Cyberactivism and Social movements; Towards a New Politics

The nature of social mobilization is changing before our eyes. “Cyberactivism,” the extensive use of the Internet to
provide counter-hegemonic information and inspire social mobilizations, is a new phenomenon in which a variety of
new forms of movements and protests are using the most modern information technologies. Some organizations and
efforts have been local, such as the Zapatistas. Some movements have focused on specific issues, such as in the
Landmine Treaty or dolphin safe tuna fishing. Some of the net-mediated alternative globalization mobilizations have
had a major impact, such as the widely publicized moblizations in Seattle, Washington DC, Prague, Porto Alegre,
Quebec City, Genoa, etc. The emergence of such movements requires us to take a descriptive survey to understand
how the Internet is used that may help elucidate the causes of such movements and what shall the fate of such
movements be. Hence, we focus here on the actual use of the Internet.
It is necessary to note a plurality of types of sites from local to global extent of cultural, political, economic,
environmental, and social justice based democratic action. To organize a democratic information society, Dyer-
Witheford (1999:193) distinguishes four distinct moments, “a guaranteed annual income, the creation of universal
communication networks, the use of these in decentralized participatory counterplanning, and the democratic control
of decisions about technoscientific development.” While struggles in each of these areas might in Dyer-Witheford's
terms establish its own “beachhead,” the Internet allows these beachheads to share some intelligence and personnel
and, on many occasions, join together as a progressive force contesting neo-liberal globalization. Social movements
and projects in civil society are working in all of these spheres and more.
We would like to suggest that there are six main types of “cyberactivism." These are a combination of two
factors: first, type of social action in regards to the net either “through the net” (the net as a tool) or “in the net” (the
net as a social space or site of contestation); and second, type of social sphere (economic, political-relational, and  4
cultural). Hence, cyberactivism through the Net is seen in:  1) Internetworking, 2) Capital and information flows,
and 3) Alternative media and theory: A. Alternative media and B. Alternative theory networks. Cyberactivism in the
Net is seen in: 4) Direct cyberactivism (hacktivism), 5) Contesting and constructing the Internet, and 6) Online
alternative community formation. We define the types of cyberactivism preliminarily as follows.
Regarding this typology, please note: While the following ideal typical categories are distinguished for
analytical purposes, many of these phenomena develop in tandem, in synergy and/or dialectically. Also note: While
we focus on AGMs here, a caveat is that many actions, movements and communities on the Net are reactionary,
directly reproducing various types of oppression or ascetic withdrawal or ludic in carnivalistic abondon, ritualized
primal furor, or pop alternative cultural consumption, not challenging structures of power. Also note that a common
form of sub-categorization is to note a macro mainstream social type, grass roots and/or new type, and micro type of
net structuration (agenic structural formation).

                     *Mkessa Patricia*