of Social Media in Protest

Photo: The statue of Edward Colston was pushed into the harbour after being toppled by protesters, BBC News, PA Media, 2020.

BLACK LIVES MATTER: The Power of Social Media in Protest

written by Caroline Rayner

The killing of African-American George Floyd on May 25th in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the U.S by four white police officers sparked a global movement of outrage and protest, under the slogan “Black Lives Matter” (BLM).

Millions of individuals took to the streets to express their deep rage and sadness about this horrific event, as well as against the omnipresent racism in our society. The BLM movement did not leave the United Kingdom exempt, as it raised several heated discussions on the legitimacy of countless statues of figures with direct or indirect ties to slavery. On June 7th, the statue of the seventeenth-century merchant Edward Colston in Bristol was toppled during a BLM protest, before being replaced by a statue of a BLM protester by the contemporary artist Marc Quinn. Meanwhile, in Oxford, students have expressed their fundamental disagreement with particular statues around the university.

Coinciding with the height of the coronavirus pandemic and British lockdown, this event assumed an even more distinct and unique aspect. With many unable to join the protests in person, people displayed their public outrage online. The London protest on June 7th alone saw 22,000 people join online via zoom, Instagram and Facebook Live. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have been powerful weapons in the hands of protestors in recent weeks, leading us to ask: what role did social media have in the toppling of the statues in the United Kingdom? Could social media continue to inspire protest movements in the future?

There is no doubt that, nowadays, social media accelerates communication and the spreading of news. This is also the case for the Black Lives Matter movement - founded online in 2013. The hashtag “Black Lives Matter” has now been used over 30 million times on social network Twitter alone. In particular, when it came to the toppling of statues, both social media and the internet were extremely vital to the movement. After the Edward Colston statue was toppled and pulled into the Bristol harbour, countless online petitions started circulating, demanding the toppling of other offensive statues across the country. Hashtag #toppletheracists came to life in order to denounce and accelerate the process of removing statues of controversial figures.

Another controversial case that was widely discussed in the media was that of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, located in Oriel College Oxford. A firm believer in British imperialism and white supremacy, his statue was condemned by countless students in what is an increas-

ingly multicultural institution. A petition, under the British politicians, Keir Starmer in particular, have used slogan “Rhodes must fall” was launched on the website their social media to express certain disagreement to“change.org”, gaining more than 100,000 signatures. As wards the toppling of the Bristol statue. a result, the University of Oxford of the Cecil John Rhodes statue. ordered the removal Social media is also frequently criticised for not truly representing the opinion or the will of the majority of Despite the fervour of the movement, the fact that so- the population. However, according to a recent survey cial media normalises toppling statues, by rendering on the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in Brisit a daily sight for us heightens fears for some that it tol, out of the 10,252 individuals questioned, 61 perindirectly imposes specific hegemonic ideas on civil cent thought it was right to take it down. This partially society without us even noticing. These people won- mirrors what we see on social media. der whether social media may escalate future protest and counter-protest movements, subliminally pushing people into two increasingly distinct camps. The coincidence of the Covid-19 pandemic with the BLM protests gave them a remarkably important character. Feelings of resentment towards the government Omar Wasow, professor at Princeton University, can and their handling of the crisis may have fuelled the see the benefits of social media for BLM movement even further, which protest movements, but wonders “if there’s also more that could be “Online platforms can be considered a protest against the lack of transparency and efficiendone on sites like Facebook and Twitter to bring people together rather than sorting them into camps”. Since the concept of social media activism lies in the fact that users can re-post information on their personal page, it does often lead to a mainstream pattern of thought, or what opponents of the movement claim to be ‘mob mentality’ - to a far greater degree than mainstream media. cy of the authorities. Additionally, the timing of the movements coincided with the peak of lockdown in the UK. Those who took to the streets despite the social distancing regulations, were desperate to demonstrate the severity of the issues at hand. For those who remained at home, protests were streamed online and petition links were shared. Social media was their chosen weapon in this fight. are increasingly becoming places for activism and debate.” Furthermore, social media platforms do not lend themselves to addressing more fundamental intellectual questions that could spark a genuine constructive debate. For example, there have been numerous calls and online petitions to topple statues of Winston Churchill or Mahatma Gandhi, due to clear evidence of their anti-black racist past. However, these individuals have also contributed to forming British society and, in Gandhi’s case, Indian independence, which leads to the question: where do we draw the line between good and bad people? Twitter’s 280 character limit leaves little room for informed debates. Another outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic is the fact that we are striving to value human lives more, causing many of us to reexamine our societies and rethink what is important to us. There is no doubt that social media has changed this movement. Equally, this movement has changed social media. Online platforms are increasingly becoming places for activism and debate. Even after Covid-19, it seems that this will continue and that online presence will be extremely positive for future protest movements. Not only would this help give traction to movements by giving them an additional platform by which to raise awareness, but it could also Since anyone can express their opinions on social me- provide a safe space to protest and debate, for examdia, there has also been a wave of opposition to the ple for those more so in countries where taking place statue-toppling movement. These views have gone in demonstrations and protests may be extremely danagainst the mainstream current of thought. Entire gerous. After being ingrained in our screens for weeks Facebook groups have expressed strong antagonism on end, we are hopeful that social media will provide towards the eradication of certain statues, under the longevity to the BLM movement and future movename of “reinstate Edward Colston”. Moreover, certain ments alike.