Online environmental activism in Turkey: The case study of “The Right to Water”

ABSTRACT

This article intends to contribute to research of environmental media activism in two ways: First, by discussing ways to frame research on this topic conceptually and historically. Second, by considering the specific strategies and experiences of environmental activist groups concerning activist medias and participatory actions. We will discuss what can be done when using Internet platforms. “The Right to Water” website has been selected as a case study, which is essentially a democratic platform against capitalist ecology policies. In this study, we examined Internet usage by environmentalist activist groups, by collecting and analyzing data on the usage and results of web-based activism, and discuss the impact of online activism within civil society.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental movements
• online activism
• internet
• public sphere
• “The Right to Water”

1. Introduction

Since the Seattle anti-globalization protests in 1999, the adoption of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) by social movement activists has offered the prospect of a serious challenge to traditional forms of political participation. As noted by Dahlgren (2004), there are many kinds of social movements, special interest organizations, activist groups, single-issue coalitions, and civic networks. These developments create many participation opportunities beyond the formal political arena. This type of political activity tends to be more ad hoc, less dependent on traditional groups and elites mobilizing a standing cadres of supporters. Some activists, who are even in the process of redefining just what constitutes politics, are guided more by personal values than traditional ideologies; often the focus is on individual issues rather than across the board social changes. The net and other ICTs unquestionably play a key role in this emerging realm of political intervention and manifestation.

The internet is generally hailed as an open platform and a hyper-interactive medium. It can be argued that generally the internet is a relatively open and accesible public sphere where anyone who has access to a computer or smart phone can freely express their views as long as they remain within the law and do not infringe other people's rights. The plurality and diversity of internet sites make the internet potentially the biggest single public sphere ever known. Through the usage of e-mail, e-chats and webcasting to create democratic discussion between members, the internet can also be regarded as a fairly autonomous and independent public sphere (Moyo, 2009). Whereas mainstream media make extensive use of members of elite groups as sources, alternative media offers access to a much wider range of voices. These often include members of local communities, protesters, and activists: ordinary voices compared to the privileged voices of elites. Activist news media present local people as capable of action, able to identify problems and provide solutions. It reports that it is local residents, not government officials, who are taking action. The activist media does not ignore elite sources, but it does not tend to quote them directly. Instead, it presents their arguments in order to show their inadequacies and failings (Atton, 2008). The growing use of the internet by environmental activists has marked an era which some have labeled “online activism” or “cyberactivism”. This phenomenon refers to a form of social movement that employs digital communication tools to preserve or improve the quality of the environment and increase public awareness about environmental issues (Kurniawan & Rye, 2013).

Activism is more than action in favor of social or political change. It extends beyond street protests, riots, direct action, singing protest songs, organizing strikes, attending town hall meetings or demonstrations, donating money, motivating colleagues to vote, volunteering for a campaign, or writing letters to political institutions. The social Web offers easy gateways for people with the intention of actively engaging with politics. The social Web also became a vast distribution platform for activists. To be able to open the participatory toolbox of the social Web, activists need to have the necessary skills. Without media literacy the Web-based possibilities remain a mystery that is best deflected with generalizing arguments that have little basis in specific technologies (Scholz, 2008). As activism increasingly takes on new forms, enabled by a growing body of new media technologies, the existence of coherent movements can be a necessary condition for significant social change to occur.

Capitalism has caused critical environmental damage such as the plundering of natural resources, the lose of biodiversity, the increase in desertification, deforestation and the reduction or extinction of a vast array of species. Today, many ecologist movements, such as the anti-dam and anti-nuclear movements, have emerged from, and as a component of, the labor movement. These groups are against the destruction of nature and the commodification of water in many parts of the world, including Turkey. The marketization process of water through hydro-electric power plants (HEPP) has created new environmental concerns, and the HEPP have gained a symbolic meaning in the development of Turkish capitalism. Since the ecological habitat has been captured, in cooperation with national and local governments, through these hydro-electric power plants, a struggle is going on against the destruction of the ecosystems in various areas of Turkey. Undoubtedly, the confiscation of water resources has meant the opening of a new field of capital accumulation (Engert, Balta, & Dogan, 2011). A vivid environmental activism has developed among the Turkish people, many of whom have become alarmed by the country's serious environmental conditions stemming from hydro-electric and nuclear power plants. However, these social movements are not reported by mainstream news media, which are controlled by the government

This study examines the nature of social networking activism in the context of environmental activism, to understand the potential of the internet in online activism practices by following theories of the public sphere and online activism. In this context, the creative potential of the internet as a public sphere for an activist movement is discussed. We analyze “The Right to Water” campaign's website, and pay attention specifically to how it presents itself to the public and mobilizes citizens and activists. Moreover, we examine the campaign's institutional base and the potential of grassroots activism. The website of “The Right to Water” campaign is an environmentalist activist platform simply defending the right to water. This campaign aims to create awareness about issues such as the commercialization of water, the right to free access to water, and non-drinkable-tap water.

