Identity Negotiation in Activist Participation

Most activism in connected societies has an online component. Social media accompany corporeal demonstrations, occupations, and protest marches. It is argued that such social media platforms play an increasingly important role when mobilizing across different political positions, coordinating and producing visibility for a political demand. In this article we will revisit 3 activist demands, all saturated by social media practices: (a) inhabitants in southern Stockholm fighting to save a local bathhouse, (b) the 2009 Austrian student protests, and (c) marches in Leipzig and Dresden to block Neo-Nazi marches. The aim is to analyze activist identity negotiations in these social media saturated cases, and contribute to the understanding of activist participation in our digital and connected age.

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