[liberationtech] Wikileaks, Anonymous, and global activism

[Shava Nerad]

For those of us interested,  but unaffiliated with an academic library,
any chance of a way to give input without shelling out US$30 for the
privilege of sending the author our expert feedback? ;)

We e-bandits (hmmm… do I qualify or care to? ) do not come with fat expense
accounts.

Yrs,
Shava Nerad
shava23 at gmail.com
On Dec 11, 2013 11:07 AM, "Yosem Companys" <companys at stanford.edu> wrote:

> From: Wendy Wong <wendyh.wong at utoronto.ca>
>
> Hi Everyone:
>
> I just wanted to let you know about an article I (and co-author Pete
> Brown) have in the new issue of Perspectives on Politics on the role
> of Wikileaks, Anonymous, and other “e-bandits” in global activism .
> Here is the link:
> http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=pps
>
> Here is the abstract for “E-Bandits in Global Activism: Wikileaks,
> Anonymous, and the Politics of No One."
>
> In recent years, WikiLeaks and Anonymous have made headlines
> distributing confidential information, defacing websites, and
> generating protest around political issues. Although many have
> dismissed these actors as terrorists, criminals, and troublemakers, we
> argue that such actors are emblematic of a new kind of political
> actor: extraordinary bandits (e-bandits) that engage in the politics
> of no one via anonymizing Internet technologies. Building on
> Hobsbawm's idea of the social bandit, we show how these actors
> fundamentally change the terms of global activism. First, as political
> actors, e-bandits are akin to Robin Hood, resisting the powers that be
> who threaten the desire to keep the Internet free, not through
> lobbying legislators, but by “taking” what has been deemed off limits.
> Second, e-banditry forces us to think about how technology changes
> “ordinary” transnational activism. Iconic images of street protests
> and massive marches often underlie the way we as scholars think about
> social movements and citizen action; they are ordinary ways we expect
> non-state actors to behave when they demand political change.
> E-bandits force us to understand political protest as virtual missives
> and actions, activity that leaves no physical traces but that has
> real-world consequences, as when home phone numbers and addresses of
> public officials are released. Finally, e-banditry is relatively open
> in terms of who participates, which contributes to the growing sense
> that activism has outgrown organizations as the way by which
> individuals connect. We illustrate our theory with the actions of two
> e-bandits, Anonymous and WikiLeaks.
>
> We’d love to hear your thoughts!
>
> Wendy H. Wong
> Director, Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice
> Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
> Associate Director, Munk School Global Justice Lab
>
> Munk School of Global Affairs | University of Toronto
> 315 Bloor Street West | Room 214
> Toronto, ON   M5S 1A3
> Phone: 416-946-8703 | Fax: 416-946-5566
> www.munkschool.utoronto.ca
> individual.utoronto.ca/wendyhwong
> --
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