activism and a global public sphere: some examples from the arab spring

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AARHUS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring Thomas Olesen Department of Political Science Aarhus University [email protected] Talk at seminar arranged by AU IDEAS Pilot Centre The Democratic Public Sphere, 8 March 2013 1

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Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring. Thomas Olesen Department of Political Science Aarhus University [email protected] Talk at seminar arranged by AU IDEAS Pilot Centre The Democratic Public Sphere , 8 March 2013. Plan and idea. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

Thomas Olesen

Department of Political Science

Aarhus University

[email protected]

Talk at seminar arranged by AU IDEAS Pilot Centre The Democratic Public Sphere, 8 March 2013

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Page 2: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Plan and idea

› A global perspective on the public sphere concept

› The contribution of activism to a global public sphere

› My approach: The cultural-political dimension, i.e. the role of symbols

› Actors in the global public sphere ”use” and ”produce” shared symbols

› The Arab Spring, 2009-2010 and Iran 2009

› Conclusion: some theoretical and conceptual considerations

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Page 3: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Mohamed Bouazizi and Tunisia I

› Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, sets himself on fire on 17 December to protest authority harassment

› His act is followed by local protests: During December protests gradually acquire a national dimension

› Information about Bouazizi and protests spreads via Facebook and Youtube; an alternative information flow

› Bouazizi dies from his burn wounds on 4 January

› His death coincides with growing protest and cements his position as a central injustice symbol in the Tunisian protests

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Page 4: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Mohamed Bouazizi and Tunisia II› Relevance for the discussion of a global public sphere:

› Global media accounts centered on the role of Bouazizi in inspiring protests in Tunisia and other Arab countries (”How one man ignited the Arab Spring”, etc.)

› Global media ”constructed” the Bouazizi symbol to be a carrier of global aspirations for freedom and democracy

› Bouazizi is globally institutionalized by receiving several human rights and democracy prices and awards (e.g. EU’s Sakharov Price)

› Bouazizi as a cultural-political outcome of global public sphere activities

› Bouazizi as part of global memories about the Tunisian protests and the Arab Spring (YouTube as a global memory archive): A shared symbolic vocabulary

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Page 5: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 5

Page 6: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Khaled Said and Egypt I

› Khaled Said, age 28, was dragged from an Internet café and beaten to death by police in his home town of Alexandria on 6 June 2010

› Police violence is common in Egypt, but the case is different because Saids family takes a cell-phone photograph at the morgue and uploads it to the Internet

› Google executive Wael Ghonim sets up a Facebook page called ”We Are All Khaled Said” based on the photo and transforms Said into a key visual injustice symbol for protests against the Mubarak regime

› The page soon acquired tens of thousands of followers and became central to the organization of protest during the Egyptian Revolution

› A parallel page in English is set up to allow non-Egyptians to follow events

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Page 7: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Khaled Said and Egypt II› Relevance for the discussion of a global public sphere:

› Media technologies such as Facebook makes national boundaries informationally porous and creates a citizen generated global information flow (the power of citizen journalism)

› The page received numerous expressions of sympathy and solidarity from non-Egyptians and became a central informational ressource for non-Egyptian activists wishing to solidarize and/or take inspiration from Egypt

› As in the case of Bouazizi, Khaled Said is constructed by global media to acquire meanings associated with freedom, democracy, and injustice (see, for example, the Danish radio documentary, Facebook martyren)

› Khaled Said and the globalization of national public spaces (a related example from the Bouazizi case: Place Mohamed Bouazizi in Paris)

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Page 8: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 8

Page 9: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Neda and Iran

› Neda Agha Soltan, aged 26, is shot and killed during protests in Iran against the 2009 presidential election

› Bystanders record amateur videos of Neda as she lies dying on the ground

› Later the same day, 20 June, the videos have gone globally viral via YouTube and other media and made it into mainstream media such as CNN

› In contrast to Bouazizi and Said, Neda bypassed the local and national level to instantly become a global symbol

› Today YouTube contains several commemorative videos and songs; Neda merchandise and artwork is available outside of Iran

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Page 10: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 10

Page 11: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Media technology and citizen journalism

› The story of Bouazizi’s death is nationalized and globalized through amateur videos of the protests following his self-immolation; these are made publicly available through YouTube (from where it was picked up by al-Jazeera)

› Khaled Said becomes a symbol on the basis of a cell-phone photograph taken by his family; his story is made globally visible through Facebook pages

› Neda’s death is recorded by bystanders and passed on to YouTube; the story is spread via Twitter and Facebook; ends up in mainstream media

› YouTube as a global memory archive and public sphere

› The interaction between new and old media

› The special power of photography in activating a global public sphere

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Page 12: Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Concluding remarks

›Conceptual and theoretical challenges:

› Global public sphere › Global civil society › Global society

›Beyond the Arab Spring and Iran:

› Joyti Singh (India)› Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan)› The Abu Ghraib photos› And further back in time: Sharpville, Soweto…

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