Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest

by Zeynep Tufekci

Overview

A firsthand account and incisive analysis of modern protest, revealing internet-fueled social movements’ greatest strengths and frequent challenges

To understand a thwarted Turkish coup, an anti–Wall Street encampment, and a packed Tahrir Square, we must first comprehend the power and the weaknesses of using new technologies to mobilize large numbers of people. An incisive observer, writer, and participant in today’s social movements, Zeynep Tufekci explains in this accessible and compelling book the nuanced trajectories of modern protests—how they form, how they operate differently from past protests, and why they have difficulty persisting in their long-term quests for change.
 
Tufekci speaks from direct experience, combining on-the-ground interviews with insightful analysis. She describes how the internet helped the Zapatista uprisings in Mexico, the necessity of remote Twitter users to organize medical supplies during Arab Spring, the refusal to use bullhorns in the Occupy Movement that started in New York, and the empowering effect of tear gas in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. These details from life inside social movements complete a moving investigation of authority, technology, and culture—and offer essential insights into the future of governance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300228175
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	05/16/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	687,525
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Zeynep Tufekci is a New York Times opinion columnist, a contributing opinion writer for The Atlantic, associate professor at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science, and a faculty associate at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction xxi

Part 1 Making a Movement

1 A Networked Public 3

2 Censorship and Attention 28

3 Leading the Leaderless 49

4 Movement Cultures 83

Part 2 A Protester's Tools

5 Technology and People 115

6 Platforms and Algorithms 132

7 Names and Connections 164

Part 3 After the Protests

8 Signaling Power and Signaling to Power 189

9 Governments Strike Back 223

Epilogue: The Uncertain Climb 261

Notes 279

Acknowledgments 309

Index 313

Interviews

How are today’s social movements unlike those of the past?
 
The Civil Rights Movement had been active for more than a decade and still needed half a year of planning to organize the 1963 March on Washington. In contrast, the Occupy Movement organized global protests in two weeks in more than 80 cities, mostly using Facebook and Twitter. In the past, the protest was the culmination of prior organizing. Today, the huge protest may be the very first step in the movement’s existence. Tech tools are more than a way to communicate; they are essential to organization, for good and bad.
 
What is the biggest misconception about today’s protests?
 
People believe that “clicktivism” or “slacktivism”—when people “like” a social media post or change their Facebook profile picture—is always easy, and that it displaces other types of protests “in real life.” Clicking isn’t always easy. A Chinese dissident tweeting is taking a bigger risk than a Westerner marching in the streets. Instead of artificially dividing the world into real and unreal, we should understand the kind of capacity that different protests signal. Besides, most of the time, online communication and physical acts complement each other.
 
What are your most important tools during a protest?

For me, it's my smartphone and helmet. The phone provides awareness and lets me share notes and pictures. The helmet protects my head from rocks and tear gas canisters that may be shot at the crowd. But the real resource is the people, of course.
 
Explain the importance of tear gas.

I first wanted to call the book "Beautiful Tear Gas." The first time you're teargassed, you think you will die. You can't breathe; it's horrible. But tear gas doesn't kill you, and everyone around you comes to your aid, washing your face and helping you to stand up. You do stand up—even more united with your fellow protesters.
 
What unites crowds to stand for a common cause?

Police brutality, media censorship, and dismissal by powerful people. When this happens to you, you realize that others you may have dismissed may be worth listening to. Then you find yourself next to these people, facing tear gas together. This brings down barriers.

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2017
This insightful and analytical account of mass protest in the 21st century focuses on the “intertwined” power and weaknesses of new technologies that can be used to galvanize large numbers of people. Tufekci, a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times and a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science, writes that the strengths of social movements lie in their capacity to set a narrative, disrupt the status quo, and affect electoral or institutional changes. She uses these criteria as a framework to study the impact of contemporary movements. For instance, the 2011 Tahrir Square rebellion in Egypt, which emerged rapidly by using digital technologies, had “narrative” and “disruptive capacity” but was unable to bring about electoral change in part because many of its participants distrusted elections and didn’t vote. She grounds her analyses in her own experiences as a participant and social scientist observer in several widespread antiauthoritarian uprisings, including the Zapatistas in Mexico in 1994, Egypt’s Tahrir Square in 2011, and the 2012 Occupy movements in the United States. A complex portrait emerges of the culture of modern movements “with its emphasis on participation, horizontalism, institutional distrust, ad hoc organizations eschewing formal ones, and strong expressive bent... cuts across political ideology.” This comprehensive, thought-provoking work makes a valuable contribution to understanding recent political developments and provides a clear path by which grassroots organizers can improve future efforts. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Tufekci believes that digital-age protests are not simply faster, more responsive versions of their mid-century parents. They are fundamentally distinct.”—Nathan Heller, New Yorker