The website, in terms of being a public sphere, is also examined, producing potential political resistance to the commodification of natural resources. The aim of this study is to determine to what extent the activists use this website as a means for mobilization, and to understand how online social networking sites serve to create an alternative public sphere among the online audience, and how they encourage activists participating online to also participate offline. The research questions were as follows:

RQ 1: Which issues are emphasized?

RQ 2: What role does the website play in motivating people to action?

RQ 3: How has the internet been used as a means for action on its own?

This case highlights some of the ways in which the cyber-sphere improves the reformulation of relationships between organizational actors and the public. It also reveals the particular meanings of civic participation and social justice. This studied argument is based on the thesis that participation practices via the internet have importance in terms of democracy, but have no influence on decision-making processes.

2. The internet as a public sphere and an activist platform

The internet is considered a powerful tool for the connection and mobilization of citizens. The internet's democratizing potential has been lauded for its impact upon the community, social movements and the public sphere, who see the internet as a domain of performative and symbolic representations. This not only complicates our understanding of its potential for democratic change but also problematizes accounts of today's transformations in the practices of civic engagement and activism. The internet has developed into a form of communication with a volunteer base. New definitions of good citizenship are negotiated with an attempt to account for the growing discontent with the political actors, the system and passive citizens (Tatarchevskiy, 2011). Feenberg (2014) argues that the internet has five functional layers. These are a non-hierarchical structure: anonymity, broadcasting, data storage, and the online community. Doubtless, all of them are necessary to comprehend the nature of online activism. For instance, the ability of the internet to assemble small groups for discussion and deliberation is a fundamental innovation. It makes new forms of sociability such as an online community. In addition, the internet can also broadcast to large numbers of users very cheaply and quickly. This feature can be used to mobilize people or to deliver data on a mass scale. Thus, the networks have been able to internationalize easily, and experimentation has flourished due to the lack of centralized control.

The internet today has become a complex assemblage of a variety of groups and movements. Online activist subcultures and political groups have materialized as a vital oppositional space for politics and culture, in which a wide diversity of individuals and groups have used the technologies to help produce creative social relations and forms of democratic political possibilities (Kahn & Kellner, 2012). The new technology is having a profound effect on regular political activity in advanced industrial societies, by either offering new channels for participation or modifying different aspects of existing ones. The internet has drastically altered the cost structure of participation, and has also increased the spectrum of possible political activities. Via the internet, a citizen can forward e-mails with political content and try to influence government decisions through comments posted on websites. The existence of new types of action can only serve to increase the total level of political participation. Impacts on levels of participation depend on the extent to which the new channels are used (Anduiza, Cantijoch, & Gallego, 2009).

Political activities on the internet have become more impressive recently. Since the Zapatista movement in Mexico in the early 1990s and continuing with the protests against the World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund, the worldwide demonstrations against the War in Iraq and the Occupy movement. The recent Arab revolts are also proof of the political potential of the internet. These examples indicate that the internet is the main tool of different communities and it enlarges the public sphere. The most innovative aspect of the internet is its capacity to support such a collective reflection on participant interests in all domains of life (Feenberg, 2014). The character of the internet as a system for the cooperative production of knowledge, the global sharing of knowledge, real-time and multi-communication, allow the emergence and permanent reproduction of social systems of global protest. By internet communication, protestors produce shared meanings that constitute collective identities and practices. The Web form of protest is not a result of the internet, rather, protest movements use network technologies because they help them in advancing networked forms of protest. Protest movements need public visibility; they are unimportant if they are not perceived and get no attention. The internet is a global space that is used by protest movements in order to be perceived by the global political public and to build a counter public, an alternative public sphere (Fuchs, 2008).

Habermas’ theory of the bourgeois public sphere is part of the tradition of Enlightenment liberal political philosophy. It addresses questions about what makes democracy work. Its primary focus is the origins of the bourgeois public sphere in eighteenth-century social institutions and political philosophy, from which Habermas draws a normative model of the public sphere. There is a second tradition, of the publics, rooted in social rather than political concepts and theory, framed in terms of different issues and questions, but also placing mass media at the center of the idea of publics. Unlike the liberal tradition of the public sphere that focuses on deliberation, this tradition considers what actions follow from deliberation (Butsch, 2007). Habermas designates a sphere of open (public) spaces and communication where a public discourse on matters of common concern can take place and lead to the formation of an opinion on the part of public citizens, which in turn may influence political decision-making. It also requires a normative content and advances a principle of democratic legitimacy: that the exercise of governmental and state power should be both “public” and reflect the power of a deliberating public of free and equal citizens (Gripsrud, Moe, Molander, & Murdock, 2010). As emphasized by Friedland, Long, Shin, and Kim (2007), “the public sphere is a communicative relation between speakers and hearers that requires a very specific set of institutional settings to emerge” (p. 43).

