Exhaustive Study Notes on Shifting Social Media and the Idle No More Movement

Shifting Social Media and the Idle No More Movement: Origins and Context

• Foundational Resistance: Indigenous peoples in the Americas have engaged in activism and resistance since the initial invasion of their lands.

• The 2012 Catalyst: The landscape of Indigenous activism changed dramatically in mid-October 2012 when the Canadian government proposed a series of bills intended to amend or repeal existing legislation.

• Legislative Impacts: The proposed bills threatened to:

  • Remove legally required environmental protections for almost all of Canada’s fresh water bodies.

  • Reduce environmental assessment requirements for permit processes, specifically relating to activities like pipeline development.

  • Erode Indigenous and treaty-based rights.

• The Birth of Idle No More (INM): In response to these bills, four women based in Saskatchewan began organizing community teach-ins and rallies to disseminate information about the legislation's impacts. This marked the start of the Idle No More movement to affirm Indigenous sovereignty and protect lands and waters.

• Founding Organizers: The movement was initiated by:

  • Jessica Gordon (Saulteaux/Cree)

  • Sylvia McAdam Saysewahum (Cree)

  • Sheelah McLean (settler Canadian)

  • Nina Wilson (Nakota and Plains Cree)

Movement Principles and Vision

• Vision Statement: INM calls on "all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water" (2013b).

• Collaboration: INM works closely with the Defenders of the Land, a network of Indigenous communities engaged in land struggles across Canada.

• The Six Demands for Change (2013): INM and Defenders of the Land issued six specific calls for change directed at Canadian governments:

  1. Repeal Bill C-45 Provisions: Specifically those affecting the Indian Act and Navigable Waters Act, which infringe on environmental protections and Aboriginal/Treaty rights.

  2. Deepen Democracy: Implementing proportional representation and mandatory consultation on legislation regarding collective rights and the environment, including restrictions on corporate interests.

  3. Prior and Informed Consent: Adherence to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), respecting the right of Indigenous peoples to refuse development on their territory.

  4. Affirm Aboriginal Title: Ceasing the policy of extinguishment and affirming Title and Rights as per Section $35$ of Canada’s constitution and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

  5. Honour Treaties: Repudiate the racist Doctrine of Discovery and Doctrine of Terra Nullius, which have been used to justify the seizure of Indigenous lands.

  6. Resist Violence: Holding a national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and Two-Spirit People, involving Indigenous women in the design and implementation of the inquiry.

Governance and Leadership Structure

• Non-Hierarchical Model: Power and leadership are dispersed rather than centralized.

• Community Leadership: Individuals are encouraged to take leadership in their local communities and organize autonomous actions while supporting international mobilizations.

• Identity of Leaders: Due to the dispersed leadership model, the majority of leaders and organizers are Indigenous women, two-spirit people, and youth.

• Spokesperson Strategy: Instead of a single leader, multiple people are supported to act as media spokespersons to reflect the collective nature of the movement.

• Allyship and Co-resistance: INM invites settler Canadians and non-Indigenous allies. Scholar Irlbacher-Fox (2012) argues that co-existence requires "co-resistance," where settlers take initiative to change their own systems based on Indigenous direction.

Social Media as a Tool for Resistance

• The Promise of Digital Tools: Early social media was viewed as an "empowering and emancipatory force" (Zuboff, 2019b) that could connect widely dispersed people.

• Rapid Digital Mobilization:

  • First tweet with the hashtag #IdleNoMore: Early November 2012.

  • Idle No More Facebook group (@IdleNoMoreCommunity) launch: November $29$, 2012.

  • Twitter account (@IdleNoMore4) and website (idlenomore.ca) launch: First week of December 2012.

• National Day of Action (December 10, 2012): Coinciden with the public announcement by Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat First Nation regarding her hunger strike to draw attention to First Nations conditions and Bill C-45.

• Viral Tactics: Flash mob round dances (e.g., in Regina) were shared on social media, leading to similar events in nine Canadian cities by December $21$, 2012.

Analytical Data on Movement Growth

• Twitter Growth Metrics:

  • December $1$, 2012: Referenced only $10$ times.

