HKP Lecture 9 - Social Media and Democratisation PDF

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Social Media and DemocratisationEXAM HINTS Essay-type questions, CROSS-TOPIC Choose 2 out of 4 questions Areas of questions - The nature of the HKSAR regime o Lecture 1: soft authoritarainaism, comparative authoritarianism, classification of HK regime type - Colonialism and colonial legacy o Lecture...

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HKP Lecture 9 Social Media and Democratisation EXAM HINTS Essay-type questions, CROSS-TOPIC Choose 2 out of 4 questions Areas of questions - The nature of the HKSAR regime o Lecture 1: soft authoritarainaism, comparative authoritarianism, classification of HK regime type - Colonialism and colonial legacy o Lecture 2: pre and post 97 governing ideology and institution - Democratisation (parties, social media) - Hong kong-China relations Democratization revisited  Democratization: the process of transition from authoritarianism to liberal democracies  Waves of democratization (Samuel Huntington, 1991)  Democratic transition: Construction of new liberal democratic structures and processes o Election system is undermined by corruption and intimidation of voters  Democratic consolidation: maturity of democratic system  Two turnover test (Samuel Huntington, 1991); when each of the major political camps has given the political power through elections o Power rotation from incumbence to successors o Successor giving power back to incumbence through elections  Democracy becomes the only game in town (Adam Przeworski, 1991)  Less agreements among the political scientists on how democratization occurs The experience of democratization after 1997 revisited (Dennis Hui, 2014)  1997-2003: Political reform in disarray (regression of democracy) o Abolition of Municipal Councils o Appointment system in DC o Article 23 issue – national security bill  2003-2004: The political negotiation with democratization  2005- 2010: Repeated negotiation with little headway  2010-2013: The resurgence of contentious politics after transitional fatigue o De facto referendum o Internal split of pan-democrat camp o Direct confrontation between Pro-China & Pan-democrats camp: banner war Media and political progress  Printing and Gutenberg Bible  Martin Luther and the Ninety-five theses

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Enabled the renaissance, the protestant reformation and the scientific revolution

Media and fanatical mobilization  Walter Benjamin (1936): “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”  Fascist exploitation of image technology  Corporations and states succeed in molding the mainstream use of new technology o Technology monopolized by State for the purpose of war instead of the well-being of the society  How the form of media may affect our sensory system and the habit of seeing things o State building: unity, solidarity, coherence o Construction of mass identity – capturing the image of march from a birdeye view  “The media is the message” (Marshall MacLuhan, 1964)  affects our way to seeing things o Movies are meant to distract viewers (visual effects, sound effects), cannot decode all the information & langugage o Reading a book – a process for contemplation Liberation technology  Larry Diamond (ed.): Liberation Technology: Social Media and the Struggle for Democracy  “Liberation technology is any form of information and communication technology (ICT) that can expand political, social and economic freedom. In the contemporary era, it means essentially the modern, interrelated forms of digital ICTs—the computer, the Internet, the mobile phone, and countless innovative applications for them, including ‘new social media’ such as Facebook and Twitter.” Internet penetration rate in HK: 5.7 million people in 2014 (73%), 62% mobile phones users access to internet on daily basis THE NATURE OF NEW SOCIAL MEDIA  Instant  Interactive and multi-way  Radically decentralized (bottom up)  Mobile and global  Dynamic and multi-media oriented  Self-selected groupings  Phenomenal growth  Tech-savvy generation