Bohman (2010) discusses how the internet and other forms of electronic communication might contribute to a new kind of public sphere, and potentially a new form of democracy. A public sphere always requires the expansion of dialogue beyond face-to-face encounters and is, therefore, always dependent on some form of communication technology. According to Bohman (2010), current internet publics are “weak” publics because of negative effects or consequences, such as their disaggregative character or their anonymity. If the active public is wanted, it should be made to participate in a larger framework together with institutionalized decision-making procedures, and the dialogical character of the traditional public sphere extended in a cosmopolitan way. In comparison with the past, the epistemic requirements for participating in large scale and potentially transnational communication have lessened, to such an extent that it is widely available beyond elites in wealthy societies. Deliberative publics can be strong publics distributively, capable of exerting political influence in real decision-making processes under certain institutional conditions.

There is a widespread perception that the internet is an inherently democratic technology. Accordingly, the internet is a vehicle for extending democracy in social and cultural life. The internet enables new forms of political activism and enhances democracy by engaging with previously marginalized communities. The ecology and peace movements make extensive use of the internet as a vehicle both for disseminating information and organizing activists. The other contention is that the internet will transform and enlarge the notion of democracy. In this view, the public sphere is expanded and takes on multiple forms that open up new places from which to speak. The public sphere is a space for the democratic exchange of ideas (Barker, 2012, pp. 364–371). When one looks at what is available on the internet, however, one quickly finds many organizations that operate extensive international news services and clearly present their audiences with news portfolios that cannot be found in existing mainstream media, dealing with issues that are barely covered in the mainstream, and from perspectives that are barely represented in the mainstream. At the same time, the internet has provided a historically unequalled forum for the expression of new and marginalized voices (Boyd-Barrett, 2004, p. 35).

Kavada (2005) points out that the internet, hailed as the medium to breathe new life into civil society and the public sphere, and its political potential have been the source of an ardent optimism. Optimists hope that the internet will increase the pluralism of voices within the public sphere by providing a space for non-mainstream and fringe organizations to publish their opinions. Its networking capabilities can also be used to strengthen the bonds between different organizations, fostering solidarity and a sense of mutual support. Furthermore, by encouraging participation and online deliberation, the internet can deepen the involvement of the public with civil society organizations. The optimism around the internet and its political potential are linked to a belief in its publication and networking capabilities. As a publication medium, the internet provides a space for political organizations to publish their opinions and gain a foothold in the public sphere.

The internet represents a discursive arena that is home to citizens’ debate, deliberation, agreement, and action. However, critical thoughts also exist about political participation through internet. Dahlgren (2014) points out that social medias do not automatically result in politics, protest and political participation, but have the potential to foster political struggles and engagement. Being in a political discussion online is an important step but would not automatically constitute political participation. Dahlgren (2014) states that

if we understand participation as deriving from a sense of urgency embedded in our subjective reality, in our identity, social media on their own will not do much to promote it. Rather, for those without an already existing political sense of self, the discursive contribution of social media will tend to deflect political participation. (p. 200)

Dahlberg (2001) mentions that “three prominent ‘camps’ have emerged within internet democracy rhetoric and practice, each drawing upon different models of democracy: communitarian, liberal individualist and deliberative” (p. 615). Dahlberg (2001) highlights the lack of online deliberation within the framework of the set of requirements of Habermas’ theory, such as discursive inclusion and equality, sincerity, ideal role taking, reflexivity, and autonomy from state and economic power. Moreover, the lack of equality within the online public sphere will remain as long as there are inequalities in the distribution of social resources, including the issues of digital infrastructures and the cost of the internet, computing skills, cultural expectations, free time, and community support.

It is necessary to elaborate a theoretical perspective on the usage of the internet by citizen action groups to understand the relationship between citizenship and the internet. According to Mossberger, Tolbert, and McNeal (2008), “‘digital citizenship’ is the ability to participate in society online” (p. 1). Digital citizenship requires educational competencies, as well as technology access and related skills. Problems such as poverty, illiteracy, and unequal educational opportunities prevent more people from full participation online and in society generally. Sujon (2007) offers a strategic overview of technologically mediated discourses of citizenship, and focuses on only three of them, namely “cyber citizenship”, “netizenship” and “technological citizenship” (pp. 204–208). Characteristically, the majority of these discourses hold ICTs as at least partially responsible for creating new kinds of political, social, economic, and cultural forms of belonging, transforming existing dimensions of citizenship and significantly reconfiguring citizen practices and phenomena. Netizen advocates calls for “the recognition and legitimization of a technologically bounded public and communities, merging civil, political and social rights through new technologies”. Coleman and Blumler (2009) point out three kinds of citizenship including “legal-judicial citizenship”, “political citizenship” the “affective citizenship”. The political citizenship contains three kinds of participation such as information-gathering, gaining balanced accounts of political questions from pluralistic sources, and deliberation. They suggest that interactive, digital medias have the potential to improve public communications and reinforce democracy. That potential is vulnerable however, mainly because the infrastructure for its proper realization is lacking. Whereas various fragmentary and marginal exercises of online consultations have appeared, these have not yet been integrated into the constitutional structures and processes of liberal democracies.

