Cyberprotest: New Media, Citizens and Social Movements
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Cyberprotest Since the Seattle anti-globalization protests in 1999 the adoption of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) by social movement activists has offered the prospect of a serious challenge to traditional forms of political participation. With its transnationalmany-to-many communication facility, the internet offers revolutionary potential for social movements to speak directly to the citizens of the world, circumventing the ‘official’ messages of political organizations and traditional media. Furthermore, electronic mail, mailing lists, websites, electronic forums and other online applications provide powerful tools for coordinating activity among geographically dispersed individuals, and for shaping collective identity. This book critically assesses how ICTs are finding their way into the world of social movements, considering overarching issues and providing examples of cyberprotest movements from across the globe. It will be valuable reading for students and academics in politics, media and communication, public administration, sociology and ICT. It will also be of great interest to policy makers and social activists. Wim van de Donk is Professor of Public Administration at Tilburg University, The Netherlands and member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy in The Hague. Brian D.Loader is Director of the Community Informatics Research and Applications Unit based at the University of Teesside, UK. He is also Editor of the international journal Information, Communication & Society. Paul G.Nixon is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the Haagse Hogeschool, The Hague, The Netherlands. Dieter Rucht is Professor of Sociology at the Social Science Research Center, Berlin, Germany. Cyberprotest New media, citizens and social movements Edited by Wim van de Donk, Brian D.Loader, Paul G.Nixon, Dieter Rucht Foreword by Peter Dahlgren LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2004 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2004 selection and editorial matter, Wim van de Donk, Brian D.Loader, Paul G.Nixon, Dieter Rucht; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-64422-0 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-67501-0 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–29784–2 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–29785–0 (pbk) Contents List of contributors vi Foreword by Peter Dahlgren ix Preface xiv 1 Introduction: social movements and ICTs 1 WIM VAN DE DONKBRIAN D.LOADERPAUL G.NIXONDIETER RUCHT PART I Changing the levels and domains of political action 23 2 The quadruple ‘A’: media strategies of protest movements 25 since the 1960s DIETER RUCHT 3 Politicizing Homo economicus: analysis of anti-corporate 49 websites JACOB ROSENKRANDS 4 Informing, communicating and ICTs in contemporary anti- 69 capitalist movements STEVE WRIGHT PART II Changing strategies and stratagems: action and activism in the 85 information age 5 New media, new movements? The role of the internet in 87 shaping the ‘anti-globalization’ movement PETER VAN AELSTSTEFAAN WALGRAVE 6 Communicating global activism: strengths and 109 vulnerabilities of networked politics W.LANCE BENNETT 7 Mass media driven mobilization and online protest: ICTs 129 and the pro-East Timor movement in Portugal GUSTAVO CARDOSOPEDRO PEREIRA NETO v 8 ATTAC(k)ing expertise: does the internet really 145 democratize knowledge? BRIGITTE LE GRIGNOUCHARLES PATOU PART III Citizenship, identity and virtual movements 159 9 The Dutch women’s movement online: internet and the 161 organizational infrastructure of a social movement ARTHUR EDWARDS 10 Dis@bled people, ICTs and a new age of activism: a 181 Portuguese accessibility special interest group study RITA CHETA 11 The Queer Sisters and its electronic bulletin board: a study 203 of the internet for social movement mobilization JOYCE Y.M.NIP 12 Politics and identity in cyberspace: a case study of 225 Australian Women in Agriculture online BARBARA PINIKERRY BROWNJOSEPHINE PREVITE Bibliography 239 Index 265 Contributors W.Lance Bennett is Professor of Political Science and Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication at the University of Washington, USA. He directs the Center for Communication and Civic Engagement (www.engagedcitizen.org) and has begun a project on global citizenship and communication technology (www. globalcitizenproject.org). [email protected] Kerry Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Management at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. [email protected] Gustavo Cardoso is an Assistant Professor of Information and Communication Sciences at the Department of Information Sciences and Technologies at ISCTE Lisbon, Portugal. He lectures in the degrees of Sociology in the MCs of Communication, Culture and Information Technologies and Digital Libraries, and in the PostDegree on Journalism. He also works as a researcher at the Communication Studies Research Team of ISCTE and, during the past five years, he has been conducting research related to the Information Society national policies and working as an adviser for ‘Information Society and Telecommunications’ at the Portuguese Presidency of the Republic, [email protected] Rita Cheta is a PhD candidate in Sociology and Communications Studies at ISCTE, Lisbon, Portugal. She is a junior researchmember at CIES and is a researcher of the Communication Studies Research Team at ISCTE. Her previous research related to Portuguese mass media representations of crime, social contexts of ICT uses in Portugal and the underlying identity transformation processes. [email protected] Arthur Edwards is senior lecturer at the Department of Public Administration, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. His research fields are: ICTs and democracy, local democracy, and the public sphere. His most recent research concerns comparative research on interactive policy making in Dutch municipalities and also on new forms of local democracy in European countries, [email protected] Brigitte le Grignou is Professor of Political Science at the Paris Dauphine University, France. Her research focuses on political communication, particularly vii in relation to the use of television as a political communication media, on social movements and audience studies, [email protected] Brian D.Loader is Director of the Community Informatics Research and Applications Unit (www.cira.org.uk) based at the University of Teesside, UK. He is also General Editor of the international journal Information, Communication & Society (www.infosoc.co.uk) and has edited a number of books including The Governance of Cyberspace (Routledge, 1997), Cyberspace Divide (Routledge, 1998), (with Barry Hague) Digital Democracy (Routledge, 1999), (with Doug Thomas) Cybercrime (Routledge, 2000), (with Leigh Keeble) Community Informatics (Routledge, 2001), (with Bill Dutton) The Digital Academe (Routledge, 2002), and (with David Bell, Nicholas Pleace, and Doug Schuler) Key Concepts in Cyberculture (Routledge, 2004). He has also published articles and reports on technological change and social and political restructuring, [email protected] Pedro Pereira Neto is conducting research in the field of the impact of ICTs on the Mass Media and of Social and Economic Inclusion and ICTs. He is an affiliate researcher at CAVJSCTE (Center for Audiovisual Technologies at ISCTE). His recent research projects and publications concern: digital libraries and citizens’ use of the internet, and social movements and new media, [email protected] Joyce Y.M.Nip is Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University. [email protected] Paul G.Nixon is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the Haagse Hogeschool, Den Haag, The Netherlands. He is a visiting Professor of European Politics at Mitthogskolan, Sweden. He has contributed chapters to many edited collections on the use of ICTs, particularly in the fields of political parties, electronic democracy and social welfare. He is at present editing a book, Political Parties and the Internet, for Routledge (with Steve Ward and Rachel Gibson). He has also published in the fields of culture and literature, including editing a collection entitled Representations of Education in Literature (Edwin Mellen Press, 2000). [email protected] Charles Patou is a PhD student in Political Science at the Paris Dauphine University, France. His research focuses on political communication, social movements and social movement expertise. [email protected] Barbara Pini is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Management at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. [email protected] Josephine Previte is Associate Lecturer at University of Queensland