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A Social Media Revolution For Radical Democracy
New Media has played a big role in defining political life in contemporary South Africa as well as in the world in general. Social media has particularly changed the way that democracy is structured, fighting against neoliberalism and advocating for radical democracy. We will be looking at the case study of FeesMustFall which was a movement which ignited a series of protests that have been taking place in South Africa since 2015 by university students who are advocating for the free education that they state was promised to them by the government. These protests unfolded on social media, mainly Twitter but Facebook as well. Using this case study as a lense, I therefore argue that hashtag FeesMustFall was a form of radical democracy which was made possible by the existence of social media. This will show us how new media has an impact on political life in the way that it challenges the existing power structures and gives the marginalized in society a sense of freedom and equality- a voice they have never had before.
Shortly after Apartheid, the South African National Congress (ANC) came into power in 1994. They took a socialist standing which was basic-needs oriented, political and economic growth was owned by the community as a whole, (Peet, 2002). According to Peet (2002), the ANC promised that the majority of the wealth will be owned by the black majority who suffered the most during Apartheid. However Neoliberalism has taken over-“the people of South Africa do not have social control over the direction taken by the national economy”, (Peet, 2002: 55). The rich have become richer and the wealth that was supposed to be owned by the black majority is still white owned, (Sibeko, 2017). “Democracy has become a universal signifier of political legitimacy. No major political programme or regime wants to be labelled undemocratic”, (Dahlberg& Siapera, 2007:1). The concept of democracy has become a fantasy in post apartheid South Africa as corruption is rife and those were supposed to benefit from post apartheid democracy are poor and marginalized. Hence political systems are not really living up to actual democracy.
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New media, as we particularly focus on Social media has been a tool towards radical democracy. Firstly we will tackle what radical democracy is then discuss the role that it is playing with regards to social media. “Radical democracy is the return to the origins of the democratic revolution beyond limits that have been placed upon it by the major modern political articulations of democracy, most prominently liberal democracy”, (Dahlberg& Siapera, 2007: 7).  Dahlberg & Siapera (2007), states that those who critique the concept of democracy are demanding a say in decision making on local, national and global issues. They want radical democracy which involves equality and liberty. According to Bosch (2016) South Africa finds itself in a period of growing inequality socially, economically and politically. Because of a facade of democracy, the governments and most governments around the world, is not held accountable for the promises it makes. Instead of a government that is ‘for the people, by the people’ people in power have become self serving. This is where radical democracy comes in, it is “the return to the classical understanding of democracy, which involves the twin imaginaries of equality and liberty for all in the political process of ruling and being ruled”, (Dahlberg & Siapera, 2007:7).
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The digital space has played a large role in allowing people to express their political opinions in a world where corruption is at its peak when we look at governments around the world. The internet has evolved; moving from being a space meant for academics and computer geeks to becoming a platform for politics, for those in government and the general public, (Ward& Vedel, 2006). According to Papacharissi the digital space acts like a virtual sphere alike to Habernas’s public sphere, whereby all people are equal and they can voice their opinions regarding politics. The role of the internet has thus been that of strengthening the voice of the marginalized and oppressed groups that feel cheated by the system and its ‘signifier democracy’ which is not actual democracy. The internet allows the public to contest dominant discourses and power structures, (Dahlberg & Siapera, 2007). Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have given the platform for activism and freedom of speech which is a big part of how  #FeesMustFall spread out across South Africa.
Fees Must Fall is a movement that started at University of the Witwatersrand in 2015. It was led by students at the University who demanded that the fees of higher education institutions is too high and they were questioning the free education that was promised to them by the ANC government at a conference in Polokwane in 2007, The Citizen, (2016); as well as in the Freedom charter and the constitution. It proceeded from being only a hashtag used for the shutdown of a specific university to being a national phenomenon; this #UCTFeesMustFall or UJFeesMustFall, #WitsShutdown to simply  #Fees Must Fall, (Findlay, 2015).  Social media made this possible, for it made it possible for something that started in Braamfontein in Johannesburg to be something taking place in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Limpopo and talked about globally.
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Social media made it possible for the students to organize themselves in terms of what was taking place the next day, where they were meeting and what time, (Peterson et al, 2016). Social media also made it possible for the nation as a whole to get involved; this is parents, lecturers the community to help with food donations, water, and moral support and stuff that the students needed. Instead of news being reported Journalist alone  in newspapers the next day or waiting for the evening news to get updates, social media made it possible for the students to control the narrative of the protests by uploading videos of the protests on social media, (Peterson et al, 2016).  This would cut down on the number of mainstream media publications who would have wanted to show a bias towards the students by defending the state and painting the students in a bad light, only publishing videos that support the other and paints the latter in a bad light. Media coverage also made it possible for the movement to become widespread and gain support overseas such as in New York and London through solidarity protests, (Davids & Wahgid, 2016).
Social media also made it possible for students to voice their frustrations and articulate their demands, (Findlay, 2015). Because of hierarchical power structures students cannot go to the Vice Chancellor directly or the President or Minister of higher education directly, social media creates a space in which one can tweet them or their administration so as to make their voices heard.
