Free Expression Activism in a (Post)Modern World of Risk and Uncertainty
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Free Expression Activism in a (Post)Modern World of Risk and Uncertainty by Taryn Sheridan Blanchard A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Anthropology University of Toronto © Copyright by Taryn Sheridan Blanchard 2019 Free Expression Activism in a (Post)Modern World of Risk and Uncertainty Taryn Sheridan Blanchard Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology University of Toronto 2019 Abstract This thesis is about free expression activists and the central roles that risk and uncertainty play in their experiences. Today, activists who work on an array of free expression issues—including free speech, privacy, and press freedom—are driven by two principle predicaments. The first is the increasing pervasiveness of digital technologies, and the second is an aging liberalism deployed in increasingly conflicting fashions. Both of these predicaments are escalated by the post-9/11 preoccupation with national (in)security and the growing precarity of the neoliberal capitalist order in a world of economic and political globalization. Free expression activists work hard to foster conditions in which freedom can flourish (for themselves and others). But it is not only human rights discourse or other liberal idea(l)s that they appraise, confront, and grapple with on a day-to-day basis to conceive of their obstacles and advance their goals. Equally important are assessments and tools built on risk-based decision- making, discursive strategies that work to identify and harness risk and uncertainty, and other practices and ideologies through which risk and uncertainty are enacted. The goal is frequently to manage or minimize risk and uncertainty, but, by engaging them so strategically, free expression activists also end up accentuating them and giving them new, heightened meaning. ii Weaving through a series of free expression settings and subgroups, this thesis examines how activists experience and engage risk and uncertainty to achieve their own ends as they work at the intersection of liberalism, technology, and security. During their efforts, issues of personhood and statecraft are negotiated, bureaucratic encounters and network governance are navigated, and the intersubjective work of asking for and delivering help is performed. Moreover, complex contradictions that mark (post)modern life are explored, within which new kinds of power and resistance, as well as questions of morality, are being developed and taken up. iii Acknowledgments First and always, my deepest gratitude goes to the research participants who allowed me into their lives over the course of my fieldwork. To the activists who shared with me their offices and resources, knowledge and beliefs, warmth and sass; to the journalists around the world who gave without hesitation, even as they suffered circumstances I can never truly understand; to the members of the Internet Freedom community whose generosity and creativity left me baffled; and to the emergency assistance caseworkers in a number of countries who allowed me into their ranks—opening up a world of utterly foreign experiences, selfless and world-weary commitment, and transnational connection. Many thanks go to my dad, sister, and uncle—who asked me about my thesis progress every time we spoke, even when I really did not want to talk about it and could give only begrudging, unsatisfying responses. My friendships with Di and Yael were invaluable, keeping me sane and providing reassurance or escape whenever I needed it. The University of Toronto’s Department of Anthropology has been a fixture in my life for almost a decade, through both my undergraduate and graduate studies. I would not be the person I am today had the graduate program not bizarrely chosen to offer me a direct-entry PhD position in the fourth year of my undergraduate degree. For that decision, I will always be grateful (and bewildered). I was fortunate to meet Professor Jack Sidnell during the third year of my undergraduate degree, and even more fortunate that he agreed to be my supervisor as I prepared to enter the graduate phase of my academics and life. I will forever count myself lucky that I chose to take a graduate course taught by Professor Frank Cody, and that he so readily agreed to be my co-supervisor despite knowing little about me at the time. It continues to surprise me that Professors Monica Heller, Amahl Bishara, and Alejandro Paz were willing to commit their time and knowledge to joining my thesis committee. Indeed, I am continuously surprised, thankful, and appreciative to everyone who spent so much effort on this project with me; without it, I would have gotten nowhere fast. And lastly, I must acknowledge AA, one of my first research participants—who died before the completion of this thesis, but without whom it never would have been possible in the first place. iv Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgments iv Table of Contents v List of Figures vii List of Tables viii List of Acronyms ix List of Appendices xi Chapter 1: Introduction 1.0 “Have You Heard What Happened?” 