Digital Media and the Politics of Transformation in the Arab World and Asia: Notes on Merlyna Lim's Study

Bibliographic Information and Introduction

• Editors: Carola Richter (Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Freie Universität Berlin), Anna Antonakis (Freie Universität Berlin), and Cilja Harders (Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin).

• Publication Details: Digital Media and the Politics of Transformation in the Arab World and Asia. Published by Springer VS in $2018$.

• ISBNs: $978-3-658-20699-4$ (Print), $978-3-658-20700-7$ (eBook).

• Context of the Article: "Sticks and Stones, Clicks and Phones: Contextualizing the Role of Digital Media in the Politics of Transformation" by Merlyna Lim. This paper is based on a keynote lecture delivered at the international conference on "Media and the Politics of Transformation in the Arab world and Asia" at Freie Universität Berlin on December $10$, $2015$.

The Spectacle of Global Protests

• Frequency and Visibility: Protests have increased dramatically since the Arab Spring began in Tunisia in December $2010$. Major news platforms (New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera) have broadcasted visual depictions of thousands or millions of protesters occupying public spaces.

• Media Spectacles: These events were often packaged as "media spectacles," defined by Kellner ($2010$) as "technologically mediated events, in which media forms like broadcasting, print media, or the Internet process events in a spectacular form."

• Technology Labels: Media outlets frequently applied simplistic labels to these uprisings, calling them "Facebook," "Twitter," or "Instagram" revolutions.

• Academic Critique: Traditional media focuses on icons and symbols that fade when the spectacle wanes. Academic studies have attempted more nuance, but many still suffer from "technological determinism," reducing complex human relations to the "newness" of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

• Research Stance: Merlyna Lim distances herself from technological utopianism. She argues for viewing the complexities of transformation beyond individual moments and examining the processes preceding them.

Revolutionary Moments vs. Social Change

• Definition of Transformation: Social change is a long process with complex trajectories. Mass uprisings (e.g., Tahrir Square, Central Hong Kong) are not the end result but the culmination of mass confrontations when a movement reaches critical mass.

• The Power Vacuum: Mass confrontation can create a power vacuum. This is a moment of opportunity for a movement to perform a "bottom-up restructuring" and start a transformational project.

• Phases of a Social Movement (Blumer $1969$; Tilly $1978$):     1. Preliminary Stage: People become aware of an issue; leaders emerge.     2. Coalescence Stage: People collectivize, mobilize, and publicly display resistance (mass uprisings occur here).     3. Institutionalization Stage (Bureaucratization): The movement moves from grassroots volunteerism to established organization. This is crucial for societal reform and involves building parallel institutions to transform or replace the old system.     4. Decline Stage: Participants fall away, the movement succeeds, or the public loses interest.

Global Wave of Protests ($2010-2015$): Commonalities and Complexities

• Dataset Overview: Lim expanded on Carothers and Youngs’ ($2015$) dataset. The final study examined $145$ protests in $76$ countries occurring between May $2010$ and November $2015$.

• The Shift to the Local/National: Unlike the late $1980s$ and globalized movements of the $1990s$ (e.g., $1999$'s "Battle in Seattle"), modern protests are scaled back to local/national levels. While trans-local in character, they are rooted in specific national political concerns.

• Social Media in Everyday Life: Social media activities primarily revolve around fun and self-expression, but they allow individuals to transform everyday sociality into collective resistance.

• Categories of Short-Term Causes:     * Socio-Economic: Fuel prices, food prices, unemployment (prominent in Tunisia and Egypt).     * Political (System and Governance): Corruption, police brutality, authoritarianism (prominent in Tunisia and Egypt).     * Citizen Rights: Freedom of speech, voting rights (driving forces in Hong Kong and Malaysia).

• Long-Term Enabling Factors:     1. The New Educated Middle Class: Economic growth in the past $10$ to $20$ years led to a class with expectations beyond material goals. Inequality within this class in MENA (Middle East/North Africa) created fertile ground for protest.     2. Mushrooming of NGOs/CSOs: By $2006$, Egypt had >23,000 NGOs; Tunisia had >10,000; Morocco had >26,000. Asia saw similar growth: Thailand had $19,878$ registered NGOs in $2009$, and Philippines had $70,200$.     3. Youth-Led Organization: Groups like Al-Thoria (Jordan), April $6$ Youth Movement (Egypt), and Scholarism (Hong Kong) were founded by youth.     4. Failed Reforms: The "Third Wave of Democracy" increased expectations for government accountability, but many states failed to bring transitions to fruition, causing citizen dissatisfaction.