According to Davids & Waghid (2016), the protests in South Africa did not start in 2015, they started in 1994 and have been taking place since then but their protest action was ignored and did not make headlines beyond regional newspapers. One can this say it is the coming in of new media and presence of social media platforms that made it possible for an issue that has been present for all these years to become acute now. Davids & Waghid (2016), states that the recent protests have brought together a nation; previous protests in past years were mostly of poorer institutions such as Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Tshwane university of Technology. Recent protests however brought together a nation as one unit to say that enough is enough as the people of South Africa fought for their right to free education. This means that they were tired of having the poor in society continue to be marginalized and the rich get everything and the majority of the rich people in South Africa are the white minority. Hence they would be able to advance their children’s education whilst the poor people’s children would either not be able to go to university because of lack of funds or not be able to finish their degrees. This reinforces the idea of neoliberism that we talked about earlier whereby here we can see that the rich would obviously stay rich or get richer whilst the poor get poorer.
Mouffe as cited in Daniels (2016) states that conflict is part of democracy, not allowing conflict shows an authoritarian type of leadership. This further demonstrates how the South African government is not really a democracy because during the Fees Must Fall protests both the government and the institutions tried to suppress the voices of the students. According to Whittles (2016) student leaders were under constant surveillance by the police and this was meant to cause fear, they were following them home, raiding their rooms and so forth. The police were purposefully targeting student leaders so as to try and cut the root of the movement. “Some form of critical publicity and emphasis on activism, both online and offline, emerges as central to radical democratic theory” (Dahlberg & Siapera 2007). the students stood up for themselves used the media so voice their opinions, used social media as a platform for activism to say enough is enough and they want free education. All this shows how social media was used as a tool for radical democracy.
In conclusion one can therefore see that South Africa like most countries around the world is not a true democracy, it is mostly liberalistic in nature. Radical democracy however is about liberty and equality of the people. When we look at the Fees Must Fall protests we can see the role that was played by social media and giving the marginalized a voice to bring about change. And to a certain extent we can say that it was successful because there was no fee increase for higher education institutions in the year 2016. All this has shown that New media impacts political life.
References
Bosch, T., 2017. Twitter activism and youth in South Africa: The case of# RhodesMustFall. Information, Communication & Society, 20(2), pp.221-232.
Dahlberg, L. and Siapera, E. eds., 2007. Radical democracy and the Internet: Interrogating theory and practice. Springer.
David, N and Wahgid, Y. 2016. #FeesMustFall: History of South African student protests reflects inequality’s grip. Online, Retrieved 28 0ctober 2017: https://mg.co.za/article/2016-10-10-feesmustfall-history-of-south-african-student-protests-reflects-inequalitys-grip
Findlay, K. 2015. The birth of a movement:#FeesMustFall on Twitter. Online, retrieved 28 October 2017: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-10-30-the-birth-of-a-movement-feesmustfall-on-twitter/#.WfSLPGiCzIV
Papacharissi, Z., 2002. The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere. New media & society, 4(1), pp.9-27.
Peet, R., 2002. Ideology, discourse, and the geography of hegemony: From socialist to neoliberal development in postapartheid South Africa. Antipode, 34(1), pp.54-84.
Peterson Ph D, L., Radebe, K. and Mohanty Ph D, S., 2016. Democracy, Education, and Free Speech: The Importance of# FeesMustFall for Transnational Activism. Societies Without Borders, 11(1), p.10.
Sibeko, S. 2017. White people in South Africa still hold the lion’s share of all forms of capital. Online, retrieved 28 October 2017: http://theconversation.com/white-people-in-south-africa-still-hold-the-lions-share-of-all-forms-of-capital-75510
The Citizen, 2016. ANC must provide free education or apologise for deceiving SA. Online, retrieved 28 Ocober 2017: https://citizen.co.za/opinion/opinion-editorials/1307427/anc-must-provide-free-education-or-apologise-for-deceiving-sa/
Ward, S. and Vedel, T., 2006. Introduction: The potential of the Internet revisited. Parliamentary Affairs, 59(2), pp.210-225.
Whittles, G. 2016. Police hunt down student leaders. Online, retrieved 28 October 2017: https://mg.co.za/article/2016-10-14-00-police-hunt-down-student-leaders
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realpaballom · 7 years
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Policeman waits around the corner as students run from rubber bullets . #feesmustfall #witsfeesmustfall #wits #witsshutdown #studentaffairs #FreeEducationSA
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eohres · 8 years
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Earlier today ✊🏾 Medics marched to Main Campus #witsfeesmustfall #witsfeeswillfall #witsshutdown (at Parktown, Gauteng, South Africa)
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naratva · 8 years
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'WITS FEES MUST FALL' SOUNDTRACK
1) INTRO (MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL) - LAURYN HILL [roll call] “Please respond when I call your name” “Kevin Chiles?” “Here” “Jarris Boykins” “Here” “Alicia Simmons?” “Here” “Phillips Guardes?” “Here” “Gabriel Solares?” “I’m here” “Latoya Bradbury?” “Here “Tori Thomas? ” “Here” “Lauryn Hill?“ *silence* “Lauryn Hill??“…
2) KENDRICK LAMAR - BLACKER THE BERRY “Institutionalized manipulation & lies. Reciprocation of freedom only live in your eyes”
3) SANTIGOLD-DISPARATE YOUTH “Another roadblock in our way. But if we go, we go together. Our hands are tied here if we stay. Oh, we said our dreams will carry us And if they don’t fly we will run Now we push right past to find out how to win what they all lost We know now, we want more. A life worth fighting for.”