HKP Lecture 9 Social Media and Democratisation “Do the Internet, social media, mobile phones, and their exploding array of applications empower citizens to mobilize for freedom and accountability, or do these technologies empower autocracies to better monitor and effectively neutralize pro-democracy movements and dissidents?” Arguments for (1): new forms of resistance  “The government’s pervasive and intrusive censorship has stirred resentment among Chinese netizens, sparking new forms of social resistance and demands for greater freedom of information and expression, often conveyed via coded language and metaphors adopted to avoid the most obvious forms of censorship.” (Xiao Qiang, 2014)  e.g. spreading of internet memes – guerilla activism: Grass-mud-horse, River Crab Case: The Yes Men  Tactical media: counter-culture; temporary, hit-and-run interventions in the media sphere (2 anti-globalisation activist)  Creation of fake websites spoofing the World Trade Organization: the fake site began to receive authentic emails from confused site visitors, including invitations to address various elite groups on behalf of the WTO, to which they responded as if they were the actual WTO  Pranks during the George W. Bush campaign Satire, jokes, songs, poems in the Internet of HK: D7689, gauwu Will Internet activisim be transfromed into real-life particiaption? Network authoritariansim  people are allowed to have certain kinds of expression on the internet, but in reality the government may not in fact conduct poltiical reform, people may have an illusion that they have freedom to express themselves online Arguments for (2): swift revolution  Online movements can now operate successfully without the hierarchical, centralized command structures of the past, and leaders can even act with more freedom within the movement  Orange revolution in Ukraine (2004): o 2004 Presidential election: public was critical because of vast corruption and voter intimidation o Vote-rigging, voter intimidation and assassination attempt o Ukrainskaya Pravda (internet newspaper) o Internet media not subject to self-censorship or overt control by President Kuchma o Two–step flow theory (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 2005): the elites and opinion leaders(1st) will transmit and circulate opinions through the internet and then transform the info to a larger group of population(2nd)

HKP Lecture 9 Social Media and Democratisation Arguments for (3): citizen opposition journalism  Citizen journalism is also referred to as participatory journalism, grassroots journalism, user-driven journalism, user-generated content, or its variant participatory publishing (Joseph Daniel Lasica, 2003)  The Internet allowed for the creation of a space for dissenting opinions of “citizen journalists” in an otherwise self-censored media environment  Especially in contexts with controls in mainstream media, e.g. Malaysia  Pluralistic and autonomous news which monitors governance and exposes abuses  Relatively low cost of starting an internet media, comparing with traditional media Citizen opposition journalism in HK  Inmedia: started to call for citizen reporter since 2005 (WTO ministerial gathering and anti-WTO gathering); alternative perspective in reporting the protest (trying to interview the protestors)  Internet based video and video-streaming services o Instant-reporting: Soc-rec, Passion Times  Encounters with social movements have always been intrinsically tied to the visual sense: internet media elevates the impact of mass movements by extending our vision o Image technology create certain sense of witness  Widely used in social movements such as Umbrella Movement (2014), Anti-moral and national education campaign (2012)  Complementary to rather that a replacement of the mainstream media? o Older generation have more confidence in mainstream media o Foreign media pay more attention in mainstream media because of credibility issue Arguments against (1): “self-selected” groupings  Self-selected groupings and the problem of “group think”, e.g. “unfriend”  may exaggerate social division o Speak Out Hong Kong: created by CY Leung supporter o “Unfriend” people having different opinions  Digital divide: Generational difference in media usage (Wong and Chan, 2015)

Age group from 18-29 mainly receive information from the Internet, information gap Relationship between information source and political stance

HKP Lecture 9 Social Media and Democratisation

Arguments against (2): cyber control  Legal measures o Introduction of slander, libel, copyright infringement to restrict communications and online activities o Online Article 23  Informal requests o The govt from time to time exert pressure to internet service providers to filter and delete sensitive posts  Outsourcing o Censor certain information for the international companies to operate in certain political jurisdiction  Just-in-time blocking o After political unrest or election, certain phrases will be blocked by the government  Patriotic hacking o 50 cents: post comments that are favourable to the government  Targeted surveillance and social malware attacks o DDOS: making use of third party computers to attack the target server o Mock Voting System of “6.22 Civil Referendum” under severe attack (2014) o “Record shows that the domain name system (DNS) of AWS received over 10 billion system queries in 20 hours, while CloudFlare and UDomain recorded DDoS attacks in scales of 75Gb per second and 10Gb per second respectively. Practically all attacks to the latter came from local Internet service providers. Because of the astounding magnitude of the attacks, lasting

