2010-12-10 13:10:39
By Dominic Casciani BBC News home affairs correspondent
Over the past month, many parts of the UK have witnessed student-led protests
against tuition fees and the end of grants in further education.
Continue reading the main story
On television, the scenes have looked like a typical demonstration: people
standing around in the cold waving placards while police run around after
trouble-makers. But what's beyond doubt is that social media has played an
important role in the anti-cuts demonstrations, but is it changing the nature
of modern protest?
From pamphlets to hashtags
Stage one: Agitation and radicalisation
THEN
Every cause starts with someone arguing in its favour. During the aftermath of
the English Civil War, "Freeborn John" Lilburne pushed his luck with Oliver
Cromwell, who he had once stood alongside, by demanding liberty and votes for
all. He ended up rotting in jail - but his agitation strategy was the model for
every radical who followed, right up to Tony Benn. Lilburne produced
provocative pamphlets and toured the country, giving public talks.
The more he talked, the more people he gathered to his cause. The process was
painfully slow - but ideas took root and lasted long after his death.
Over the years, the pamphleteering became easier, thanks to more efficient
printing and the invention of photocopying machinery in the 20th Century. But
radicalisation still required that personal touch - the impassioned speech and
the feeling that something must be done.
NOW
What Freeborn John would make of the recent UK Uncut flash mobs we'll never
know. The anti tax-avoidance campaign group began as a pub discussion and has
since disrupted trading at High Street chain stores they claim are not paying
their fair share.
But UK Uncut's rapid growth - in a matter of weeks - is partly down to the
founders' ability to spread ideas online, particularly through the Twitter
hashtag #ukuncut. People looking for news on cuts picked up on the hashtag and
added it to their own tweets. It now has about 8,500 online followers.
What's different is that UK Uncut hasn't been sending people around the UK to
perform Speakers' Corner style recruitment exercises.
The two protests with the highest impact last weekend - in Brighton and London
- were "flash mobs" including many people who had probably never spoken to
others before, let alone been in the same room.
Stage two: Organisation and protesting
THEN
Traditional protesting needs clear leadership and an organisation of such.
Think of the Jarrow Crusade against poverty in 1936 or the Countryside
Alliance's vast demonstration in London against the fox hunting ban.
There were figureheads and organisers - such as union leaders or high profile
speakers.
The 2003 Stop the War march meandered through London to a stage in Hyde Park
where notable speakers took the microphone and the crowd clapped and cheered.
Traditional protest involves talks with the police to agree routes and how to
marshal a crowd.
If trouble comes, it's often quite clear that it has nothing to do with the
organisers who are swift to condemn and disown those involved.
NOW
Student protests also have leaders and organised marches. But there are now
also "networked" players, says tweeting student Aaron Peters, an active
participant in London's demos. Peters, researching political protest, says
"Dissent Entrepreneurs" use social media tools to create unpredictable events.
In the hours before Thursday's education vote, tweets promoted a map of
proposed flash mob locations, but without expressing a preferred target.
London's 2001 anti-globalisation protests unsuccessfully tried the same trick
before being contained by the police. But the immediacy and scale of social
media tools on smart phones changes things, argues Aaron Peters.
"If someone asks us how many people are turning out, or what they will do, we
don't know - because we can't know what's not knowable."
Stage three: Law and order
THEN
All police officers in England and Wales are given public order training -
typically at the Met's riot training centre, a fake town that looks a little
like a Hollywood set for a film about the breakdown of civilisation.
For years they've been taught how to contain trouble makers and to marshall
crowds, tutors reminding them that in the UK policing is "by consent".
So, organised demonstrations had good relations with officers - but chaotic
protests would often end in police and angry young men clashing.
There have always been claims of excessive police tactics - but very few of
them ever reach the point where they are substantiated.
The facts about the controversial death of Blair Peach, during clashes with
police in 1979, only saw the light of day 30 years later.
