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

1. Activism and a global public sphere: Some examples from the Arab Spring Thomas Olesen Department of Political Science Aarhus University tho@ps.au.dk Talk at seminar arranged by AU IDEAS Pilot Centre The Democratic Public Sphere, 8 March 2013

2. 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

3. 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

4. Mohamed Bouazizi and Tunisia II • Relevance for the discussion of a global public sphere: • Global media accountscentered 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 globallyinstitutionalized by receivingseveral human rights and democracyprices and awards (e.g. EU’s Sakharov Price) • Bouazizi as a cultural-politicaloutcome of global public sphereactivities • Bouazizi as part of global memories about the Tunisian protests and the Arab Spring (YouTube as a global memoryarchive): Asharedsymbolicvocabulary

6. 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

7. 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)

9. 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

11. 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

12. 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…