Cyberprotest: New Media, Citizens and Social Movements.

• Author: Stannard, Matthew
• Position: Book review

Cyberprotest: New Media, Citizens and Social Movements. Edited by Wim van de Donk, Brian D. Loader, Paul G. Nixon, and Dieter Rucht. London: Routledge, 2004; pp. xix + 316. $135.00 cloth; $44.95 paper.

Social movements do not exist in a purely discursive universe. Movements are material entities and their public arguments emerge in a world of material resource struggle. Communication scholars often examine movement rhetoric at the expense of examining the material context in which movements live and operate. This omission risks an unwarranted discursive determinism that robs us of an understanding of the very real material antecedents of social change. It is both refreshing and necessary, then, to read books from outside our field that effectively address those material relations. Cyberprotest is one such book.

This intriguing collection of essays examines the new opportunities and challenges that internet technology offers to social movements. The book's case studies include movements both large (the anti-capitalist and anti-globalization movement, the environmental movement, the East Timor independence movement, the disabled movement) and small (ATTAC, the "Queer Sisters" of Hong Kong, and an organization of Australian woman farmers). The editors proceed from the assumption that high-speed global communication has broken down the limits of the nation-state for activists. At the same time, citizens (especially in the Western world) have altered their views of politics: Cynicism and "lifestyle" balkanization have largely replaced idealism and the aspirations of collective action. As the introduction points out, economic insecurity and social fragmentation contribute to a growing "sense of powerlessness" and "a retreat from public culture" into "an ever-increasing emphasis on private consumption and life style." In this context, the internet helps promote "alternative or counter public spheres that can offer a new, empowering sense of what it means to be a citizen" (xi).

The internet allows activists to transcend the age-old dichotomy of "local versus global"; activism now can be local and global simultaneously. The cost, in time and resources, of far-reaching networking has decreased substantially, and information is accessible to an unprecedented degree. While this presents virtually limitless possibilities to global activists, it also brings unique dilemmas. The essays in Cyberprotest reflect a balanced view of the promises and problems...