"This comprehensive, thought-provoking work makes a valuable contribution to understanding recent political developments and provides a clear path by which grassroots organizers can improve future efforts."—Publishers Weekly

"Twitter and Tear Gas is packed with evidence on how social media has changed social movements, based on rigorous research and placed in historical context."—Hannah Kuchler, Financial Times

“[Tufekci’s] personal experience in the squares and streets, melded with her scholarly insights on technology and communication platforms, makes [this] such an unusual and illuminating work. . . . Will be long cited, deservedly, by activists, technologists, and others grasping at the relationship between our causes and our screens.”—Carlos Lozada, Washington Post

"Insightful and entertaining. . . . Twitter and Tear Gas is infused with a richness of detail stemming from [Tufekci's] personal participation in the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Turkey. . . . Tufekci writes with a warmth and respect for the humans that are part of these powerful social movements, gently intertwining her own story with the stories of others, big data, and theory."—Bruce Schneier, Motherboard

“The book’s claims are relevant for those organizing protests or studying them, but not exclusively. . . . What’s more, repressive governments themselves could learn from the book what platforms are being used to undermine their attempts at censorship, and more importantly, how.”—Melissa Altman, Voluntas

"A striking and original conclusion: today’s low barrier for organizing a movement can also lead to its long-term frustrations. Tufekci’s superb book will define the debate on social protest for years to come."—Dani Rodrik, author of Economic Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science

"Tufekci is undoubtedly the most qualified person in the world to explain the meaning of political collective actions catalyzed and coordinated by social media. She knows the technology, the social science, and the politics—and she is the rare academic observer who was at the scene, from Istanbul to Cairo to New York."—Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution

"Incisive and illuminating, Tufekci’s book arrives at the perfect moment, right when we desperately need our activism to become smarter and more effective than ever before, or else."— Astra Taylor, author of The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age and co-founder of the Debt Collective

"Many have asked why people rebel, but few describe how. Here, Tufekci uses firsthand observation to offer an intelligent and informed examination of the tools and nature of today’s political protests."—Vali Nasr, author of The Dispensable Nation and The Shia Revival

"For all the claims that new technologies afford grassroots movements new power, research on the topic is rare. Tufekci's book provides just that—and a cautionary conclusion."—Doug McAdam, author of Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America

From the Publisher

“For all the claims that new technologies afford grassroots movements new power, research on the topic is rare. Tufekci's book provides just that—and a cautionary conclusion.”—Doug McAdam, author of Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America

Doug McAdam

"A brilliant work. In a world of tweet-sized summary judgments, Tufekci provides readers with a depth of analysis and important insights that ought to be read by every diplomat and activist."—Alec Ross, former Senior Advisor for Innovation, U.S. Department of State

Alec Ross

“Many have asked why people rebel, but few describe how. Here, Tufekci uses firsthand observation to offer an intelligent and informed examination of the tools and nature of today’s political protests.”—Vali Nasr, author of The Dispensable Nation and The Shia Revival

Vali Nasr

“Informative and exciting read! Tufekci is in the perfect spot between activist and researcher to provide insights that only few can. This book sets new grounds for the analysis of social media and political mobilization.”—Rasha Abdulla, author of The Internet in the Arab World: Egypt and Beyond

Rasha Abdulla

“Tufekci understands 21st-century protest movements both as a scholar and as a participant, from the Arab Spring to Zucotti Park. In Twitter and Tear Gas, she merges her experiences into a singularly brilliant examination of how movements work and when they don't.”—Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus

Clay Shirky

"There have been many lessons for social movements since I spoke to crowds in Tahrir Square who had gathered after a call on a Facebook page I had launched. This incisive, unique, and timely book--brimming with stories and insightful analyses of protest movements--offers a much-needed perspective on politics and protest in the digital age."— Wael Ghonim, activist and author of Revolution 2.0

Wael Ghonim

“Incisive and illuminating, Tufekci’s book arrives at the perfect moment, right when we desperately need our activism to become smarter and more effective than ever before, or else.”— Astra Taylor, author of The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age and co-founder of the Debt Collective

Astra Taylor

“Tufekci is undoubtedly the most qualified person in the world to explain the meaning of political collective actions catalyzed and coordinated by social media. She knows the technology, the social science, and the politics—and she is the rare academic observer who was at the scene, from Istanbul to Cairo to New York.”—Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution

Howard Rheingold

“A striking and original conclusion: today’s low barrier for organizing a movement can also lead to its long-term frustrations. Tufekci’s superb book will define the debate on social protest for years to come.”—Dani Rodrik, author of Economic Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science

Dani Rodrik

“Twitter and Tear Gas is packed with evidence on how social media has changed social movements, based on rigorous research and placed in historical context.”—Hannah Kuchler, Financial Times

Financial Times - Hannah Kuchler