Social movements, against dominant democratic institutions, often constitute laboratories of alternative democratic practices. The deliberative democracy is seen as a way to revive the “polis” by handing decisions back to the citizens and breathing new life into a citizenry that is disenchanted with representative institutions. Therefore, deliberative democracy consists of seven elements that can be classified into conditions, means and ends. The conditions are: (a) Equality, meaning that participants have equal access to public deliberation, equal capacity to deliberate and equal respect and recognition accorded to their contribution; (b) Inclusiveness, meaning that anyone who has a stake in the decision (i.e. is affected by the same problem) is included in the process; (c) Transparency, signifying that deliberation occurs in public. Deliberation is inclusive, interactive and based on reciprocal listening and horizontal flows of communication (Kavada, 2008). The crisis of democracy has been both celebrated and criticized because of the internet, and the internet is seen as both a mobilizing tool to bring the young and underrepresented into politics, and as just another way to reinforce existing social divisions (Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, 2007).

Activist media encourages readers to get actively involved in social change. When an activist media advocates left-wing or anarchist politics, some readers or viewers would expect them not to be produced primarily to make a profit for their publishers, and regard them as relying on participation and readership by average people rather than highly educated elites. Although they are imperfect, electronic medias can be useful for alternative media practitioners and activists. They provide ways of reaching potentially large audiences which are much less expensive than any other method, and can provide some types of information that traditional media cannot (Waltz, 2005). The participatory and interactive nature of the internet, such as e-mail lists, newsgroups or chatrooms, can be used to foster solidarity within the organization and deepen the public's involvement. Civic organizations can further use the internet to mobilise support and generate resources more cheaply and efficiently. The internet has created opportunities for innovative campaigning and activism and constitutes a space for organisations to extend their existing repertoires of action or create new ones (Kavada, 2005).

According to Pickerill (2001), “five key processes of mobilization emerged in online activism process: using the internet as a gateway to activism; using it to raise the profile of group campaigns; stimulating local activism; mobilizing on-line activism; and attracting participants to existing protests” (p. 367). In addition to mobilization, the internet is used to promote networking and to boost solidarity amongst activists. The internet also reduces the traditional need to centralize, instead providing cheap, fast, decentralized communication between participants. In these ways, the internet has made grassroots direct action networks a more permanent feature of the environmental movement. Mobilizing participation is a crucial function for many environmental groups (Pickerill, 2001).

3. The environmental issues and social networking activism

The effects of mining and the drive to privatize water are only two of the consequences of neo-liberal “free trade” and investment rules that are bringing together environmental and social justice activists in many parts of the world (Cox, 2007). It is clear that the environmental justice movement has benefited thousands of people. It has changed government policies and laws, and has helped specific communities protect their home places from the depredations of corporate polluters. For its many successes, for its dedication, and for its effective redress of race and class discrimination, the environmental justice movement is to be celebrated. The environmental justice movement has also challenged and transformed the environmental movement, especially with respect to its focus on wilderness and nonhuman nature. This challenge has been both implicit and explicit (DeLuca, 2007). Longo and Baker (2014) have emphasized the importance of economic ideology in relation to environmental attitudes. According to this approach, the growing levels of capital investments and accumulation in modern capitalist economies are key drivers of ecological disruptions. Because of the pressures from competition and shareholder interests, modern (capitalist) economies are geared toward continually increasing production. In this context, “economy versus environment” arguments become a hegemonic discourse advanced throughout social institutions.

Environmental activism and politics in Turkey since the 1980s has been deeply affected by globalization processes, and the interaction of globalization processes (economic liberalization, EU accession, and media globalization) and domestic issues such as economic downturns. In the 1980s and 1990s, Greenpeace and other international environmental groups began to be active in Turkey, and by the late 1990s, environmentalism had become institutionalized to the point that secular elites largely dominated environmental politics. Economic liberalization has eroded states’ sovereignty over domestic environmental matters and empowered previously marginal economic actors. As economic liberalization and the emergence of economic networks among Turks living in Turkey and other countries have enriched domestic or foreign new economic actors (Ignatow, 2008). The emerging story of the tension between economic (often industrial) interests and needs for conservation that come from a small but skillful group of activists is common not only in Turkey but in many developed and developing nations. The relative lack of awareness and concern for environmental outcomes is often reported. In many ways, the neo-liberal policies, which started in the 1980s, reached full dominance in Turkey during the early years of the twenty-first century. This powerful grip on Turkish society and polity has in turn stifled not only the further development of environmental politics but also the articulation of other critical standpoints (Arsel, 2012).

When the water resources and services are included into the market economy as a commodity, it leads to economic, social, cultural issues and further deepens the already existing inequalities. Any water related bill that increases the privatization of water resources and services ultimately prevents millions of people from having access to water. The local water resources are piped away from local sources; the hydro-electric power plants are built on these resources, the water is bottled and sold. These practices are being debated all over the world and have created resistance by local, regional, national, and international organizations. It is debated that water is the most basic human right, and everyone has the right to access water of a sufficient quality and quantity especially when considering the public nature of water. Moreover, water should be managed for the public benefit and its management characterized by participation (Ilhan, 2011).

