Visual Technologies and Images in Power Relations - Essay Example

Roles That Visual Images Played In Political Violence Roles That Visual Images Played In Political Violence In today’s intensely mediatized world, visual technologies and images are increasingly playing a crucial role in power relations (Caten, 2006). A growing body of scholars, especially in the cross-disciplinary field of visual studies, has turned their attention to the visual culture of political conflict and violence. They have reflected a number of key questions: 1. how established power projects and reproduces itself through “imageneering”, 2. how image-making is integral to war-waging, and 3. how the visual can be variously deployed to determine the asymmetries of power and foster political mobilization. We explore these issues in historical and present context (Varzi, 2006). In the spring of 2011, the whole world watched as the revolutionary wave swept the entire Middle East from Syria, to Tunisia, to Egypt and beyond (Wigoder, 2010). Many shocking images that were captured by civilians on the scenes were viewed by millions of people globally. The distributions of these pictures were courtesy of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and mainstream media (Azoulay, 2010). Delmont (2013), Wigoder (2010), and Azoulay (2010) affirm that information and communication technologies especially burgeoning media played a vital role in the upheavals. However, Feldman (2005) still insists that questions still go unswered by social scientists and political theorists concerning the roles different Medias played and in which countries the media had the greatest impact. Social media In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard student created Facebook as one of the ways people can use to connect with each other (Amrane-Minne, 2007). Initially, the social network was created for students. College and high school students adopted the social network. According to Delmont (2013), the initial public offering for the site had grown to over 845 million subscribers with over 162 million active subscribers in America, making it the largest social network in the world. If Facebook would be a country, then it would be the third largest country after India and China. Twitter on the other hand, offers social networking services and micro blogging that has grown to approximately three hundred million subscribers as at 2011. The social media allows subscribers to exchange their videos, messages, and photos of one hundred and forty characters or less. The North Africa and the Middle East regions have the most youthful populations globally (Hinkson, 2011). People under twenty five years make up 45 per cent of the population in each country. These youths make up the majority of media users, that includes over 25,000 twitter accounts, 17 million Facebook subscribers, and 40,000 active blogs (Maasri, 2012). YouTube is popular with an average of videos being uploaded every minute for twenty four hours in the Middle East. Azoulay (2010), Mitchell (2011), and Mirzoeff (2006) say that the first widely known use of social media as a political revolution tool took place in Moldova in 2009. Various activists used Live Journals, Twitter, and Facebook to organize huge protests and bring attention to the entire world concerning the political unrest in the Soviet republic. During the protests in the former Soviet Republic, the Russian language tweets debated on the role social network tools in organizing the rampant demonstrations (Rogers, 2012). Following the disputed general elections of 2009, protests broke out in the capital city. The numbers of demonstrators had grown from over 10000 on April 6 to over 30000 on April 7 (Starrett, 2003). Word had spread rapidly through Twitter, Facebook and other social networking services (Tripp, 2012). In June 2009 a young Iranian lady, Neda Agha-Soltan was shot dead following a protest after the disputed general elections (Delmont, 2013). She was shot as soon as she got out her car when she was stuck in traffic. Unarmed, she was shot and died on the spot. Her friends captured the videos of her death through their cell phones linking the videos to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. According to Wigooder (2012) and Tripp (2012) the amateur video clip harnessed the attention of the world. It grabbed news headlines on New York Times and CNN, and the mainstream media. Her death symbolized the Iranian anti-government movement and the social Medias amplified the symbol for the world to witness (Kuntsman & Stein, 2011). The emergence of this video caused a strong censorship in Iranian social media (Maasri, 2012). The video did not only cause crackdowns in the city but it also forced the government to exploit the social media, which were used against the government. According to Tripp (2012) and Rogers (2012) the government insisted that the social media posted erroneous information. The government used the same media to send wrong information to the anti-government members inviting them for a meeting. The unsuspecting citizens met baton-wielding forces that beat them up (Rogers, 2012). The regime mobilized over 15,000 Basij members that suppressed demonstrators in Tehran. Rogers (2012) affirm that Iran has a unique resistance movement that has surpassed the government’s tight media control, and a new generation of youths who can circumvent roadblocks, making the country to be technology-driven. Social media supporters promoted the role of technology during the Iranian unrest. However, a