Activism in a Digital World.

'ac·tiv·ism  

n.

The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.' (www.thefreedictionary.com)

Activism has existed for as long as any of us can remember, it is human nature to stand up for what you believe in with a group of like minded people. An example of Student activism is evident in the following video taken of the Tuition Fees protests in 2010. Nick Clegg infamously went back on his promise to dramatically reduce / cut tuition fees, and supported David Cameron in doing the complete opposite.

“Other campaigns have been run by activists using Facebook, Twitter, Second Life and blogs. These range from virtual Union protests against IBM in Second Life to organisation of real world demonstrations. The student protests against tuition fee increases and government cuts were organised on social networking sites. Even the X-Factor’s dominance over the Christmas number one slot has been challenged by digital activism” (http://www.infobo.com/blog/34-news/79-digital-activism-comes-of-age)

My first experience of ‘activism’ was at the age of 13. I was told that I could take the afternoon off school if I joined the march against war in Iraq in Exeter city centre; all I needed was parental permission. Aged 13 I understood very little of the situation and endured about half an hour of the march then scurried off to enjoy an afternoon’s shopping and revel hysterically in rumours about being bombed. Despite my limited involvement I do remember the excitement and buzz in the crowd at standing up for something, the shocking passion with which participants chant and shout their point of view across the hustle and bustle.

This would have been 2003 and to my knowledge was organised mainly through word of mouth. Social media did exist but was not widely recognised or used. This was probably one of the last examples of Activism involving young people where the internet wasn’t heavily utilised.   Having searched Google, the local Exeter paper websites and Youtube I can’t find any material on the event; this just goes to show how undigitalised and recorded events like this were just 8 years ago.

The online world has opened up a myriad of opportunities for anyone to get involved in just about anything. This can be a threat and cause difficult situations for governments an example would be ‘Wikileaks’. The government certainly has a lot to contend with as “censorship and monitoring of the internet and social networking tools opens western governments up to accusations of hypocrisy, given the criticism of censorship in countries like China and Iran.”

‘Slacktivism’ (Feder, 2002) “is an apt term to describe feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact....” "Slacktivism" is the ideal type of activism for a lazy generation: why bother with sit-ins and the risk of arrest, police brutality, or torture if one can be as loud campaigning in the virtual space? Given the media's fixation on all things digital -- from blogging to social networking to Twitter -- every click of your mouse is almost guaranteed to receive immediate media attention, as long as it's geared towards the noble causes. That media attention doesn't always translate into campaign effectiveness is only of secondary importance.”http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism

This phenomenon is definitely evident and I do believe it means there is less real activism occurring.  People are adapting to the online world and the ease of just about EVERYTHING is normality. However it’s important to remember that through history there have always been people who have chosen not to get involved, these people are possibly the ones ‘lazily’ involving themselves through online activity today. 


 Online activity does enable lazy involvement but without it organisation and planning would be much more time consuming and it would be difficult to get people together. Take the recent happenings in Egypt for example, technology played a huge role in this.

 As a result, there is a negative side to Digital Activism but I believe it helps more than it hinders.