In Turkey, the aim of the ruling party's energy policy is to create an energy market based on free competition. The establishment of HEPP has been facilitated in areas of the country and, having considerable legal protection status as a result of new legislation, it has led to the destruction of many water sources. As a result of these developments, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has emphasized that HEPP has led to serious human rights violations in Turkey. According to the Report of the UN (2011), Turkey is one of the major dam building countries in the world, intending to build over 1700 dams with HEPP, in addition to over 2000 existing dams. Despite the extraordinary size of this plan, leaving hardly any river in the country unaffected, no environmental or social impact assessments, at the basin or country level, have been conducted. The dam and HEPP projects implemented in the past or currently under construction reveal severe human rights violations, and the relevant legislation shows great deficits in relation to human rights, raising great concern about impending infringements on economic, social and cultural rights in the future.

The impacts of small HEPP projects has been highlighted by the Yuvarlakçay Power Plant Project on the Yuvarlakçay river, which lies within the Köyceğiz town territory in the province of Mugla in the Southwest part of Turkey. The villagers set up a protest camp on the designated construction site from December 2009 to November 2010, and lawyers filed 16 court cases against the various permissions granted for the project. As several judgements ruled in favor of the affected population, the project has currently stopped. The report concludes that the granting of a license without conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment and without any participation of the affected population severely infringes upon the rights covered by the Covenant. Implementation of the project would constitute a serious violation of the right to housing, food, and most notably, the right to water, as water quality would have severely deteriorated and access to water restricted (UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2011). According to the legislation of HEPP, it is necessary to arrange public meetings in order to provide participation for affected citizens. However, the citizens are not able to gain information about HEPP projects and their opinions are disregarded by the investors and local authorities (TMMOB, 2011).

Numerous environmentalist movements and protests are conducted in order to attract attention to the environmental injustices in Turkey. Primarily, Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities, and Trade (EJOLT) is working on the water conflicts (e.g. access to water, dam construction, wetlands), several projects are about mining activities, industrial activities and mega-infrastructure projects, and other projects address energy production (e.g. coal and nuclear). The organization hopes that the compilation and analysis of these cases, coupled with simultaneous exploration of the changes in material and energy flows in Turkey, will provide an essential step toward informing the national public debate of the structure of growth and the distribution of risks, benefits and costs within the development and environment nexus. The combined results will be “The Map of Environmental Injustices in Turkey”. The map, with an activist spirit, aims to link both local movements in Turkey with each other and an overarching national movement as well. The website offers members an interactive platform to share information about available cases and make new entries (http://www.ejolt.org/2013/12/turkeys-map-of-environmental-injustices-is-now-online/). Another of the online environmentalist platforms of Turkey is “Global Action Group”. This organization focuses on ecological devastation and reminds us of the possibility of creating another world. The website of “Global Action Group” contains information on local and international campaigns and calls for participation to protest (Kuresel Eylem Grubu [Global Action Group], 2013).

Activism is at the core of the processes of social change through different civic protests and demonstrations, strikes, consumer boycotts, or non-violent civil disobedience motions. There are also practices, or forms of activism, that are less directly action driven and which operate more within the dominant political and judicial systems. For example, the adoption of ecological policies by most democratic countries, or the legislative changes allowing same-sex couples to marry or adopt children, show that long-term struggles ultimately result in societal change (Cammaerts, 2007). The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in public policy and individual behavior. In its recognition of humanity as a participant in (not enemy of) ecosystems, the movement is centered on ecology, health, and human rights. The environmental movement is represented by a range of organizations, from the large to the grassroots. Due to its large membership, varying and strong beliefs, and occasionally speculative nature, the environmental movement is not always united in its goals. At its broadest, the movement includes private citizens, professionals, religious devotees, politicians, and extremists (Environmental Movement, n.d.). Environmental issues have entered the international political arena in a forceful way, and an increasing level of international environmental cooperation has been achieved. From the Rio Declaration to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, one important development in global environmental governance is the enhanced partnerships between governmental and nongovernmental sectors as well as volunteer groups in environmental matters (Xie, 2011).

Environmentalist groups involved in various forms of activism have been using the internet to advance organizational goals. It has been argued that the internet helps to increase the speed, reach and effectiveness of activist-related communication as well as mobilization efforts, and as a result has had a positive impact on activism in general. As Cammaerts (2007, p. 217) points out, “activism represents the practice of struggling for change and can be fueled by reactionary tendencies and aims, as well as progressive”. Ganesh and Zoller (2012) describe three primary orientations toward dialogue – collaborative and agonistic – based on assumptions about conflict, power, and the role of differences in the activism process. They have outlined the major ways of representing connections between activism and dialogue from the perspective of public relations, and emphasized the key concepts such as advocacy, conflict, dialog, and collaboration as core aspects of activist communication.