HKP Lecture 9 Social Media and Democratisation 20-odd hours continuously, the three service providers in an unusual move suspended the services, so the mock voting system could not run smoothly in the past two days.” (HKUPOP, 2014) Arguments against (3): networked authoritarianism (Rebecca MacKinnon, 2010)  “In the networked authoritarian state, the single ruling party remains in control while a wide range of conversations about the country’s problems nonetheless occurs on websites and social-networking services…. As a result, the average person with Internet or mobile access has a much greater sense of freedom— and may feel that he has the ability to speak and be heard—in ways that were not possible under classic authoritarianism. At the same time, in the networked authoritarian state there is no guarantee of individual rights and freedoms.” o Impression that you are free to talk about whatever you want o Would be less afraid of the government compared with classic authoritarian regime o The single-ruling party still remain control o E.g. Ai weiwei: if you cross certain line, the state would arrest you o People cannot turn internet activism into real-life activism  As residents of a networked authoritarian society, China’s more than four-hundred million Internet users are managing to have more fun, feel more free, and be less fearful of their government than was the case even a mere decade ago  At the same time, however, the government has continued to monitor its people and to censor and manipulate online conversations to such a degree that no one has been able to organize a viable opposition movement 

Three generations of cyber control (Ronald Deibert & Rafal Rohozinski, 2010) o Different methods imposed by the state than the first- (random internet filtering) o Strong governments in weak or new democracies are using second- and thirdgeneration Internet controls (holistic control over information flow) o May even arrest internet activist by the authoritarian regimes  Result: Weak democracy  Weak guarantees for freedom of speech and other human-rights protections, and non-transparent regulation of industry  “The Internet may actually prolong the CCP’s rule, bolstering its domestic power and legitimacy while the regime enacts no meaningful political or legal reforms.” o Because people already have a sense of freedom Internet may actually substantiate the rule of CCP in China Case: Ai Weiwei  Ai Weiwei’s father was the Chinese poet Ai Qing, who was denounced during the Anti-Rightist Movement  Highly criticized the government’s stance on human rights and democracy

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Ai Weiwei’s art work is highly political Ai Weiwei led a team to survey and film the post-quake conditions in various disaster zones ten days after the Sichuan earthquake; trying to collect names of students who died because of the “tofu” collapsed buildings  considered by CCP as state secret (Attempt to turn internet activism to real-life activism)

Case: Under the Dome  A documentary investigating pollution and air quality in China by journalist Chai Jing  The film drew hundreds of millions of viewers after it was posted online, and there were government officials amongst its admirers  Alarmed by the massive popularity of the film, the government has stepped in to muffle it, with the film removed from video sites like Youku and Tencent  Networked Authoritarianism: State power operates in unspoken limits We never know when the state would intervene (extent of freedom) Networked authoritarianism: lesson for HK, regime response– shut down cell networks  Though Hong Kong has a comparatively free press and social media is not censored, there have been fears during the Umbrella Movement that the government would shut down cell networks, giving rise to massive numbers downloading offline app Firechat, which allows communication through a device’s wireless and Bluetooth systems Networked authoritarianism: lesson for HK, regime response– Internet article 23  “Internet Article 23” is actually more than one bill  Copyright Amendment bill: punish citizens for remixing original content with social or political commentary as parody or satire  Computer Crimes Ordinance: to battle computer fraud and hacking, it has been drafted in such a way that it has serious potential for abuse  The most recent case involves the arrest of a citizen for “inciting” others to commit an offence because of the occupy movement Regime response- Lively confrontations  Symbolic and visual resistance by the regime at various levels, e.g. banner wars against Falungong  Confrontation of pro-government and pro-democracy forces confronted each other face-to-face  Public consultation session on “Occupy Central” (2013) – several members of Caring Hong Kong Power climbed on tables and attempted to shout down various speakers  More direct and radical confrontation after 2013 Regime response- APIS for the government’s agenda

