being a medium for political activism. Nevertheless, in spite of the issues, usage of the internet in the mobilization of political classes for a revolution (in factors of networking and mobilisation) have quickly taken on the role of being more and more important where Indonesian CSOs are concerned. This could especially be explained in terms of the fact that this helps the CSO encourage and facilitate more and more public participation. Another example of the internet as a tool for political activism was through the “warnet” which became the rage in Indonesia in the later part of the 1990s. While the warnet facilitates online social relationships created in cyberspace, a number of warnet are also places for creating offline relationships. By allowing for online and offline relations, the warnet all over Indonesia has allowed its perpetration and changed the way Indonesian population interacts on the web. Opinion differ however, given the fact that while the internet in Indonesia developed free from the interference of the state and corporate agenda, it should in no way be romanticized as a virtuous sanctuary of social good and harmony (Ho, Kluver and Hang, 2003). What stared as a mailing list became a virtual organisation to discuss warnet related issues. However it developed later into a space for discussion on a wide choice of topics ranging from technical computer related problems to issues of monopoly of the state over the system of telecommunications, with a simple tagline: The portal is virtual but our fight is real. Comparison: China and Indonesia Both China and Indonesia are comparitives in light of the fact that the countries are bothe characterized by governments that are intrinsically dictatorial. While the communist government in China is controlled by the Party only, in Indonesia, when the activism on the internet was at its heights, the country’s poliotiocal structure was characterized by absolute control by President Sukarno’s government. The link therefore might also be that there is definitely a link between activism on the internet and dissatisfaction from the government. Conclusion In conclusion, one could argue that the system of the internet and its global perpetration has, with its technical growth found activism intrinsic to its manner of working and the format in which things move forward in terms of how people express dissent. With the growth of Facebook and the 140 character revolution that is Twitter, this social activism is all set to scale new heights in the coming years. Also, one has to understand the fact that in instances where the country and its government are able to exert strong control over the information that flies over the internet then the chances of political activism become automatically limited. References: Ho, K., Kluver, R., and Hang, K. C., (2003). Asia.com: Asia encounters the internet. Kluweres Law. p121. Norris, P. and D. Sanders (2001). “Knows Little, Learns Less? An Experimental Study of the Impact of the Media on Learning During the 2001 British General Election”, paper presented in the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Panel “Communication and the Global Politics”, San Francisco. Diani, Mario (2000). Social movement networks, virtual and real. Information Communication & Society, 3:3, 386-401. New York Times Report, (2011). Catching Scent of Revolution, China Moves to Snip Jasmine. Retrieved June 8, 2011. < http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/world/asia/11jasmine.html?_r=1> BBC Report, (2006). Google censors itself for China. Retrieved June 9, 2011, Newton, K. (1999). “Mass Media Effects: Mobilisation or Media Malaise”, in British Journal of Political Science, 29, 577-599 Friedland, L., (1996). Electronic democracy and the new citizenship. Media, Culture and Society , 18(2), 185-212. Kahn, R, and Kellner. D., (2004). “New Media and Internet Activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to Blogging.” New Media & Society 6.1. pp87-95. Print. Hechter, M., (1988). Rational choice foundations of social order. In Jonathan Turner (Ed.) TheoryBuilding in Sociology (pp. 60-81). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Luengo, M., (2006). ‘E-Activism: New Media and Political Participation in Europe’. CONfinesUniversidad de Granada. Departamento de Ciencia Política y Administración Pública. Facultad de Ciencia Política Sociología. ogluengo@ugr.es Michael Margolis and David Resnick, Politics as Usual: The “Cyberspace Revolution” Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2000. 246 pp.200 Nugroho, Y 2008c 'Spreading the word, broadening perspectives: Internet, NGOs and globalisation discourse in Indonesia', Manchester Business School Working Paper, No.544. The University of Manchester, Manchester. The rise of internet activism in China. Retrieved June 8, 2011. < http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:php9_nevJv4J:www.eai.nus.edu.sg/BB388.pdf+Internet+activism,+indonesia&hl=en&gl=in> Lim, M., (2005). The internet and political activism in Indonesia. Archipalego Online. p41 Read More