Week Seven: File Sharing

Case Study: MoveOn.org

• The Internet provides citizens an opportunity to lodge democratic challenges against the state during hostile political climates.

• Challengers are outsiders who are united by a common cause and looking to gain access to political structures to affect change.

• These are at least three features of the internet that make it a useful tool for challengers after political shocks such as 9/11
Three useful tool features of the Internet for Activism:
– a) It provides a free space for challengers to form oppositional points of view away from dominant groups
– b) It allows individuals to participate anonymously and thus buffers challengers from the high costs of activism
– c) It moves challenges from the virtual to the real world by engaging citizens in intermediary forms of activism

Why is it an effective tool for activists?
• First: the Internet is an alternative communication network that has not been completely monopolized by corporate voices or regulated by politicians.

• As it is removed from direct control of dominant groups, challengers may form an oppositional consciousness. It provides an arena in which citizens can express discontent and define the contours of their dissent.
http://www.qs.org.hk/

• E.g. Queer Sisters in Hong Kong used a bulletin board to create principles, ideas and feelings that challenged the status quo.

• Second: the Internet allows citizens to express their dissent anonymously and without retribution.
• Anonymity is important tool for those who are challenging the state and with to avoid repression
E.g. Tomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense helped spark the American Revolution, published under “An Englishman”
• Full text Version:

• http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/commonsense/text.html

• Spoof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA
After 9/11 US
• The political context prioritized national security over civil liberties. Social relations between activists dramatically altered or radicalized identity increasing commitment and solidarity to movement causes and sustains activism despite the high costs (government repression, familial strain). The Internet creates a buffer between challengers and the high costs of activism.

• Third: The Internet has mobilizing potential, meaning it can involve individuals in collective action episodes and social movements more broadly.

• E.g. Organizing activists before, during and after the “Battle in Seattle” (WTO Ministerial Meeting in 1999.)

• http://www.realbattleinseattle.org/

• Third continued:

• Helps mobilize other forms that are designed to gain acceptance for challengers’ positions, as an important first step to broader political change: discussion groups, letter-writing campaigns, phone campaigns and canvassing.
Case Study: MoveOn.org


• The largest and most forceful voice in digital era politics.

• Founded by Wes Boyd and Joan Blades in 1998, when they sent an e-mail petition calling on congress to censure President Clinton for his indiscretion with Monica Lewinsky and to “move on” to more pressing political issues.

• Goal is to: bring as much diversity to the power structure as possible, so ordinary citizens can proved a countervailing influence against the notion that elite make all important decisions for the masses.

• www.moveon.org/about.html

• Membership grew from 500,000 to 3 million in the US from September 2001 to December 2005.

• In analyzing the demographic and political information about the respondents, there are four key points:

1) There is a variance in the demographics of the respondents. With great diversity in their age, marital statues gender, racial and ethnic backgrounds

2) Most have children, and familial status may affect how individuals conceptualize risk and engagement in activism

3) Membership generally is not isolated to online organizations alone, but also other activist affiliations.

4) All but six respondents noted that how they approached activism had changed since 9/11. High-risk activism leaves an imprint on individuals, which affects their willingness to engage in risky activism later in life.
Risky Activism Post 9/11
• The climate of fear crated by 9/11, buttressed by national security initiatives such as the Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act, made public political dissent risky. In turn online participation was more appealing because it allowed anonymous activism, which provided a buffer between the individual and potential costs of activism.
Three risks associated with publicly opposing the Bush administration’s war on terror:
1) Respondents feared being labeled as unpatriotic, un-American or a Terrorist sympathizer

2) Respondents worried about the professional and legal consequences of public activism

3) Respondents were worried about the consequences public activism might have for their families.
After political shocks issues of national identity come to the fore.


• “Nationalism is a way to avoid meaningful political debate.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Definitions of patriotic behaviour in the wake of political shocks are relatively inflexible. Move on provided an alternative media space for those in disagreement with Bush policies.

• Jeff (anonymous activist):

• “It challenges the power structure…the way that information gets out is largely controlled by mainstream media, which is controlled by established power structures…the media is owned by money and money controls the media.”

• In conclusion: The Internet creates a buffer between activists and the high costs of activism by providing activists anonymity. This in turn, creates a free space in which activists can develop oppositional points of view away from the view of a broader and dominant political culture.

Discussion Link:
http://www.citizenlab.org/
Note pdf on censorship