  • December $10$, 2012 (National Day of Action): Referenced in $14,600$ tweets ($11,416$ used the hashtag).

  • Post-December $23$, 2012: Mentioned $144,215$ times on Twitter in one week, peaking at $24,815$ tweets in a single day.

  • January $11$, 2013 (Global Day of Action): PEAK of $56,954$ tweets in one day.

  • First Six Months: Total tweets exceeded $1,215,000$.

• Facebook Growth Metrics:

  • Week of December $23$, 2012: Mentioned over $12,260$ times.

  • By January 2013: Roughly $45,000$ people joined the Facebook group.

• Global Reach: Within the first two months, organizers documented $191$ actions across Canada, the US, Central America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

User Engagement and Influence Categories

• Blevis (2013) Categories of Engagement:

  • Low Engagement ($94\%$ of users): Mentions INM in $1$ to $15$ tweets; accounts for $23\%$ of total tweets.

  • Medium Engagement ($6\%$ of users): Mentions INM in $16$ to $500$ tweets; accounts for $51\%$ of total tweets. Includes media, labor groups, and public figures.

  • High Engagement ($0.2\%$ of users): Mentions INM in $>500$ tweets; accounts for over $25\%$ of total tweets. Includes passionate supporters and spambots.

• Demographics of Engagement:

  • Indigenous people make up approximately $5\%$ of the Canadian population.

  • While males usually generate $70\%$ of political chatter, INM saw women contributing MORE tweets than men.

  • Women were more likely to contribute positive sentiment; men were more likely to contribute negative sentiment.

Mainstream Media vs. Social Media Influence

• Framing of News: Callison and Hermida (2015) found that while mainstream media and "institutional elites" (celebrities, authors) were the most "influential" (by follower count), they were not the most retweeted.

• Crowdsourced Elites: The most retweeted accounts were Idle No More and the hacktivist movement Anonymous.

• Indigenous Participation in Influence: Only $2\%$ of the top $500$ influential voices were Indigenous, BUT Indigenous people/organizations occupied over HALF of the top $25$ retweeted accounts.

• Media Bias: Postmedia Network and its affiliates were identified as advancing anti-INM rhetoric. These outlets have close ties to the oil and gas sector.

Ethical and Security Concerns: Surveillance Capitalism

• Shift in Platform Utility: Over eight years, social media has become monetized and less safe for Indigenous organizing.

• Surveillance Capitalism (Shoshana Zuboff): A regime where smart devices and social media translate behavior into data for "prediction products" sold in behavioral futures markets.

• Carbon Footprint: The ICT sector (Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook) currently has a carbon footprint equal to the aviation industry. By $2030$, it may consume $20\%$ of global electricity.

• Criminalization of Dissent: Governments have labeled Indigenous land protectors as "radicalized environmentalists" and "domestic terrorist threats."

• The Fusion Centre for Native Problems: A coordinated security apparatus involving the RCMP, CSIS, Department of National Defense, and other agencies created specifically to monitor and silence Idle No More. They used fake social media accounts to surveil over $1,000$ events.

• Case Study (Wet’suwet’en): In 2019, RCMP used social media to monitor land defenders in northern British Columbia and were authorized to use lethal force during a raid.

Current Focus: One House Many Nations (OHMN)

• Housing Crisis: Indigenous people are significantly overrepresented in the homeless population due to settler-colonial policies of forced resettlement.

• OHMN Objective: An offline "hack" of the colonial system to create Indigenous-led housing solutions.

• Project Examples:

  • Big River First Nation: Crowdfunded house built in three weeks for an unhoused Elder.

  • Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) Village: Collaboration with the American Decentralized Design Lab to build sustainable, modular housing using locally sourced materials.

  • The Muskrat Hut (2019): A mobile, off-grid, sustainable washroom and kitchen unit to support land-based activities and housing development.

• Ongoing Movements Supported: INM remains active via Facebook and Twitter (network of $400,000$ people) to support initiatives like the Tiny House Warriors (Secwepemc Territory) and Mauna Kea land defenders.