Triggers and Historical Roots

• The Viral Trigger: Protests need symbolic, visually dramatic local events, such as the self-immolation of Muhammed Bouazizi (Tunisia) or the death of Khaled Said (Egypt).

• Mechanisms of Virality:     1. Archetypal Image: Icons like Bouazizi’s burning body elevate a non-event to a spectacle.     2. Frame Alignment: Connecting the event to a "master frame" that resonates culturally/politically with the entire society.     3. Hybrid Networks: Activating platforms for collective action (group-based) and connective action (personalized paths).

• Historical Continuity: Protests are rarely spontaneous.     * Egypt: Recorded $2,623$ protests between $1998$ and $2008$; $284$ worker protests in early $2009$ alone.     * Malaysia: The Bersih movement had roots in the $1998$ reformasi movement and subsequent protests (Hindraf, anti-ISA).     * Hong Kong: The Umbrella Movement followed a long history of July $1$ rallies and the successful $2003$ overturning of Article $23$.

Specific Roles of Digital Media in Movement Stages

• Spheres of Radical Imagination: Movements begin with the ability to imagine a different future. These imaginaries emerge in multiple spaces (online, offline, and in-between).     * Example: April $6$ Youth Movement used cyber-cafés as primary activism sites.

• Mobilizing Diverse Publics:     * Brokering: Connecting previously disconnected sites or groups. In Egypt, bloggers connected disparate ideologies (Islamism, secularism, leftism) because physical spaces were restricted.     * Bridging (Linkages): Sharing resources between disparate networks.     * Framing: Constructing meaning to legitimize activity. Due to the nature of social media memes, activists often simplify complex narratives into symbols (e.g., portraying leaders with Hitler mustaches to create a "common enemy").     * Intermodality: Linking digital media to other networks (big media like Al Jazeera, small media like SMS/flyers).         * Tunisia Case: Activists pass memory cards of police brutality in sneakers over the border to Algeria to bypass road blocks, eventually reaching Al Jazeera.         * Malaysia Case: Balik Kampung Bawa Berita ("bring news back to your village")—activists printed blog posts and CDs for rural areas lacking internet.

Public Performance and Physical Sustainability

• Space of Appearance: Social movements claim power by occupying physical sites (Habib Borguiba street, Tahrir Square, Dataran Merdeka).

• The Role of Mobile Screens:     * Survival Manuals: In Egypt, a $26$-page manual on how to survive police encounters was disseminated online.     * Tactical Coordination: In Malaysia (Bersih $3.0$), protesters used GPS-downloadable marching routes and used Twitter to navigate around water cannons and tear gas in real-time.

• Sustaining Visibility: By reaching global audiences, movements bypass state control and invite international pressure.

Regional Differences: MENA vs. Asia

• Regional Contagion Effects:     * MENA: Strong contagion (spread rapidly from Tunisia to others) due to Cultural Proximity—shared language (Arabic), shared religion, and the unifying force of Al Jazeera.     * Asia: Weak contagion. Lacks a unifying language or regional news network. Social media is fragmented (e.g., China uses Weibo and WeChat, which are not used elsewhere). Protests remain largely within nation-state boundaries.

• Urban Middle Class and Connectivity:     * Asia: Highly digital ($1.8$ billion internet users). Protests are highly urbanized and middle-class driven. There is a deep "inter-class gap" where social media activism is disconnected from the rural poor.     * MENA: In $2011$, internet penetration was lower (Tunisia $20 ext{ percent}$, Egypt $6.5 ext{ percent}$). However, youth unemployment (>30 ext{ percent}) and lack of economic growth meant urban middle-class grievances overlapped with those of the lower class, creating a broader coalition.

Conclusion

• Digital media does not create collective action but enables new participation methods.

• Its roles are always shaped by social, cultural, and historical contexts.

• The study of transformation must look at both the "clicks and phones" (technology usage) and the "sticks and stones" (history of resilience and agency).