Complimentary Contributor Copy Complimentary Contributor Copy MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS – TECHNOLOGIES, POLICIES AND CHALLENGES ACTIVISM, CAMPAIGNING AND POLITICAL DISCOURSE ON TWITTER No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained herein. This digital document is sold with the clear understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, medical or any other professional services. Complimentary Contributor Copy MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS – TECHNOLOGIES, POLICIES AND CHALLENGES Additional books and e-books in this series can be found on Nova’s website under the Series tab. Complimentary Contributor Copy MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS – TECHNOLOGIES, POLICIES AND CHALLENGES ACTIVISM, CAMPAIGNING AND POLITICAL DISCOURSE ON TWITTER INNOCENT CHILUWA AND GWEN BOUVIER EDITORS Complimentary Contributor Copy Copyright © 2019 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. We have partnered with Copyright Clearance Center to make it easy for you to obtain permissions to reuse content from this publication. Simply navigate to this publication’s page on Nova’s website and locate the “Get Permission” button below the title description. This button is linked directly to the title’s permission page on copyright.com. Alternatively, you can visit copyright.com and search by title, ISBN, or ISSN. 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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN: 978-1-53615-453-5 (ebook) Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York Complimentary Contributor Copy “This timely, truly international volume looks beyond the potential for social action afforded by Twitter for political activism, to critically interrogate how – and how effectively – its affordances are actually being exploited across a range of frontline contexts, from ‘digital Trump’ to LGBT activism in India and political trolling in Turkey. Essential reading for anyone interested in the role of discourse in contemporary political activism.” Dr. Caroline Tagg, The Open University, Milton Keynes. “A truly global collection of essays on Twitter activism in many parts of the world, featuring scholars from USA, Austria, China, Ireland, France, Nigeria, Turkey, South Africa, and more! Highly recommended for students and researchers interested in digital activism and global communication.” Professor Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania. Complimentary Contributor Copy Complimentary Contributor Copy CONTENTS Preface ix Chapter 1 Understanding the Potential of Twitter for Political Activism 1 Gwen Bouvier and Le Cheng Chapter 2 The ‘Premotion’ of Political Discourse on Twitter: Promotional and Emotional Strategies of Communicating and Campaigning 17 Pietro Luigi Iaia Chapter 3 Digital Trump and Conflict: A Multi-Method Analysis 41 Tedla Desta Chapter 4 Public Sphere, Counterpublics, and the Managed Public: The Use of Twitter as Complementary Press on the Disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 71 Shushu Li Chapter 5 Trump’s Tweets: Computer-Mediated Communication Cues as Indicators for Paralinguistic Digital Affordances on Political Social Media 87 Christa L. Jennings Chapter 6 Constructing Transnational Identity through Twitter Activism: A Discourse Study of #EndFGM 103 Isioma Maureen Chiluwa and Olaniyi T. Ayodele Chapter 7 Social Media and LGBT Activism in India 131 Paromita Pain Chapter 8 How Women in Turkey Bring Feminist Movement to a New Level on Twitter: The Case of Women Theatre Performers 147 Çiğdem Erdal Complimentary Contributor Copy viii Contents Chapter 9 Hashtag Activism and Democratization in Nigeria: A Study of the #Occupy Nigeria and #Bringbackourgirls Twitter Movements 159 Floribert Patrick C. Endong Chapter 10 Don’t Dare Call It a Coup: Twitter Discourses on the Fall of Robert Mugabe 183 Allen Munoriyarwa Chapter 11 Online Activism in Mali: A Study of Digital Discourses of the Movement for the Liberation of Azawad 207 Innocent Chiluwa Chapter 12 Networked Authoritarianism in Turkey: JDP’s Political Trolling and Astroturfing 235 Mustafa Cem Oğuz and Ozhan Demirkol Chapter 13 Sousveilance Twitter: Challenges to Pro-Democracy Governance from Below in the Middle East 257 Helia Asgari and Katharine Sarikakis Chapter 14 From Free Speech to Freed Speech: Twitter’s Ethics of Freedom in the Aftermath of November 2015 Paris Attacks through the Lens of the Anonymous Collective 275 M. Sébastien Moutte About the Authors 297 Index 303 Related Nova Publications 313 Complimentary Contributor Copy PREFACE In times of traditional top-down media, citizens have lacked the power to make their voices heard. They were mere passive receivers of political party propaganda and government spin through the mass media. But with the advent of social media, individuals and social groups, especially the younger generation have become more vocal and critical of political leadership, asking questions and demanding political reforms (Chiluwa, 2012). Twitter and Facebook especially have empowered the citizen user, who is the “driver of democratic innovation through self-actualized networking of citizens engaged in lifestyle and identity politics” (Loader & Mercia 2011, p. 758). In other words, social media have now enabled citizens to challenge the monopoly of media production and dissemination by state and commercial institutions, taking advantage of information technology and freedom of Internet censorship in most countries to advance public opinion and the rule of law. Significantly, Twitter and Facebook are open, transparent and support low-threshold exchange of information and ideas and show great promise for reconfiguring of the structure of political discourses towards a broadening of public debate by facilitating social connectivity (Maireder and Ausserhofer 2014). And like online forums, Twitter promotes political conversations, and so far has offered new opportunities for challenging dominant discourses and privileged positions of power. Citizens have indeed challenged and resisted existing political structures and asked for, as well as achieved democratic reforms (Chiluwa, 2012). This kind of engagement has become widespread, which began with the achievements of the Arab spring, which some have referred to as “Twitter revolution.” In this volume, authors from different academic disciplines, coming from different social and political backgrounds and experiences have explored the increasing transformative potentials of Twitter for group advocacy. The chapters illustrate how Twitter serves as a forum for spreading awareness and information on social events, as well as for social activism and political discourse. The role of social media as a source of news responds to how the news environment and consumption practices are rapidly changing and the society appears to be moving from the traditional mainstream media to social media, which includes ordinary people involving in the process of news production and Complimentary Contributor Copy x Innocent Chiluwa and Gwen Bouvier dissemination (Bergstrom and Belfrage, 2018). In this vein, Social media feeds comprising a mixture of private and public postings and integrating news stories, have also performed the functions of “complementary press” (Shushu Li, in Chapter