Persistent Activist Communication in Occupy Gezi

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: AbstractWe revisit the notion of activist persistence against the backdrop of protest communication on Twitter. We take an event-based approach and examine Occupy Gezi, a series of protests that occurred in Turkey in the early summer of 2013. By cross-referencing survey data with longitudinal Twitter data and in-depth interviews, we investigate the relationship between biographical availability, relational and organisational ties, social and personal costs to persistent activism online and on-location. Contrary to expectations, we find no clear-cut relationship between those factors and sustained commitment to participation in the occupation. We show that persistent activist communication did not feed into enduring organisational structures despite the continuous online activity observed during and beyond the peak of the Gezi occupation. The article concludes with reflections on the organisational ramifications of persistent communication and its significance in a political context posing high risks to participation in dissident politics.

Digitizing Sociology: Continuity and Change in the Internet Era

“…Building on a growing literature examining the role of social media in activist movements (e.g. Tufekci, 2017), Mercea et al (2018) (included in this e-special) examine how social media relates to sustained engagement with the ultimately successful Occupy Gezi movement of 2013. Different from other analyses of 'hashtag activism', which tend to focus on messaging and mobilization, a particular concern here is how Twitter activity influenced the durability of engagements with a movement.…”

11 The Activist Chroniclers of Occupy Gezi : Counterposing Visibility to Injustice

“…In our research, we used Twitter's streaming application programming interface to monitor four Occupy Gezi hashtags (#direngeziparki, #occupygezi, #occupytaksim, #occupyturkey, see Mercea et al 2018). Following a close inspection of the tweets covering a period of a month at the height of the protests, in May-June 2013 (see figure 11.1), we contacted 100 users and successfully recruited 24 of them for in-depth interviews.…”

“…Over the course of two weeks of rolling protests, tweeting compensated for the anaemic coverage of the Gezi occupation by Turkish media. Twitter was used strategically to draw in the global media and help choreograph collective action (Mercea et al 2018). The visibility thus attained publicized the pursuit of procedural, environmental and social justice (Schlosberg 2007) by the swelling number of politically, socio-economically and culturally diverse protestors (see Vatikiotis and Yörük 2016).…”

“…On the one hand, for the diverse assembly of protestors in Gezi Park, the official government response to the mobilization was portrayed as state repression by dint of a rallying injustice frame. Following the eviction of the encampment, Twitter was used to memorialize 'the Gezi spirit' so as to preserve and continue to make visible the democratic ethos and values of the movement and its legacy (Mercea et al 2018). On the other hand, this act of resistance prompted a reflexive turn in state surveillance.…”

“…In 2014, legislation was passed tightening the Turkish government's control of the Internet at the same time as rampant state monitoring of social media was aimed at silencing dissident voices (Karatas and Saka 2017: 387). Despite rejoicing in a newly found solidarity during the occupation, participants that memorialized the protests by continuing to post about them on Twitter, struggled to preserve its legacy in the volatile political climate of the country since 2013 (Mercea et al 2018). Below, we first discuss injustice frames and their use by activists around the world to raise the visibility of aggrieved groups.…”