closer look at the unrest reveals a complicated picture. Tripp (2012) says that the excitement on the role of Twitter during the Iranian presidential elections indicated that conversations about the protests occurred majorly between the West nations. He affirms that the Iranians did not use the social media to organize their protests, but was rather used to report on the events that unfolded during the protests. The social media replaced foreign press and it created international support for the demonstrations (Azoulay, 2010). Maasri (2012) emphasizes that the movement in Iran are still using social media to communicate with the world despite their forces unsuccessfully implementing changes. In December 2010, a Tunis young man, Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in a desperate defiance act because he was not given a permit that would allow him work on the streets to provide for his family (Kuntsman & Stein, 2011). Passers-by captured the scenes of self-immolation and posted these pictures on YouTube and Facebook. These pictures as well as those of his funeral circulated Tunisia and the rest of the world (Mitchell, 2011). On January 11, 2011, the protests had reached the city, and Zine al-Abidne ali, the Tunisia President, responded to the protestors and ordered his army too implement a night curfew in the city (Rogers, 2012). The following day saw tens of thousands of protestors taking on the streets and on January 14, the President fled the country. For the first time in Arabian history, Tunisia was the first country to take on the street and oust their president (Wigooder, 2012). Although the government of Tunisia practiced some of the most repressive censorships on the internets, the population of Tunisia is one of the most connected in the Gulf region (Amrane-Minne, 2007). This is because 33 per cent of her population is always online, 18 per cent are using Twitter and 16 per cent are on Facebook. The regime of Ben Ali blocked access to YouTube but it did not entirely block access to the internet. Tripp (2012) and Wigooder (2012) say that seasoned activists were the bridges and they reposted videos on Facebook and Twitter from their closed loops and private networks. They posted the protest photos on online portals and news. The first two weeks of January 2011 saw the number of Facebook users surge by 8 per cent. The messages across the social media changed from being social to being political. Rogers (2012) refers to the social media as a catalyst for reforms in Tunisia. The opposition leaders adopted new technology that enabled them communicate with their supporters. Maasri (2012), Tripp (2012), and Rogers (2012) affirm that Google Executive, Ghonim Wael help in sparking the 2011 Egypt unrest. The Egyptian police beat up and killed Khaled said who was a businessman. The police had videotaped themselves while taking marijuana. Wael wanted to show how police were corrupt; he therefore, posted the video to YouTube and then created a page on Facebook called “We are All Said Khaled.” (Wigooder, 2012). The page showed horrific pictures that were shot using a cellphone. The pictures showed Said face in the morgue. The photos evidently showed the brutality Said went through before his death. The page attracted more than 500000 users, and this led to thousands of protestors flooding Tahrir square. Rogers (2012) emphasize that the Egyptian military were watchful and they wanted the slightest opportunity to beat the protestors. The government blocked Twitter, Facebook, and other internet service providers. The government failed to censor the internet because the protestors got assistance from around the world who helped them subvert the censorship (Maasri 2012). The censorship also affected the government and many Egyptian businesses. The Egyptian Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak resigned from office in February 11, 2011 after an eighteen days protest (Wigooder, 2012). The population of Egypt is approximately 80 million and it has a median age of 24 years. The country has over 4 million Facebook subscribers; this represents about 5 per cent of her population (Tripp, 2012). The week before Mubarak’s resignation, the total tweets from Egypt and the world increased from 2,300 to 230000 a day (Wigooder, 2012). Their videos received approximately 5.5 million viewers (Rogers, 2012). The amount of content that the Egyptian opposition produced increased in both political blogs and Facebook. As protest spread across the Middle East, various activists in Lebanon started to unite with the aim of ousting the regime (Delmont, 2013). The activists were able to reach their 150000 followers through the group they created in Facebook, “In favor of ousting the Lebanese sectarian system to a secular system.” (Wigooder, 2012). The opposition group comprised of various youths all over the country and cultural backgrounds. This was because the Facebook group could reach different people at the same time. The Facebook group provided them with a platform where they can air their views and engage in conversation. Youths from all over the country interested in the group could join and they would communicate through the forum (Rogers, 2012). However, the sectarian regime made it difficult for the youths to form a stronger force that could overthrow the regime. Social media and the internet played different roles in Egypt’s and Tunisia’s antigovernment protests than in Yemen and Libya (Mitchell, 2011). Yemen and Libya had no strong online tradition. Libya lacked internet connections due to