[Air-L] New article on Wikileaks, Anonymous, and global activism

[Wendy Wong]

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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