Mobile activism during the 2007 Kenyan elections
Posted by Tanja Estella Bosch | 23 Apr, 2008Introduction
ICTs have been a valuable tool in the activities of the global social movement of citizen activists. Cellphones in particular (Tilly, 2003) have been used to create ‘flash mobs’ engaging in protest action, and Wasserman (2005) reflects briefly on the potential for text messaging to be used as a form of alternative media by organisations working at grassroots level, to build networks of resistance.
Mobile activism refers to the use of cell phone technology by non-profits in particular, to organize, mobilize, motivate and inspire, as part of broader multimedia strategies. Manuel Castell describes how mobile phones have changed the landscape of organizing because they have created a new public space for communication that "effectively bypasses the mass media as a source of information." This "new public space" -- the mobile phone -- has created not only a forum for information, but is a unique tool in the mass organization of protests movements and other forms of demonstration. Mobile phones have also enabled protesters and others to tell their story in video and pictures even when other media is curtailed.
One of the first reported widespread uses of mobiles in a mass demonstration took place during the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle in 1999 where organizers and demonstrators used mobile phones to coordinate and mobilize activists, allowing them to change tactics or move people at quicker speeds than in previous protests. In the most recent US elections cellphones were used as a new channel to reach supporters with timely, topical messages, particularly as a supplement to more traditional email campaigns. In particular, under-age youth were targeted with Obama wallpaper and ringtones in an attempt to reach their parents (http://yrmama4obama.com/). Rheingold (2002) writes about how SMS messages were used in Manila in 2001 to start, coordinate and mobilize demonstrators which led to the fall of Joseph Estrada, the first time a government fell victim to a smart mob powered by mobile phone technologies. Some even joked that the peaceful revolution was a "coup de text," referring to the instrumental role that SMS played in the ousting of Estrada.
Similarly in Africa, the use of cellphones in elections is widespread. In Senegal’s 2000 presidential election, citizens armed with radios and cellphones helped to prevent incumbant president Abdou Diof from rigging the elections. During the balloting radio stations sent reporters with cellphones to voting stations to instantly report results as ballots were counted, making it difficult for authorities to change the results. (Mbarika). Similarly, a vote in Sierra Leone last August briefly threatened to disintegrate amid rumours of violence—also spread through text messages—but quickly returned to order when some 500 observers at the various polling stations sent text messages to the central system saying that the rumours were false (The Economist, 2008).
On another level, cellphones have proven useful for isolated communities to participate in the global economy. Farmers have used them to track prices and to cut out middle-men, and in the Ivory Coast, farmers were able to track commodity prices for coffee and cocoa through their cellphones.
Mobile activism in Kenya
In the 2007 Kenyan election, SMS messages were used widely to distribute information to Kenyans from outside the country, and to spread news and information among Kenyans. Before election day, SMS messages were circulated because other modes of communication were monitored by government. In the days after the election, the Kenyan government banned all live radio and television broadcasts and warned Kenyans about circulating news via SMS. “The ministry of Internal Security urges you to desist from sending or forwarding any SMS that may cause public unrest. This may lead to your prosecution," read an SMS received via Safaricom. But news was circulating mainly by means of SMS messages. Friends and family members abroad would monitor news in their countries and SMS this information to Kenyans who had no access to news.
The news blackout meant that there was no way for citizens to know what was happening in other parts of the country or whether it was safe to travel, and informational SMS messages provided such details. Some messages were sent to thousands of anonymous numbers via an application created for this purpose; but a large number of messages comprised a complex network of ‘forwards’, sent from individuals to others in their address books. The most common messages contained information about the registration numbers of vehicles ferrying fraudulent ballots or individuals sent to incite violence; after the election others allowed the safe passage of travellers by sending out alerts about road blocks and stoning incidents; and other SMS messages contained ethnic hate speech designed to incite violence, highlighting the potential negative uses of text messaging.
Conclusions
Cellphones can be powerful tools for democratic participation and the growth of civil society (Stein, 2005). But there are also potential limitations in the form of censorship by carriers/ service providers. In the United States in 2007, Verizon Wireless refused Naral Pro-Choice America, a women's rights group, from sending messages to people who had opted into a text-message campaign, though they quickly reversed their decision after extensive media coverage and public organizing (MobileActive.org, 2008).
The Kenyan case demonstrates the rapid spread of information via cellphone, where viral spread can lead to mass media pickup and widespread dissemination. For example, when an alleged improper conversation between Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and an elections official (about rigging) was made public, it became a popular ringtone. There are potential negative effects when the content of messages cannot be monitored or controlled; and the potential for hate speech is always there. Further, cellphone networks can be jammed or shut down, and governments and service providers could compromise anonymity or limit dissemination (as in the Verizon example). But there is the potential to reach youth and others with political information or voter education messages, and the new QR codes could be used in all kinds of ways, from fundraising to presenting information to signing up constituents for a mobile campaign.
*This is a summary of a presentation made during a staff seminar to CFMS staff and students, April 23, 2008. The paper is still under construction.
You can also listen to an interview on this subject with Josh Ogada, Programme Officer, Fahamu South Africa.
