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Václav Štětka , Jaroslav Švelch

The coup that flopped: the role of Facebook in a grassroots political action in the Czech Republic. Václav Štětka , Jaroslav Švelch Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Charles University in Prague.

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Václav Štětka , Jaroslav Švelch

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  1. The coup that flopped: the role of Facebook in a grassroots political action in the Czech Republic VáclavŠtětka, Jaroslav Švelch Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Charles University in Prague Presentation at the conference Social Media and the Transformation of Public Space, Amsterdam, 18.-20.6.2014

  2. ICTs and changinglandscapeofpoliticalactivism • Emergence ofnewformsofactivism – “e-protest”; “e-activism“ ; “cyberactivism” • Social network sites (SNS) playing an even increasing role in political mobilization, forparties, candidates as well as socialmovements • vital instruments for both consensusmobilizationas well asactionmobilization(Klandermans 1984) • “Digitallynetworkedconnective action” (Bennett & Segerberg2013) • New organizational logic of protest movements, replacing the “collective action”; digital media as organizingagents

  3. Arab Spring (2010- ) • Occupy Wall Street (2011) • Los indignados / M15 Movement (2011) • …

  4. Anti-government protests in Turkey (2013) … • … or Bulgaria (2013)

  5. ICTs as framing devices • ICTs can be used to provide and disseminate frames for interpretation of political events and of the movement itself (Park 2002) • In some protest movements, the framing primarilysupposes emotional reaction rather than rational political action • Emotion, affect and humor play an important and underratedrole in socialmovements and protests

  6. Emotionsofprotest • “Socialmovements are affected by transitory, context-specific emotions, usually reactions to information and events, as well as by more stable affective bonds and loyalties” (Jasper1998: 397). • Among such emotions, he lists hatred, loyalty, anger, indignation, outrageand shame.

  7. Humor as protest • Satireand irony as modes of political communication (Milner 2013, Jungherr 2012, Shifman 2007). • Movements such as Occupy or Protestivaloften voice their outrage about politics using humorous photoshoppedimages • Playful messages were taken to the streets

  8. Rallying for Sobotka: Case study of an anti-coup protest • Aim: toexplore the course of online mobilization and civic engagement in relation to the “coup” within the Czech Social Democratic Party in 2013 Research questions: • Whatwasthescope and dynamicsof the online protest? • What was the relationship between online and offline forms of the protest? • What kind of themes were present in the communication on the Facebook profile of the protest initiative? Sample: • Census of allcommunication (posts, comments, replies) publishedon the Facebook page “I want BohuslavSobotka, not Michal Hašek“ between 27.10.-8.11.2014 (938 posts, 2518 comments/replies) • Census of newsarticles/items reporting aboutthe“coup” in the Czech news media in the same period (N=2703)

  9. Bohuslav Sobotka, Chairmanofthe Czech SocialDemocratic Party (ČSSD) since 2011 ; Leader ofthe Party candidate list forthe 2013 ParliamentaryElections& Party Nomineefor Prime Minister Michal Hašek, Vice-Chairofthe Czech SocialDemocratic Party (ČSSD) since 2011 Miloš Zeman, President ofthe Czech Republic since 2013

  10. Timeline of the “coup” Party Presidium meeting, Sobotka asked to step down as Chairman Election results: SocDem party winswith 20.5% votes Hašek confesses to the meeting withthe President Live TV Interview, Hašek denies he had a meeting withthe President Hašek and twoother“coup members” resign from party posts Secret meeting ofHašek & comp. withPresident Zeman The Initiative “I want BohuslavSobotka, not Michal Hašek“founded on Facebook Another“coupmember”confesses to the meeting 30.10. 26.10. 26.10. (evening) 27.10. 27.10. (evening) 30.10. 29.10. 8.11.

  11. “I want BohuslavSobotka, not Michal Hašek“cca 7,500 page likes1332 individualcontributors

  12. Riseofpagelikesofthe FB page

  13. Demonstration at the Prague Castle, 27.10.2013 Demonstration in Brno, 30.10.2013 “Traitors out!”

  14. “For Sobotka and democracy!”

  15. Source: Factum, N= 1272, 2.-6.11.2013

  16. Dynamics of Facebook engagement

  17. News media agenda 26.10.-8.11. (articles/items reporting on the “coup”)

  18. FB engagementvsnews agenda

  19. Content • A preliminaryqualitative probe shows 5 basic contentcategories: • 1. mobilization messages • 2. news about the progress of the initiative • 3. statements of support • 4. expressive evaluations of the actors and events • 5. humorous messages

  20. The moral dimension of the protest #1 #2 “Michal Hašek, you are not only a traitor, but also a LIAR in front ofthewholenation. Wedemandthatyou step downfromallofyour party posts and suspendyourmembership in the party.”

  21. The moral dimension of the protest • Similarly to the Slovenian anti-corruption movement, the contestedevent are framed as a moral failure rather than a political act • Very emotional and loadedvocabulary • This resonateswiththecommentsofFacebookuserswhodescribethecoup as “filth” and “dirt” and call those responsible “moral pigs” and “swines”

  22. Coup perpetrators as “pigs” and “swines”

  23. “I didn’t vote for Sobotka, but…” • Probably due to the moral framing of the coup narrative, the protest attracted wide non-partisan support • 86 comments (3,5%) explicitly state that they did not vote for Social democrats • The most “liked” user comment: “I didn’t vote for Social Democrats, but I’ll happily support Sobotka against the filth thatisgoing on…”

  24. Emotion of protest – outrage • Much of the discourse on the pages is emotionally intense • People “want to puke” as a reaction to what they call a “swindle” or “betrayal” • “I don’t like Social Democrats, but swindles like this get the rise out of me.” • “Not to support Sobotka is the murder of all decent Social Democrat voters.” (2nd most “liked” user comment)

  25. Emotion of protest – shame and indignation • “Come to support politics that you don’t have to be ashamed of!” (mobilization message) • “I have rarely felt more ashamed for my city than after reading this headline” (30th most liked comment) • “BohuslavSobotka should lead this government. As a voter, I feel cheated (…)”

  26. Emotion of protest – sympathy and loyalty • Contextualized support for Sobotka, who had been framed as a “good guy”: “Even though I’m not a voter of Social Democrats, I definitely root for B. Sobotka.” • This loyalty may relate to prior animosities against the politicans behind the coup, especially Hašek and Zeman

  27. Humor as protest • An alternative affective expression of protest • Photoshops are featured prominently among posts by users, mostly ridiculing the “liars” “Is there anyone here, who is sure he wasn’t at Miloš’s on Saturday?” (the most “liked” user comment)

  28. Conclusions (I): reinforcing effect of online & offline branches of the protest Internal partypolitics

  29. Conclusions (II) • the Facebookpageoffered a spaceforpeople to instantly express emotions, anger, outrage and frustration at events as they unfolded • Protest succeeded (also) becauseofbeingperceived as primarily non-partisan – it helped streamline moral outragebeyond party affiliation

  30. Thank you! stetka@fsv.cuni.cz svelch@fsv.cuni.cz http://www.polcore.cz

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