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Government’s television Announcements in the Public Interest (APIs) Uneven distribution of power between the government and the civil society in the mainstream media? The Government requires radio and television broadcasters to broadcast “Announcements in the Public Interest” (“APIs”) for free. Typical APIs include messages such as those involving public health, road safety, building safety or weather information like a typhoon or rainstorm o From neutral information to broadcast explicit political advertisement The broadcasting of political advertisements is unlawful in Hong Kong But in recent years, the Government has required radio and television broadcasters to air the following advertisements without payment as if they were APIs: Constitutional reform (2012, “Act Now”) Old Age Living Allowance (2012) North-East New Territories Development Plan (2013) Constitutional reform in 2017 (2015) o “有票，真係唔要” (Your Vote, Don’t Cast it Away!) from 7 August 2014; o “有票，梗係要” (Your Vote, Gotta Have It!) from 2 September 2014; and o “2017 機不可失” (2017, Seize the Opportunity) from 10 January 2015 All political advertisment are not legal in Hong Kong

Social Movement and the Prospect of Democratisation in HK  To increase the costs to economic elites of maintaining the status quo (Wood, 2000, 2003)  Transforming social relations and prepare for democracy (Sidney Tarrow and Charles Tilly, 2007) o Increasing the numbers and connections among potential political participants o Equalization of resources and connections among potential political participants o Integration of interpersonal solidarities into public politics o Organizing coalitions across different lines of social division Decisions made by the NATIONAL PEOPLE’S CONGRESS (31/8/2014)  The CE shall be a person who “ loves the country and loves Hong Kong ” and requires that “the method for selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage must provide corresponding institutional safeguards for this purpose.”  A nominating committee, similar to the present Election Committee system  Nominate two to three candidates  Each of whom must receive the support of more than half of the members of the nominating committee.  After popular election of one of the nominated candidates, the new Chief Executive will have to be appointed by the CPG

HKP Lecture 9 Social Media and Democratisation

Occupy Central: Why Central?  Proposed by Benny Tai Yiu-ting: A long-standing threat to stage mass sit-ins in HK’s central business district to demand real democracy  To be conducted in a form of civil disobedience (Tai particularly referred to John Rawls’ conception)  Is Occupy Central connected to its symbolic progenitor (i.e., Occupy Wall Street) in certain ways?  Central = Central values = Capitalism? o Efficiency, instrumentalism, economic development  Is “occupation” equivalent to “civil disobedience”? Philosophical foundation of occupy central: John Rawls (1971)  Civil disobedience is a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies o People’s attention would be distracted if violence is used o Conscientious breach of law not for selfish gain, but for bringing about changes o Last resort (should go to all other available alternatives like judicial review or other protests)  On this account, people who engage in civil disobedience are willing to accept the legal consequences of their actions, as this shows their fidelity to the rule of law  Social injustice: social equality is not respected (e.g. gender, political…), please refer to the conception of distributive justice by John Rawls  Last resort: Exhausted regular legal procedures, such as legal protest  Non-violence: Rawls believed that violent act would shift the attention of the public  Then, what is the meaning of non-violent? Difficult to define o Harming one self constitute violence? o Violence to property? o Minor violence? Physical confrontation with police for self-defence? o Non-violent actions can cause more harm to the society, e.g. ambulance workers going on strike

The prospect of civil disobedience in empirical sense (Chenoweth & Stephan, 2011)  (1) Non-violence  Non-violence resistance has a participation advantage over violent insurgencies for the following reasons: o Lower commitment barriers and higher levels of participation

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Individuals do not have to sacrifice so much (do not need to counteract with the police radically)  Attract more people to participate o International legitimacy o It would encourage loyalty shift among regime supporters, and provide resistance leaders with a more diverse menu of tactical and strategic choice o More durable and internally peaceful democracy  Caused internal split and hatred to a lesser extent o Opens more opportunity for bargaining and negotiation Major argument of the book: to compare the violent and nonviolent campaigns Limitations of making comparison: o Few campaigns have been purely non-violent, absence of clear distinction of purely violent and non-violent o Asymmetric warfare in security studies o Difficulties in data collection Empirical data: o One in four nonviolent campaigns since 1900 was a complete failure o Non-violent campaigns depends on powerful, diverse and broad-based membership o Violent campaigns rely more on external support, but foreign assistance can be a double-edged sword Some of the variables tested: o Authoritarian opponents? o Campaign goals (maximalist goals)? o Difficult time and places? (2) Loyalty shift ...