Human rights and the media/protest assemblage

Protest and activism embody a critical communicative dimension. From alternative broadcast and print media to community radio and television, from internet activism to the contemporary protesting on social media, the history and trajectory of social movements worldwide is deeply intertwined with communication and technology. With the transition to the digital, rights like freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of association have taken on a new meaning.

This chapter will adopt the human rights perspective to explore protest activism as it meets communicative action and media technology. The aim of this chapter is twofold. On the one hand, it takes the use of media and technology for protest and activism as a human right, pertaining in particular to the sphere of freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right to know. On the other hand, it looks at how social movements put media and technology at the service of human rights and related struggles. Here the use of media for protest and activism is articulated in relation to the manifold ways in which technology shapes the way human rights discourse is presented in the public sphere, focusing in particular the human right struggle is articulated across a variety of platforms.

The chapter straddles the disciplines of media studies and political sociology, and builds on our extensive research on community media, internet activism, cloud protesting (or the use of social media for political mobilization), and communication and digital rights. It is illustrated with examples from the author's experience in the field in a variety of countries in Latin America, Africa and Europe.