When Hope Seems Outrageous

Manuel Castells' Networks of Outrage and Hope discusses social movements that aim for true democracy and justice using a combination of online and offline networks and spaces. Castells describes these movements from Iceland to the Middle East to Spain to the streets of New York and recognizes the similarities between them stating, "In all cases the movements ignored political parties, distrusted the media, did not recognize any  leadership and rejected all formal organization, relying on the Internet and local assemblies for collective debate and decision-making" (4). The book makes observations about these movements (e.g. the spark, who participated, the response and outcomes, etc.); however, Castells contends that it is too early to make any systematic statements, only hypotheses. He uses his theory of grounded power to state that institutional structure is defined by the interplay between power and counterpower and that power is gained through peoples' minds or through force, which cannot last forever: "torturing bodies is less effective than shaping minds" (5). The way to create meaning in the minds of the people, a more stable form of power, is to communicate, and we can now do this partly through digital "mass self-communication" (7). Thus, these movements have created a space between the digital and the urban to conquer fear through community, invoke symbolism, and regain representation (11). According to Castells, these movements are emotional, requiring both outrage and then hope to turn feeling into action (14).

I thought the text was powerful in the way that it described the movements and their similarities, and I learned quite a bit of detail about these different revolutions. However, I am a bit curious about the addressed audience for this text. I know that Castells' works are widely cited, but I sometimes felt as if I knew too much or too little about what he was discussing. For example, I thought the part about the government's attempt to shut down the Internet was particularly fascinating, especially the new technologies that were created to allow people to have their voices heard. However, his example about speak-to-text made me want to know more about Twitter and why that has often been the outlet for these messages; if the other readings sounded outdated due to their examples, this one made me feel old. He also made the very good point that the internet is impossible to shut down because it is "the lifeline of the interconnected global economy" (65), but I was not quite sure I completely understood the implications of that lack of physicality. Castells says that the speed in which the Internet was reconnected in Egypt indicates that "neither the disconnection nor the reconnection was physical. There was simply a matter of re-writing the code for the routers, once the government authorized the ISPs to operate again" (65). I guess I was expecting him to say something about how that plays into power dynamics or this space between the digital and the physical, but he then quickly moves on to talking about why they restored it instead. Furthermore, he also brings up the role of women in the chapter on Egypt and how these revolutions occur in places where people have internet access, but I was hoping for more. What about the role of women in these other countries? How long have these places have widespread access, and did that affect the movements? Polity Press, the publisher of his text, says that they serve a mainly academic audience, but also strive to publish works that a general audience could pick up. Could you see yourself teaching with this text? If so, in what type of a class? What type of student? Would you feel the need to supplement, or could the book stand on its own? In that same vein, could a chapter be pulled out to discuss? If you were to use a chapter, which one would you pick? Who do you think is reading this book as a "member of the general public"?

This book also hints at some of the problematic issues these movements have had to face, but overall gives a very positive view of the digital and these networks. I would be really curious to see the 2010 study that talked about how the Internet has increased peoples' sense of security, agency, and liberty done again (233), especially considering the article on Isis that Lacy and Alex provided. In other words, I'm not totally convinced, or I at least want to see some numbers (I know, there's a link, but I wish it got a chart like some of the other information). At the very least the study backed up the assertion that the groups who could most benefit from the Internet are the ones that have the least access (boo). However, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit I did at least partially enjoy reading a book with a "yay Internet" message, though I feel that all the readings have stressed the importance of connection between digital and non-digital spaces. For example, in our "overview text", Reed had a brief portion of a chapter dedicated to social movements, and his final claim was, "it is this close connection to 'real-world' away-from-keyboard sites that makes online netroots activism most effective" (134). Castells expands on Reed's synopsis by discussing how these social movements have created a new sense of time as well when he claims:

...they have generated their own form of time: timeless time, a trans-historical form of time, by combining two types of experience. On the one hand, in the occupied settlements, they live day by day, not knowing when the eviction will come...on the other hand...they live in the moment in terms of their experience, and they project their time in the future of history-making in terms of their anticipation...It is an emerging, alternative time, made of a hybrid between the now and the long now [reminds me a bit of Condon's talk in the long now] (223).

blogs.psychcentral.com

Do we have the patience for the 'long now'? How do we feel about this concept of 'relearning from old mistakes in terms of consensus (130)?

Lastly, there is also a very interesting tension in this work between what the movements were able to do and what they could not accomplish, which connects to the difference between short-terms goals and long-term change. Castells mentions several times that the distrust of politics stops these movements from being able to make pragmatic changes, because that would involve working through that system. In the "Occupy Wall Street" chapter, Castells summarizes this outlook when he describes two trends of the movements:

...(a) most people simply do not trust the political process as it is currently framed, so they only count on themselves; (b) the movement is wide and strong because it unites outrage and dreams while skipping politics as usual. This is its strength and its weakness. But this is what this movement is, not a surrogate for an old left always looking to find fresh support for its unreconstructed view of the world. No demands, and every demand; not a piece of society, but the whole of a different society (188).

In the end, he says that the movement's hopes will have to be "watered down" (234) through "reform or revolution" (234). In the United States, is one more likely than the other? Has this movement done enough to empower people and influence their minds? How do we go from awareness of a class divide and the degradation of the "American Dream" (everyone and their mother's AP English final paper topic) to that next step?  Does it really matter that about 30% of people supported disruptive action, especially if most didn't approve of the movement?

On a related note, I think this book is going to need another addition given the events in Hong Kong and his discussion of the government and their control of the internet in China!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29423147

For example, see:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29423147
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29407067

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/02/353189674/hong-kong-police-warn-protesters-not-to-occupy-government-buildings