poor infrastructure, the Gadhafi regime regulated social media, and accessing online services was difficult (Tripp, 2012). In Yemen, the government had full control of the internet and the people. These countries had technological barriers that were coupled with harsh utilitarian regimes that suppressed reform efforts (Azoulay, 2010). The importance of internet and social media in this latest political wave upheaval has made social scientists and political theorists to line up in opposing camps (Amrane-Minne, 2007). The techno-utopians exaggerate the implementation of new technologies, in that they overstate what the technologies can provide human beings, and they do not consider the use of these materials. They do not consider factors such as effects of economies and gender (Armbrust, 2002). However, the techno-dystopian emphasize on the reverse. They misinterpret the lack of results with the benefits of technology. They also forget the shifts in the realm of the mediated communication such that it can be incremental but not seismic (Azoulay, 2010). Malcolm Gladwell has been one of the most controversial critics in America. He points out that the social media platforms are founded under weak ties (Caten, 2006). He argues that the social networks are instrumental at increasing the level of participation through lessening the motivation level, which is required in participation. He affirms that these relations are not favorable to the hierarchical, sustained, and high-risked behavior that is needed to make a change as in US civil rights of 1960s (Delmont, 2013). Two arguments are formulated against Gladwell’s idea that social media contributes in changing national politics. According to Hinkson (2011), the first argument affirms that tools are ineffective and the second argument is that the tools produce a similar harm to democratization as much as they produce good will. This is because; a repressive government will utilize this tool to suppress opposition (Feldman, 2005). Twitter and Facebook play their part in social change. However, Azoulay (2010), Amrane-Minne (2007) and Hinkson (2011) ascertain that real change and revolution takes place in the streets. According to Delmont (2013) social media has one great challenge: when an individual uses social media for political reasons, then that person will have to close or reduce his or her personal relations to make them take actions- especially when the action is difficult and risky. McDougall (2005) says that social media must have a catch. In that it does things that are not particularly helpful in a situation that is full of risks. The disruptions in the Middle East has shown positive effects of using social media to implement change, there are various situations where the system has failed (Starrett, 2003). The March 2006 in Belarus, protestors took to the street to protest against election rigging by then president Aleksandr Lukashenko. According to Wigoder (2010), Delmont (2013), and Hinkson (2011) president Aleksandr flattened the protestors and suppressed them, leaving the president more determined to control the media and social sites. Protestors used every single technological tool and coordination in Iran. In June 2009, protestors protested against the miscount of Mir Hossein Mousavi votes. The regime brought down the protestors and they stopped their demonstrations (Delmont, 2013). In Thailand, the Red Shirt uprisings were dealt with in a similar manner however, their government brought a more violent crackdown than the one experienced in Iran (Tripp, 2012). Protestors occupied the streets of Bangkok until the government troops arrived and violently dispersed them and in the process some protestors were killed (Wigoder, 2010). The question that many people ask themselves is what the next step for social media when it has performed its function. What is its new paradigm? (Hinkson, 2011). What we currently have is a revolution that lowers the transaction cost and this has allowed the decentralized forces to push revolution but they do this by not erecting the permanent structures that will become other political parties when the current regime falls (Varzi, 2006). Wigoder (2010) and Amrane- Minne (2007) conceptualize the working of these structures can form new political movements by strengthening the previously underdeveloped, and disconnected identities to take shape and restructure into a prominent position (Wigooder, 2012). This occurs mostly in Arab countries where ethnic and religious divide affected the previous regimes. Many Arab regimes did not allow the formation of political parties and they also did not allow anyone to associate themselves with civil rights (Varzi, 2006). This meant that there was little chance where religion, cultural, and ethnic groups would interact. However, the presence of social media has helped such groups to break the communication barriers and they can interact through such media. According to Caten (2006) CANVAS is a group that teaches on democracy movements and on ways that they can demonstrate without involving violent behavior. The teaching affirms that the social media can be harnessed to produce three uses: 1. Social media is one of the cheapest modes of passing a message. Social media is better than placing posters that may end up being destroyed way before it passes its message (Armbrust, 2002). 2. Social media is used to reach millions and millions of people globally. For example, currently, there are over 162 million subscribers. The huge number allows for exchange of ideas and one is more confident that he or she is in a group of many people. Multitude of people gives a form of satisfaction and security (Varzi, 2006). 