NOW
The death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 in 2009 has led to searching questions in
the police over how to deal with modern protests - not least because of the
level of scrutiny via mobile phone footage.
Police chiefs are finalising their new guidance on public order - but it will
include advice on the role of social media. Some forces are already using it.
West Midlands Police say they used it to counter unfounded rumours that young
Muslims were planning to clash with the far-right England Defence League.
Sussex Police also used Twitter to swiftly rebut accusations that officers were
armed with Tasers during the UK Uncut demo last week. Both forces think social
media is helping officers engage with a more diverse range of people -
including hardcore protesters who would never talk to a copper on the street.
Stage four: The headlines
THEN
In the olden days, there would be a newspaper reporter who'd produce a sober
assessment of events for the next morning, with quotes from the main speakers
and contributions and reaction from the police and politicians.
Some protesters would be left fuming when their entire day out was reduced by
the editor to a picture of two attractive young women carrying a banner with a
caption underneath saying how many marched.
If things turned ugly, then the story naturally shifted on to the violence and
the response to it. The actual reason for the protest may have been drowned
out.
NOW
Things changed in 1999 with the launch of Indymedia, its mission to get
ordinary people to report events it claimed the mainstream media failed to
cover.
But Indymedia has been eclipsed by the rise of the mobile smart phone and a
plethora of tools like Flickr, blogs and social bookmarking sites.
This week, at University College London, students (pictured above) built a
"mash-up" website that has been collating and disseminating thousands of items
of information about the protests and occupations around the country. "Everyone
is a potential collaborator in a massive act of crowd sourcing," says Sam, one
of the UCL programmers.
Stage five: The cultural fall-out
THEN
Protest songs have long been a part of politics.
Slaves sang of freedom in the American cotton fields.
Bob Dylan took to the recording studio to capture a decade's mood with The
Times are a Changin'.
The Specials (above) told the UK what they thought of Margaret Thatcher with
Ghost Town - and Phil Collins raged against homelessness with Another Day in
Paradise.
Back in the day, it took weeks to turn a song into a hit, because of studio
time, mastering, production and distribution. And with a whole list of people
taking a cut of the profits along the way, it was never a good means to try to
bring down capitalism.
What's more, it took months if not years for the song to be recognised as the
one that really defined the times.
NOW
"Captain Ska" is after Bob Dylan's crown with his anti-cuts tune, "Liar Liar."
He got angry about the state of the nation, recorded his song and then he
uploaded it to YouTube. And then it took off.
"I've been overwhelmed by the response on the net," he told the BBC. "It's been
played at protests and when comedian Mark Thomas tweeted it, the numbers shot
up. That all led to people saying I should release it for Christmas so it goes
on sale on 12 December.
"I don't need to release a physical CD. I just place it with the digital
sellers."
Is he releasing this way to boost his profits as a snub to the corporate suits?
"No it's all going to charity. I reckon I need to sell half a million to beat
Simon Cowell and the X-Factor - you never know, anything might happen."
9th december 2010 - 16:03
This is reminiscent of various sci fi novels. The creation of a hive
consciousness or, instant democracy, whereby information and votes can be
viewed and actioned quickly. The hope is that this would form the future of
government and political power. The reality at the moment seems to be that
peoople use technology constructively. The reality, at the moment, is quite
destructive/irresponsible.
9th december 2010 - 14:05
As an e-learning specialist, I find this a fascinating use of new media... and
as someone interested in the political process I find it sad that even with all
the shiny new toys, elected politicians still take no notice of what they are
being told by the very people who pay them to act as their representatives!
9th december 2010 - 12:44
Single acts of anarchy being carried out instinctively by disparate groups with
no single controlling centre, reducing infiltration / detection by security
services, if you like guerrilla style tactics. Potentially more damaging than
any organised TU / Peace demos could ever achieve.....the latter gets 2 minutes
coverage with disputes over real numbers of demonstrators.....