Friday, October 3, 2014

Blog # 5

Overview:

For Manuel Castells's Networks of Outrage and Hope, Castells maps out how current social movements work within the internet age. Castells starts with exploring power dynamics that are the catalyst for social movements; to unpacking how nascent social movements are started when people feel they belong to a group that has the same desires and goals;  then moves to how the social movements From Egypt to America have been shaped and pushed forward by sites like youtube and facebook.  The overall argument is that social movements may not exclusively be held within these online spaces, but these spaces are necessary to look and think about as we enter a new era of social justice (105).

Quotes:

"Coercion and intimidation...are essential mechanisms for imposing the will of those in control of the institutions of power" (4). I love this quote because it reminds me of a lyric from Bob Dylan, in which the great D sings:"One of the boss's hangers-on/Comes to call at times you least expect/Try to bully ya-strong arm you- inspire you with fear/Sometimes it has the opposite effect." I like this quote with regard to this class for two reasons: it's one of the points Castells brings up that has effected me, and it's important to note how social movements are generated in order to understand Castells's book at large. In Nebraska I used to work at an insurance company where one of the head bosses would do a sweep through of the department I worked in. It was a lot like what Dylan was rapping about: she was trying to catch folks on the internet so she could tell our direct boss about it, who would then relay the message to the offender. I'm now in a position where I have more agency over the work I do, and it's much nicer than having someone try to inspire me with fear. Gramsci writes about how when consent is withdrawn, the state flexes. I believe that. Once we get rid of the fear of being fired (been there), of being laughed out of the academy (seriously, I was told this), of knowing that you're being disrespected but feel like you can't do anything about it, once that fear is removed change happens. And it's scary for the powers that be. This quote is important with regard for Castells's overall argument because he reminds us that social movements happen once folks are pushed too far with intimidation and fear, bringing folks together for social change.

"[with regard to the movements in Iceland and Tunisia] In both cases, mobile phones and social networks on the Internet played a major role in spreading images and messages that mobilized people in providing a platform for debate..." (45). Again, I like this quote because it's one of the points I found most compelling in Castells's book, and ties in nicely to his point of how social movements are shaped and driven by social networks. Just like with the 2008 presidential election, regular folks are able to post videos to youtube and facebook to show a different, less subjective view of what's going on with the world. I was living in Lincoln, NE when the occupy movement first got started in NYC. Eventually, as all things have a way of doing, Lincoln had an occupy chapter as well. This iteration of the occupy movement was located in an open space right next to the insurance company I mentioned above. I was attending UNL, which was a short distance from where I worked, and almost daily I would walk by the protesters: reading their signs, listening in on snippets of conversations. One day I decided to talk with one of these folks, and got the information I needed to walk in one of their protests. It was a chilly Saturday morning in November that I laced up my sneakers and went to join the occupy movement. Castells's writes about the movement as having a change your bank day, and that's the day that I happened to march. We walked around the governor's mansion (who happened to be entertaining guests that day), and then down to the Wells Fargo where we proceed to occupy their lobby. Before I had seen with my own eyes what the occupy movement was about, I had read a lot of comments in the local newspaper's online website from folks who didn't understand what the movement was about. I too was worried that the protesters would do something- get pushed too hard by police, or by-standards- causing folks to get seriously hurt and shutting down the whole movement. But once I marched with the other protesters, I realized that it was a completely non-violent group. At one point when we were outside of Wells Fargo, someone yelled, "Fuck the police!" and one of the organizers shut that down quick by saying, "We don't talk to the police that way. They have been very nice to us and we have no reason not to treat them in the same manner." It was interesting, scanning the faces of the protesters: some older, some younger, yet mostly all white. There were even a few professors from UNL that joined the group, but I didn't know any of them personally. We were heckled by a few folks, but mostly people waived or ignored us completely. Maybe the occupy movement didn't last. Maybe it wasn't really supposed to, but what it did do for us is shape the discourse surrounding the rich and the poor.


"Thus the occupy movement was built on a new form of space, a mixture of space of places, in a given territory, and space of flows on the Internet. One could not function without the other..." (168). Again, ties into Castells's larger point of how the social platforms changed the way that social movements were able to take place. Now, folks could be apart of the movement without necessarily getting out of their chairs. This may sound lazy on the outside, but for folks who can't/don't get around easily (and even if they can), the word of occupy movement was able to spread. And it shaped the discourse of a generation.



2 comments:

  1. Jennie,

    Thank you much for sharing your insights about Castells' project in Networks of Outrage and Hope. I was really struck by your observations of the Occupy Movement in Lincoln, Nebraska, particularly the interaction with the police. Though you identify the individual who shut down negative exclamations directed at the police as an organizer (as opposed to a leader), it was compelling the way in which the movement you were involved in seemed to unanimously police its own borders and representations in alienating sentiments that flew in the face of law enforcement. I was wondering if you might be able to speak on how this particular attribute relates to Castells' overall project. I'm not sure I remember him talking too extensively about this sort of self-policing, but do you find it to be a sustainable model for the sort of liberatory praxis that Castells promotes in the book?

    Much like you, I am interested in the legacy of the Occupy Movement and the ways it redirected discourses of agency and subordination. I wonder, though, which discourses have replaced those that preceded it. I don't have answers to these questions, but I'm still very much intrigued by this sort of dialogue. Thank you again for sharing all of this. Have a wonderful day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hiya Jennie,

    You have an interesting post here. I like how you brought in Gramsci, Dylan, and your own experiences. It gives me some good ideas about how I can write my next blog.

    As for your post, I like how you mentioned that Occupy changed the dialogue about rich people and poor people. As muffin mentioned, I'm not sure exactly how you can trace such effects, but I'm pretty sure I never heard the phrase, "We are the 99%" before Occupy. Many people view Occupy as a failed movement, but you might be right about how Occupy changed how we view the discourse (I know it's changed how I view the discourse about rich/poor).

    Also, I've noticed that we've been talking about Occupy as if it's a foregone conclusion. Something that's come and passed (and died). Do you think that's true? Might there still be protests going on? I know that Occupy Central in Hong Kong has adopted the same kind of name. Do you think people have noticed Occupy's process over product and will thus adopt it in future protests/future groups? I'm not really sure. These are just a few questions I wanted to throw your way.

    ReplyDelete