4) J. COLE & BAS - NEW YORK TIMES “In fact, reparation for niggas in desperation. Fuck money, get my kid a real education. South side make you realize there’s still segregation.”
5) J. COLE - MO MONEY “How mama gonna teach you how to save your money? When she barely on the boat got stay afloat money… Money control niggas, white man control money Laughing like : yeah yeah my nigga, get “your” money’
6) SIMPHIWE DANA-SONINI NANINI “Tyhini kutheni na, ngathi nis’libele. Ilizwe liyafa. Sicel’ ulwazi… Sicule ingoma yabantwana be Afrika entsha”
7) LUCKY DUBE-PRISONER He said to me, “Education is key”. I ask the policeman and say, “How much must I pay for my freedom?” He said, “Son, they won’t build no schools anymore. All they build will be prison. Prison. Prison”
8) BRENDA FASSIE-MEMEZA “Bangitholile abangana xolo Bangikhomba ngezibam’ nemikhonto. Noma nginga memeza ma, akusizi lutho. Yimi nabo, yimi nabo nkosi yami. Memeza ma.”
9) DR. DRE - ANIMALS “And the old folks tell me it’s been going on since back in the day. But that don’t make it okay. And the white folks tell me all the looting and the shooting’s insane But you don’t know our pain. And please don’t come around these parts And tell me that we all a bunch of animals The only time they wanna turn the cameras on is when we’re fuckin’ shit up, come on”
10) ZOLA - KUYOZEKUBENINI “kuyoze kubenini umntu omnyama elokho ethi kuzolunga?”
11) MICHAEL JACKSON - CARE ABOUT US “All I wanna say is that They don’t really care about us Tell me what has become of my rights Am I invisible because you ignore me? Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now I’m tired of being the victim of shame. They’re throwing me in a class with a bad name. I can’t believe this is the land from which I came”
12) NAS & DAMIAN MARLEY - AFRICA MUST WAKE UP “Africa must wake up, the sleeping sons of Jacob For what tomorrow may bring, may a better day come Yesterday we were kings, can you tell me young ones Who are we today?”
13) HHP - HARAMBE “ From here we only say harambe! Dirisanang tshidisanang nigga… Yo. I shoot faster than Trinity. I stand taller than Liberty. Even the hard bulk, as it is, is afraid of me I’m an enemy, go through any means to get rid of me”
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realpaballom · 7 years
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Student offers flower to the police in the midst of rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas bombs . Powerful way that this student chose to get his point across. #feesmustfall #wits #witsfeesmustfall #witsshutdown #southafrica #studentaffairs #FreeEducationSA
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eohres · 8 years
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Then there are some among us who are bored by the fight for access to education. It's okay Sisi, you're welcome to block our tweets. We will continue reporting live from Senate House, Wits University ✊🏾 #WitsFeesMustFall #WitsFeesWILLFall #WitsShutDown (at Senate House, Wits University)
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eohres · 8 years
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We are WITHIN! ✊🏾 #WitsFeesMustFall #WitsFeesWILLFall #WitsShutDown (at Senate House, Wits University)
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eohres · 8 years
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5th year medical student, Brendon Matthews, lets Main Campus know why Medical School students marched to Braam from Parktown - "Our Dean doesn't have the answers, we've come to get them here!" #WitsFeesMustFall #WitsFeesWILLFall #WitsShutDown (at Senate House, Wits University)
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eohres · 8 years
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Medical school students marched from Parktown to Main Campus - our voice WILL BE HEARD! ✊🏾 #WitsShutDown #WitsFeesWILLFall (at Empire Road, Parktown.)
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eohres · 8 years
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MEDICAL SCHOOL JOINS #WitsFeesMustFall #WitsShutDown #WitsFeesWILLFall (at Wits Medical School)
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eohres · 8 years
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MEDICAL SCHOOL JOINS #WitsFeesMustFall #WitsShutDown #WitsFeesWILLFall (at Wits Medical School)
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eohres · 8 years
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MEDICAL SCHOOL JOINS #WitsFeesMustFall #WitsShutDown #WitsFeesWILLFall (at Wits Medical School)
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eohres · 8 years
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MEDICAL SCHOOL JOINS #WitsFeesMustFall #WitsShutDown #WitsFeesWILLFall (at Wits Medical School)
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eohres · 8 years
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EOH Leadership is here and ready ✊🏾 #WitsShutDown #WitsFeesMustFall #WitsFeesWILLFall (at Wits Medical School)
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