In Manuel Castells’ “Networks of Outrage and Hope. Social Movements in the digital Age”, we gain an in depth look at the nature and perspectives of networked social movements. What role does the online community play in propagating a revolution or social movement? Are movements born online, or simply assisted by the lightning-fast nature of online communication, and if so, which other networks rival the digital platform in size and power?
Many of these questions were posed and debated ad-nauseum during the period of the Arab Spring, with most people either dismissing the importance of the internet, or giving it all the credit. Yet, the answer is not quite so simple. Castells provides us with another alternative, one that gives credit to the varying nuances and power dynamics involved in the equation as well as the implications we may deduce from the final output.
Castells’ main argument is that we live in a network society and that therefore “movements spread by contagion in a world networked by the internet.” However, he does not dismiss the importance of other networks of communication, but rather explains that revolutions are connected to economic, political, military, ideological and cultural contradictions of power. Each of these networks are just as influential and interconnected as cyberspace, but revolutions can only form if the emotions of hope and outrage are present, and communicated to others on a large-scale. If that is all that’s required, then why not give the credit to mass media, rather than digital media?
Well, the answer lies in the fact that the former cannot compare to the latter when it comes to allowing honest discourse. Mass media tends to be far more one directional, whereas through digital media, ‘netizen’s from Iceland can post a tweet that is instantly picked up by others from Egypt, before even giving a chance for any ‘middlemen’ to bend or ‘influence’ that message.
Once you access the internet, you are instantly connected to millions of others across the globe. That power is enormous and as we have witnessed time and time again, it should not be scoffed at.
JELS of our Global Politicking Prowess 