1 1.1 The Problems with Free Expression 3 1.2 Who are Free Expression Activists (and my Research Participants)? 8 1.3 The World that Free Expression Activists Live in—and Try to Change 18 1.4 Research Methods and Methodological Assumptions 28 1.5 Chapter Overview 32 Chapter 2: Privacy and National Security in Post-9/11 Canada 2.0 “What Do I Care?” 35 2.1 A Canadian Ideology of Risk and Uncertainty 36 2.2 Security Studies in Anthropology: Post-9/11 in Focus 39 2.3 #OurStateIsWatchingUs: Experiencing Canada’s Security State 45 2.4 #RightsNotFear: Discursive Strategies of Canadian Privacy Advocates 57 2.5 Digital Technologies, Personhood, and Freedom 69 Chapter 3: Free Speech and Canada’s Political Right Ecosphere 3.0 “They’re All Just Empty Heads” 73 3.1 Advocating for Free Speech in Canada 74 3.2 Canada’s Political Right Ecosphere: Free Speech, Digital Technologies, 77 Aging Liberalism 3.3 The Pathology of Progressive Liberalism 86 3.4 The Performative Encounter of Contagious Communication 94 3.5 Contradictions in (Post)Modernity 104 v Chapter 4: Persecuted Journalists and the Bureaucracy of Press Freedom 4.0 “He Is Very Stubborn” 108 4.1 The Importance of Press Freedom in Free Expression Activism 109 4.2 Risk-Based Bureaucracy and Press Freedom Work 112 4.3 The Advocacy Campaign for an Imprisoned Canadian Journalist 116 4.4 Emergency Assistance for an Exiled Congolese Journalist 126 4.5 Contradictions Continued and (Post)Modern Free Expression 137 Chapter 5: Securing a Transnational Emergency Assistance Network 5.0 “Sadly, This Is A Common Occurrence” 140 5.1 Framing Privacy as Digital Security 141 5.2 Activism Networks and Security Concerns 144 5.3 The Journalist Protection Network’s Digital Security Turn 152 5.4 Mitigating Risk and Uncertainty to Improve Digital Security 161 5.5 The (Post)Modern Subject and Collective Forms of Agency 170 Chapter 6: Finding and Delivering Help in the Free Expression Landscape 6.0 “Would It Help You?” 176 6.1 The Heart of Free Expression Activism 177 6.2 Persecution, Exile, and the Search for Help 179 6.3 Intersubjectivity and the Levinasian Face 189 6.4 Bunker-Face? Mediations of Digital Technologies and Bureaucracy 197 6.5 Liberalism, (In)Humanity, and the ‘As If’ 205 Chapter 7: Conclusion 7.0 “I Can See That” 210 7.1 Revisiting Vignettes 211 7.2 Thorns and Shadows 217 References 224 Appendix A 260 Appendix B 262 Appendix C 268 vi List of Figures Figure 1.1 Fwd: France: Attack on offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine 1 Figure 2.1 Laptop with webcam covered at Snowden Q&A 48 Figure 2.2 Campaigning on the rejection of fear 58 Figure 3.1 Portraying progressive liberalism through the language of 87 pathology Figure 3.2 “People have rights. Ideas don’t have rights.” 91 Figure 4.1 Thank you email from Theo 128 Figure 4.2 Excerpt from FEC’s letter of support for Theo 129 Figure 4.3 Excerpt from the bureaucratic response to Theo’s letter of 130 support Figure 5.1 Locations of Journalists Protection Network (JPN) members 146 Figure 5.2 Transmission of JPN data over a two-year period 147 Figure 5.3 Transnational actors involved in emergency assistance 147 Figure 5.4 An encrypted email at rest 156 Figure 5.5 JPN membership removal email 159 Figure 6.1 Re: Requesting for humanitarian assistance (1) 182 Figure 6.2 Re: Requesting for humanitarian assistance (2) 183 Figure 6.3 Re: Information 185 Figure 6.4 Re: Refugee ID 186 Figure 6.5 Please I beg you I really need your help 186 Figure 6.6 Re: A couple questions 188 Figure 7.1 Wadi’s print 210 vii List of Tables Table 1.1 Canadian court cases related to free expression 260 Table 1.2 Organizations/research participants with strong or weak ties 260 Table 2.1 Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s culture of secrecy 262 Table 2.2 Liberal government statements on terrorism and national 262 security Table 2.3 Acknowledging the risk and uncertainty of terrorism and the 263 security state Table 2.4 Deploying the ‘balancing privacy and security’ discourse 264 Table 2.5 Drawing on empirical findings and polls 265 Table 2.6 Contesting ambiguous language in Bill C-51 266 Table 3.1 A selection of free speech incidents and events in Canada 268 Table 3.2 Mainstream news articles published about free speech on 269 campus Table 3.3 Progressive liberalism is a poison, disease, syndrome, or mental 270 disorder Table 3.4 Progressive liberals control the mainstream media 271 Table 3.5 Progressive liberals control the institution of education (Ignorant