Speak izy: Cars | Tech | Lifestyle
Activists are using the increased accessibility and
advancement of specific technologies to drive the
current surge in global dissent.
Two decades into the 21st century, one would
expect all manner of “new and innovative” activism,
right? Even Gene Sharp — the grandfather of
cataloging nonviolent tactics, who published a list of
198 methods back in 1972 — fully expected the
21st century to be a time when we would have
moved beyond learning about nonviolent action and
toward perfecting its use.
Still, creative activists continue to respond, as
resistance — especially in the growing number of
repressive regimes — is not only necessary, but
necessarily dependent on creativity and innovation
for its very existence. In fact, we may not have
perfected using nonviolent action to build people
power, but we have moved way beyond Sharp’s 198
methods.
A new study has noted more than 300 methods of
nonviolent resistance, representing plenty of
innovation, specifically on the tech and digital front.
And some of this technology has contributed to the
record number of people participating in activism in
the past couple of decades.
The increased affordability, capacity and versatility
of cell phone and other digital technology —
including video, photography and live broadcast
capacity — have been the driving force behind DIY
media and social media networks, digital memes
included. Facebook Live and the ACLU app Mobile
Justice not only enable campaigners to report from
a hearing or demonstration in real time, but also to
document the behavior of law enforcement as it
happens. Meanwhile, memes have become the
omnipresent visual communication form of social
media from Facebook to Twitter. Within some of
these platforms, enclaves like “Black Twitter” have
blossomed, using hashtags to connect slices of
specific communities across the globe.
Smartphones of all kinds and the growing
availability of broadband, as well as cell networks,
have made live broadcasts and real time streaming
accessible around the world. The implications of this
have democratized who can report the news and
who can watch whom, speeding up the news cycle
— sometimes to our detriment — even while
providing almost instantaneous opportunity for
activist mobilisation. But the recent gutting of net
neutrality laws means activists will have to fight to retain the benefits of these advances. We can now safely self critique and admit that early
activist light projections were either tiny and poorly
lit, or required outrageously delicate and expensive
machines with high energy needs. The technology
has shifted so dramatically in the last few years that
it’s almost a new ball game. Projectors have not
only become much more powerful, efficient and
smaller — they have also become way more
affordable. Mapping programs have improved as
well, enabling an artist with a photo of the target
building to turn their computer into an architectural
wizard.