3. Social media has been confirmed to be an efficient way to transfer information and skills (Mirzoeff, 2006). Clay Skinky is one of the leading social media proponents in America. He believes that Social media is a long term tool which can strengthen the public sphere and the civil society (Hinkson, 2011). Social media can compensate the cost of organizing and coordination of undisciplined groups. The larger and looser groups can take control on some structure such as public media campaigns, and protest movements (Varzi, 2006). Social media is important for political movements in that one has to comprehend shared awareness where Zizek (2012) defines shared awareness as the ability of every member of a given group to understand the matter at hand, but also to ensure that each member of his or her group has understood the entire requirement. Social media has propagated message sand increased awareness (Varzi, 2006). The political culture has heightened the conservative dilemma in hiding more political uses of the media. Azoulay (2010), Hinkson (2011) and Caten (2006) affirm that social media have an impact on people by helping them transform or change and provide them with competencies that will give them more insight in politics. Social media acts as a transformation tool, and an individual can use it to have a voice in the world of politics. This can be an easy task. An individual will just take his or her phone, capture a picture, and then the picture is uploaded in YouTube or Twitter (Zizek, 2002). The media draws external attention from various international countries. The media acts as the megaphone that connects one part of the planet with another. During a protest, for example in Egypt almost the entire nation will be aware of the happenings in Egypt. The media enable the outside world know more about a specific country. It is almost difficult to verify that communication through social or new media is what makes people come to the streets. Tripp (2012) says that media helps people to be organized and that media can send messages too many people within a short period. However, there is no proof that the media were responsible for mobilizing the protestors. Armbrust (2002) affirms that change takes place in the street, and that is the will and attitude of the protestors that enabled them to conduct their demonstrations. The media was also played a part but it only informed the outside world on what was going on in certain countries (Zizek, 2002). Social media is not a silver bullet (Wigoder, 2010). When it entails politics, using social media tools such as photo-sharing, e-mail, text messaging, and social networks do not have a specific outcome (Khatib, 2012). The attempts to define and outline the impact of social media on political action are usually reduced to clashing anecdotes. There are some factors that affect the use of social media, such as ethnic diversity, existence of modern infrastructure and telecommunication, level of education and the level of censorship used by the current regime (Starrett, 2003). Social media has little effect on the most important factors, which affect the nascent revolutions (Azoulay, 2010). This is the willingness of a regime to use force to suppress protestors and opposition. The Egyptian protects was a success because the military would not go against the protestors (Tripp, 2012). However, Iran protestors were retaliated with maximum force. The protestors were harshly treated and most of them were injured during the protests. The activities that have been caused by social movements will have influence on the population only to that point where the state or government will not interfere with the operations of the media (Mitchell, 2011). This is a challenge to improve the prospects of the digital-assisted reforms in closed societies, which will depend on the decentralization networks in order to adapt, transfer, and emulate the advantages of an organized society group (Delmont, 2013). Various researches affirm that protests were effective when used they were used a send of a process. Political freedom entails a society that is literate and heavily connected to know the issues that affects the public (Amrane-Minne, 2007). For the groups that have experienced repression, attest that the power of the media is an important component in any successful revolution. References Amrane-Minne, D. D. (2007). Women at War: The Representation of Women in the Battle of Algiers. Interventions 9 (3), 340-349. Armbrust, W. (2002). Islamists in Egyptian Cinema. American Anthropologist 104 (3), 922-93. Azoulay, A. (2010). Getting Rid of the Distinction between the Aesthetic and the Political. Theory, Culture & Society 27 (7-8), 239-269. 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Retrieved April 18, 2014, from Art and the Uprisings in the Middle East.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2jq8n-4WbI&feature=related <br /> Varzi, R. (2006). The Image and the Hidden Master. In her Warring Souls: Youth, Media, and Martyrdom in Post-Revolution Iran. Durham: Duke UP, pp. 23-43. Wigoder, M. (2010). The Blocked Gaze: A User’s Guide to Photographing the Separation Barrier-Wall [A Photo-Essay]. Public Culture 22 (2), 293-308. Wigooder, M. (2012). The Acrobatic Gaze and the Pensive Image in Palestinian Morgue Photography. Critical Inquiry 38 (2), 267-88. Zizek, S. (2002). Welcome to the Desert of the Real. London: Verso. Read More