Earl and Kimport (2011) examine how online environments have influenced social movements in the twenty-first century, and they offer compelling arguments as to why “the Web can allow more than the simple augmentation of protest: innovative uses of the Web can transform protest” (p. 19). Earl and Kimport argued that lowering transaction costs for protest action, and enhancing the ability to engage in collective action in the absence of physical togetherness, provide key advantages for organizing and participating in social movement activities. To reach these conclusions, the authors gathered data from websites in 2004 to examine affordances in four forms: petitions, letter writing campaigns, e-mail campaigns, and boycotts. They have focused on the dynamics of ‘e-tactics,’ which are said to take up a middle ground in a continuum of online activism.

Emergence of social movements is also provided through social networks. Social networks allow organizers and their potential participants to align their frames, to achieve a common definition of a social problem and a common prescription for solving it. There are three types of framing differentiated (Goodwin & Jasper, 2003, p. 52):

Diagnostic: potential participants are being convinced that the problem needs to be dealt with.

Prognostic: tactics, targets and strategies are chosen.

Motivational: potential participants are urged to join and act.

Rodgers (2003) points out the limitations of NGO's activities and the organizations’ attention to costs and benefits. Online media dissemination of information is framed to offer alternative perspectives to those of governments or mainstream media. The internet can enable NGOs to extend their geographical reach by transcending national boundaries, thereby increasing the visibility of their causes and reducing hierarchical communication. Kurniawan and Rye (2013) have shown that the Indonesian ENGO's have investigated the internet and associated technologies and consider them to be important tools for fulfilling various purposes in their environmental activism efforts. Accordingly, it seems that the introduction of the internet into Indonesian environmental activism has led to a paradoxical situation that empowers activists and their organizations but at the same time has the potential to exclude and further marginalize those who the organizations aim to represent. Their findings confirm the argument that the growing importance of the online environment may serve to strengthen the voices of citizens with limited resources and skills.

The environmental movement distinguishes itself from other types of social movements through the multiple goals that are pursued. The transnational environmental movement acts and thinks both locally and globally, and its areas of focus include trans-boundary and global environmental problems, such as the extinction of species, the greenhouse effect, and the depletion of the ozone layer. Chinese environmental activists, for example, have been actively interacting with the transnational environmental movement. In examining the development and significance of Beijing's environmental activism in recent years, it is interesting to compare the Nu River anti-dam construction campaign in 2003–2004 with that of the Three Gorges Dam project which took place in the early 1990s. The two campaigns had completely different results and impacts. The movement opposing the Three Gorges Dam was strongly repressed, whereas the Nu River campaign was a comparative success. Moreover, in the Three Gorges Dam campaign, the activist networks were isolated from the outside world. By contrast, the Nu dam protest involved a transnational network (Xie, 2011).

Social movement communities are reconstructed online by activists in ways that adapt to technological advances resulting in new forms of activist communities. An extension of the cyber-activism of social movements actually represents the creation of a new form of social movement community. Using internet technologies to disseminate information and coordinate online and offline protest events, political activists have used the internet to build networks of geographically dispersed users who spend little time publicizing specific political actions or working toward other instrumental purposes. These sites are used to discuss ongoing political news, debate movement strategies, share narratives, and create a free space (Caren, Jowers, & Gaby, 2012). Eaton (2010) refers to the concept of fast activism. Online activism has included various forms of protest in which members have engaged without leaving their computers. Moreover, online activism has proven to be effective for the mobilization of people and resources. At a basic level, the term “fast activism” makes sense because it simply takes less time to participate in click- through petitions and online donations than marches. On a conceptual level, though, “fast activism” is a fitting label because online activism mimics the model of fast food restaurants and other types of “speedy” services common in cultural capitalism.

The networks of activists demanding greater voice in global economic, social, and environmental policies raise interesting questions about organizing political action across geographical, cultural, ideological, and issue boundaries. Digital communication practices appear to have a variety of political effects on the growth and forms of global activism. These effects range from organizational dynamics and patterns of change to strategic political relations between activists, opponents and spectator publics. In addition, patterns of individual participation appear to be affected by hyperlinked communication networks that enable individuals to find multiple points of entry into varieties of political action. Moreover, the redundancy of communication channels in many activist networks creates organizational durability as hub organizations come and go, and as the focus of action shifts across different events, campaigns, and targets (Bennett, 2004, pp. 109–110).

As Bräuer (2008) notes, citizen action groups mostly have focused on local or regional problems, and thus have connected important societal issues with the daily lives of citizens, and the local with the broader social sphere (e.g. environmental issues, social inequalities). While the internet possibilities have created enormous potential for spreading information, communication and mobilization, other political actors also use the internet in order to communicate their interests as well. Citizen action groups can be faced with difficulties. In general, citizen action groups have no direct influence on the political decision-making process. For this reason, they need to implement strategies to communicate their concerns beyond the like-minded. These activities include street protests, public relations campaigns, mobilization of activists, mobilization through networks, and direct contact with political components, for example, administrations, political decision-makers, and corporations.

