Online repression and transnational social movements: Thailand and the #MilkTeaAlliance

Research on the formation of transnational social movements primarily view these as either exile support of a local movement or mobilization around an international issue. This article presents a different argument for transnational activism drawing on the logic of the repression-dissent nexus when...

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Main Authors: Joakim Kreutz, Anthi Antonia Makrogianni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Political Research Exchange
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2474736X.2023.2299120
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author Joakim Kreutz
Anthi Antonia Makrogianni
author_facet Joakim Kreutz
Anthi Antonia Makrogianni
author_sort Joakim Kreutz
collection DOAJ
description Research on the formation of transnational social movements primarily view these as either exile support of a local movement or mobilization around an international issue. This article presents a different argument for transnational activism drawing on the logic of the repression-dissent nexus when considering the combination of online and offline performances of contemporary social movements. The starting point is that membership in online communities constitutes a social identity for potential protest participants that can be activated and politicized when states’ seek to repress access and content to online interaction. Since online communities are borderless by nature, we suggest that when regimes employ online repression due to local protests then we will see a backlash that will facilitate the formation of a transnational social movement. We illustrate our argument with an empirical discussion about how the anti-government protests in Thailand in 2020 became part of and facilitated a growing transnational social movement of youth discontent with regimes in Southeast and East Asia. The example shows that the impetus for increasing transnational co-operation throughout the process was in response to growing repression by the Thai authorities both of online content and on the street.
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spelling doaj-art-68c1cff632d1464d9ef482c56fd3aa932025-08-20T02:32:29ZengTaylor & Francis GroupPolitical Research Exchange2474-736X2024-12-016110.1080/2474736X.2023.2299120Online repression and transnational social movements: Thailand and the #MilkTeaAllianceJoakim Kreutz0Anthi Antonia Makrogianni1Department of Government, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SwedenDepartment of Government, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SwedenResearch on the formation of transnational social movements primarily view these as either exile support of a local movement or mobilization around an international issue. This article presents a different argument for transnational activism drawing on the logic of the repression-dissent nexus when considering the combination of online and offline performances of contemporary social movements. The starting point is that membership in online communities constitutes a social identity for potential protest participants that can be activated and politicized when states’ seek to repress access and content to online interaction. Since online communities are borderless by nature, we suggest that when regimes employ online repression due to local protests then we will see a backlash that will facilitate the formation of a transnational social movement. We illustrate our argument with an empirical discussion about how the anti-government protests in Thailand in 2020 became part of and facilitated a growing transnational social movement of youth discontent with regimes in Southeast and East Asia. The example shows that the impetus for increasing transnational co-operation throughout the process was in response to growing repression by the Thai authorities both of online content and on the street.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2474736X.2023.2299120MilkTeaAlliancesocial mediatransnational social movementrepressionThailand
spellingShingle Joakim Kreutz
Anthi Antonia Makrogianni
Online repression and transnational social movements: Thailand and the #MilkTeaAlliance
Political Research Exchange
MilkTeaAlliance
social media
transnational social movement
repression
Thailand
title Online repression and transnational social movements: Thailand and the #MilkTeaAlliance
title_full Online repression and transnational social movements: Thailand and the #MilkTeaAlliance
title_fullStr Online repression and transnational social movements: Thailand and the #MilkTeaAlliance
title_full_unstemmed Online repression and transnational social movements: Thailand and the #MilkTeaAlliance
title_short Online repression and transnational social movements: Thailand and the #MilkTeaAlliance
title_sort online repression and transnational social movements thailand and the milkteaalliance
topic MilkTeaAlliance
social media
transnational social movement
repression
Thailand
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2474736X.2023.2299120
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