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Where Have All the Protests Gone? Online.
As some types of online activism allow people to take part quickly and easily , it opens the door for broader changes, shifting how regularly people take part in political actions. Such streamlined activism may lead to more frequent, and more committed, political engagement on the part of everyday citizens. And politicians seeking donations, votes and other kinds of support may look to tap into this new generation of self-selected, point-and-click activists. Much like the Web, these online petitions are an end in themselves as well as a gateway to new kinds of action.
Just last week, I informally polled students in a seminar I teach about these types of petitions. About 40 percent of them had participated in such online protest on pop culture topics, and many others were aware of these Web-based campaigns. To dismiss their actions as silly -- just because their objectives sometimes seem so -- is to overlook the critical point: The next generation of citizens is learning how to organize around issues they care about, and they're doing so in their own way.
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Sure, they may not be issues that as many adults care about; after all, I would be more likely to sign a petition about a problem with a Microsoft Office product than one about a glitch in an online game. But as these students and their younger siblings grow older, these early experiences with online engagement may propel them into more politically oriented activism. Indeed, many of the debates over youth culture are closely tied to fights over intellectual property, fights that can quickly turn political. Activist groups such as Downhill Battle engage in online protests in their push to open up the recording industry. What would these scuffles look like, and how much could they grow, if tens of thousands of Napster alums joined them -- or began online movements of their own?
"Silence is no longer an option," Fonda said last week. But standing on the Mall in Washington on a blustery January day is no longer the only option for making your voice heard.
Jennifer Earl directs the Center for Information Technology and Society at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