Harlow and Harp (2012) indicate that “social movements and activists often create their own media in order to counter the hegemonic messages, misinformation, and negative portrayals of activism typical in the mainstream press” (p. 199). The terms “participatory,” “alternative”, and “community media” are used to refer to more deliberative and critical communicative platforms which are against mass media and traditional elites. Alternative and participatory media have a great importance in terms of being a ground for online activism. These medias allow environmental groups to direct how their causes and actions will be represented and to distribute their information quickly to the audience. From this point of view, one can examine where activists perform their goals and how they create participative practices.

4. Data and method: a case study of “The Right to Water”

The website of “The Right to Water” has been examined as a case study of an essential democratic platform struggling with neo-liberal policies advocating the privatization of water. The “Right to Water” campaign aims to provide a platform from which to struggle against: the privatization of water and turning it into a commodity, the destruction of nature by building new dams and HEPP, and the deterioration of the ecological balance. To reach these goals, they pay attention to a global perspective and are open to the contributions of everyone who advocates and agrees with their perspectives (http://www.suhakki.org/en/index.php/about/). Using the qualitative research approach, this study examined the usage of the internet by the activist groups, including the local extension of the international activist organizations. Usage and outcomes of web-based activism were collected and analyzed, and the impact of online activism on civil society will be discussed.

This study focuses on the “The Right to Water” campaign, a movement against the privatization of water, through an analysis of their website. In this study, we considered “The Right to Water” website as a civic organization and assessed it using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. First, a content analysis of the organization's website revealed the functions of the website and provided an indication of how well it performed. The content analysis categories (e.g. information provision, networking, participation, campaigning, and delivery) were examined using the process developed by Kavada (2005).

Second, a qualitative analysis was performed to determine whether the activist website was “participatory-beneficial”. Characteristics such as information, actual mobilization, interactivity and user-friendliness were examined. An evaluation was made based on the following categories: feedback opportunities, electronic correspondence, online debates, action calendar, personal contribution, links with the social media, and online activities. Given that individuals believe that own particular activist group is capable of using the internet to achieve their group objectives, we explored whether this correlated with online collective political actions. Moreover, since online activism has the capacity to develop participatory democracy and create a public sphere, the forms of action and the maps of these activist groups were examined in respect of online activism patterns.

The content analysis categories were based on those developed by Kavada (2005). Content analysis was performed within the frame of reference of some categories like information provision, networking, participation, campaigning, and delivery.

Table 1. Information provision.

Organizational history	✓
Structure	✓
Values/ideology	✓
Policies	✓
Documents	✓
Newsletters	✓
Media releases	✓
People/who's who	–
Event calendar	✓
Frequently asked questions	–
Privacy policy	✓
Article archive or library	✓
News	✓
Work opportunities	–
Annual report	–
Campaigns information	✓
Information about successes	–

These findings indicated the capacity of the website, its goals and mission, successes, history, and structure. Although the website appeared to be adequate in terms of general information on goals, campaigns, newsletters, some aspects, such as the annual report and success story, were lacking. The design of the website is important for communicating ideas with existing supporters and for gaining new ones. Furthermore, it can help to attract the attention of journalists and online audiences (Table 1).

Table 2. Networking.

Internal links	✓
Members-only area	–
Partisan links	–
Reference links	✓
Commercial links	–
Opponent links	–
Social media links	✓

The links of a website demonstrate the information flow with other networks. They mean diversity of target audience, campaign, and project, and enhance cooperation between different groups. “The Right to Water” website contains connections with other websites, particularly, internal and reference links, which come to fore as forms of comradeship and support. As the website is open-access, it is not limited by a “members only” area. There were no partisan, commercial or opponent links (Table 2).

Table 3. Participation.

Openness	✓
Feedback	✓
Opinion polls	–
Interaction	✓

Most websites are fairly open to the public when considering the number of e-mails sent to specific units or branches within the organization listed on the websites. A large number of e-mail addresses is indicative of an organization's efforts to decentralize information provision, whereby members of the public connect directly with the appropriate person to answer their enquiries (Kavada, 2005). “The Right to Water” website does not offer interactive features such as group discussions, apart from an e-mail facility, online communication form, and social media links. “The Right to Water” campaign seems to benefit from the standard capacities of the internet to increase participation and interaction. However, interactivity channels should be developed to provide better user communication and information flow (Table 3).

Table 4. Campaigning

Election site/sites for specific campaigns	✓
Negative campaigning	–
Join an e-mail update list	✓
Become online campaigner/send and e-mail/sign an online petition	✓

“The Right to Water” website involves many features for online activism. It provides users with the option to join an e-mail update list and to be an online campaigner by signing a petition (Table 4). Kavada (2005) points out that internet campaigning faces the difficulty of disseminating the campaign message to people who are not already familiar with the organization.

Table 5. Delivery.

