Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and You Tube form the basis of networking knowledge in contemporary public life. Creators of the above sites did not assume how great will be their impact in public debate. In todays world the speed of communication as well as the possibility to publish almost all information and dispatching it to the sharer causes that gathering of hundreds of people in a given place at one time , or collection a hundred of thousand signatures for a civil bill no longer be a problem. Therefore, it seems that social media can contribute to the improvement of democracy and building of civil society in the countries in which citizens are active and they are regular users of this type of media. Paradoxically, even unofficial initiatives of twitter or facebook users move to mainstream media such as television or press and become interesting for politicians.(Leah, 2011, p.2-3)
The activities of social media users can be divided into political and socially vulnerable. Part of them is the answer to current problems or political events others create a new public discussion and debate. Clause Offe in the midle of 80s has defined four most important new social movements : ecological, defending human rights (including feminist), pacifist and movements involved in the “alternative” and “community” production and distribution of goods and services. He referred them because of their ability to mobilize and political influences. ( Offe,1995, 230)
According to Anthony Giddens contemporary unorthodox political activities take the form of social movements – collective action aimed at forcing the collective interests or the common goal, outside the sphere of established institutions.(Giddens, 2007, 464)
This type of social formations are called new social movements, which emphasize that they are a unique product of late modernity, and in terms of methods, motivation and orientation they differ significantly from earlier forms of collective activity. ( Offe,1995, 230)
Case study: “No ACTA- how they save the Internet in Poland “
In January 2012 in network appeared a massage that Polish government would like to sign the “Agreement on combating trade in counterfeit goods market” (in short called ACTA) no one believed that it will be a reason for the outbreak of the “ first uprising of the Polish Internet”. (URL document :http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2008/october/tradoc_140836.11.08.pdf)
How did it happen? People suddenly came out into the streets with strike banners and a protest action has not become any organization or company, what is more the short mention about signing the ACTA document appeared in traditional media much more earlier.
Undoubtedly, the case went on susceptible ground – a vision of reducing civil liberties and attempt to impose the control always arouses the civil opposition. To Polish Internet came also an information about the protests against SOPA and PIPA in the West.
The escalation of the protest would not have been possible without social media. In case of ACTA social media not only show the opposition but also an effective grass roots lobbying. The network provides much more capabilities than traditional lobbying, in which protesters take an action such as collecting signatures, e-mails and letters to decision-makers and pickets organization. The example of ACTA case showed that new media such as Internet in conjunction with the social networks can do even more.
The performance of anonymity, which we had to deal with during the wave of street protests in Poland , gained power through the adoption of the Guy Fawkes mask
as the dominant symbol of the protests.
Nicholas Rakusa-Suszczewski in his report interprets the mask as a veil concealing the ideological shortcomings of motion. The film V for Vendetta (2006) created by Wachowski brothers which based on cult comic from 80’s , made that the image of Fawkes mask has become an essential element of identifying groups of protest, such as Anonymous hacker collective and anti-censorship movements occurring in
Internet .
Consider two of the many reasons why anonymous mask made such a sensation.
The first is a new function of face mask in modern societies.
Face has become a basic commodity of media consumed by the participants society of the spectacle.
As a creature of pop culture has undergone a dizzying metamorphosis
disengaging from the traditional understanding of the true human face,
became an autonomous entity presented in the mass transmission
recipients – the image of public figures, pop culture icon
and so on. For users of cyberspace (cyberspaces) and at the same time
Children mass culture communicating with interfaces
(inter-faces) and producing cyber faces for the
self-presentation in the virtual world has proven to be a natural mask ,
material from which identity could be constructed (Belting 2013, p. 214 ).
The second reason for the symbolic force of Fawkes mask is a tradition social control in the era of modernity.
Control of the Internet by corporations, media and political institutions in a natural way
brings analogies to build police archives, which since the nineteenth
century collecting images of dangerous faces which should serve for social security.
(Belting 2013 s. 234 ).
Smiles on the masks emphasized irony and sarcasm on protesters banners.
The story about the social movement against ACTA in Poland shows how today we can demonstrate civil disobedience. It all begins on the Internet where people can pass on the information and solidarity to fight a common cause. Through the Internet, sending hundreds of thousands of e-mails to the government and to members of Poles mobilized government to listen to their arguments and change position on ACTA. Polish case affect on people from other European countries , their also mobalized through social network sites and went to the streets , they also sent a lot of e-mails to Members of European parliament against ACTA . Some scientists believe that thanks to Polish , Europe has avoided ACTA.
According to Castells who cuts off the discussion about “twitter revolutions” and drive force of new media for him it is pointless and obvious that “ media do not cause revolutions and social movements” (Castells, 2003, p.58) New media are just the perfect tools to communicate, its possibilities are limitless which in this case the young people were able to take advantage of it and fight for free Internet in Poland.
In conclusion digital technology turns out to be a crucial in the development of the modern activism infrastructure. The functioning of the new social movement is based largely on the network, both in the process of designing the organizational structures as well as talking about action. A prerequisite for the action of a social movement is to make the basis of their activity of modern communications technology – new media (especially the Internet and mobile media) are in the context of a social movement the key technology.
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