Framing, friction, and the continuity of social movements : the case of the ambonese peace movement in Indonesia

Abstract

Social movements have brought change to various aspects of the society across the globe. Previous studies have focused on their rise and fall but not their continuity and change. This study investigates through the lens of the framing approach why and how a movement manages to continue. It is based on extensive interviews from 2015 to 2017 with 54 peace movement actors in Ambon, Indonesia, in which civil religious battles had left a community divided. Textual and social media data were also studied. The study found that the social movements' actors' ability to construct a new frame and reconcile friction among themselves was pivotal to reduce conflict, bring peace and sustain the movement. The finding suggests that framing is critical to continue a movement after it achieves its immediate goal and when political opportunities and resources are limited. This finding thus extends existing theory, first in proposing that frames may be dynamic not merely static and second in going beyond studies that have situated frames only when movements rise and peak to look at how frames operate to enable movements to continue.

Disconnection for protection (D4P): an addition to the disconnection repertoire

“…The enactment of D4P should be to mitigate the damage that a connectivity can bring during volatile times. While useful for activists and ordinary citizens to organize social movements and to facilitate activists to maintain post-movement solidarity (Rohman, 2019a;Rohman & Pitaloka, 2020), mobile phones and social media, together with other offline and online platforms, are also among the carriers of misinformation, populism, and hateful speech (Flew and Iosifidis, 2019). Despite the twofold effects of internet connection, in most cases asking users to stop accessing such Internet-based platforms is almost impossible given that the benefit of staying connected is bigger than otherwise.…”

How to reconnect different small worlds: Deconstructing the past that divides, pursuing a future that unites

“…The Ambonese attempted to repaint the image of violence with scenic tourism, music and creativity. Gradually, many Ambonese moved on from violence (Rohman, 2019).…”

Art-for-Peace in Ambon: An Intersectional Reading

“…A few studies of pab's activities have emerged. They focus mainly on its contributions to environmental activism, its innovative use of digital and social media for conflict prevention and transformation and its art-for-peace projects (Bräuchler, 2019;Irawanto and Octastefani, 2019;Manuputti, 2018;Rohman, 2019). We focus on the intersectional dynamics of the pab art-for-peace initiatives.…”