Homepage design	✓
Graphics images/photos	✓
Frames moving text/images	✓
Multimedia index	–
Sound video live streaming	✓
Foreign language translation	✓

Delivery implies that innovative ways should be found in order to share messages and information. Delivery applications demonstrate the attractive aspects of a campaign. As for “The Right to Water” website delivery, although some features such as photographs and videos have existed, the website was generally weak in terms of visual presentation. Also, some outdated news had not been removed. On the other hand, there was diversity in terms of content. For example, not only does it focus on water issues in Turkey, but it also discusses water commodification issues in different parts of the world (Table 5). In order to focus on the importance of this issue, the website indicates that while California is facing one of its most severe droughts on record, Nestle had sold bottled spring water from the state. Furthermore, it highlighted that the Coca-Cola company has located one of its bottling plants in east India and has severely damaged the groundwater resources in the area (http://www.suhakki.org/c/guncel/).

By using the internet as part of their efforts to protect environmental and natural resources, NGOs such as “The Right to Water” have created a new space for participation and the exchange of ideas. Public deliberations are encouraged on the websites of these civil communities. The internet is an alternative arena providing a new public sphere relevant to forest protection efforts and anti-capitalist environmental policies. The activists of “The Right to Water” consider access to water to be an inviolable right for every human being. Therefore, not only do they oppose the use of water as a political tool, but they also disapprove of selling water as a commercial commodity.

In a world where the population has increased rapidly and sources of drinking water are limited (due to depletion and pollution), it is not surprising that large profits can be made from the growing demand for water. After all, we live in a system with a “market” value. Considering the depletion of water sources and the increased difficulties in accessing drinking water, one of the primary objectives of “The Right to Water” campaign is to prohibit the sale of water and prevent it from being treated as a commodity. “The Right to Water” campaign endeavors to become a platform for those who oppose the privatization of water and turning it into a commodity, and also the destruction of nature by building new dams and HEPP, thereby expediting the deterioration of ecological balance. In order to reach these goals, the activist group “The Right to Water” pays particular attention to global perspectives and welcomes the contributions of all those who advocate and/or agree with these perspectives.

Environmental activism in Turkey focuses on anti-dam construction campaigns. “The Right to Water” organizes locally-driven campaigns in every part of Turkey. It uses online tools to leverage power to help people regard themselves as one movement, and also promotes strategic offline actions as well. The main problem, as far as the “The Right to Water” movement is concerned, is the privatization of water. To promote the concept of water as a “right for all” and to make a public stand against the commercialization of natural habitats, “The Right to Water” organizes conferences, conducts research, publishes publications and runs a grassroots campaign in Turkey, particularly in Istanbul. “The Right to Water” movement is presently in the process of improving it is internal communications via the use of e-mails and its website. News bulletins are sent internally by e-mail. Such websites are non-commercial and human-centered. It focuses on debates by using forums and e-mails. This alternative internet website challenges the government dominated media. Activist media is one of the models of internet online media. E-mail servers have become the everyday tools of environmentalist activists. As argued by Harlow and Harp (2012), social networking sites have the ability to turn online activism into offline activism, a significant body of research has linked changes in activism to the internet and social networking sites. According to their own survey analysis (p. 209), the respondents they interviewed thought that social networking sites have sparked public discussion about important social issues, made them more civically and politically active, and made the public more aware of protests and social movement activities. Not surprisingly, the more the relationships built via social networking sites, the more respondents thought that online activism translates to offline activism.

The website contains a “contact” option to connect with followers. In addition, it provides a link in order to leave a comment on all announcements. The website displays electronic correspondence in order to construct consciousness against the commodification of water. Therefore, e-mails are sent to registered users via a free subscription system. The e-mails of “The Right to Water” campaign inform participants of future events. The website presents the possibility for public discussion via the “speak your mind” section, an online public sphere under every announcement. Thus, activists or visitors can share their comments on the website. The website promotes discussion and posts information such as announcements or news, and distributes petitions for others to sign. Moreover, the website of “The Right to Water” seeks to put pressure on political elites and decision-makers and communicates with journalists. In addition, social media have contributed to the dialogue about environmental issues being seen to be as an essential part of “The Right to Water” activism.

The websites of social or environmental movements should facilitate the actual mobilization of activists. The role of the internet is to announce up and coming activities, and it is a medium for promoting and organizing protests. Visitors are encouraged to participate and are given detailed information on how to do so. The website is clearly a means of support for the mobilization process of all sorts of real protests. The social movements have connections with the social networks of other informal and formal organizations. The links within the website of “The Right to Water” lead directly to NGOs such as Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Global Action Group, and Social Change Association.

“The Right to Water” campaign attempts to create a space for action against social-ecological injustice. It is obvious that the economy-centered policies of states and organizations have brought about the water crisis. Such injustices have created counter social movements such as the Narmada Water Dispute (India), Cochabamba Water Wars (Bolivia) and the New Water Culture movement (Spain). In these actions and many more, people look for ways of developing equitable solutions to the water crisis. The concept behind “The Right to Water” has arisen from a worldwide violation of rights. In this global movement, people have developed ways to build a new understanding of water. This new understanding refuses to regard water as an economic product controlled by states, organizations and corporations. Water is recognized as a fundamental right for the lives of humans and all other living beings. Actors of the global water rights movements come together with rural communities, such as the indigenous peoples of the Amazon and the Tigris, whose bonds with nature are still alive. The more they come together, the better they understand that protecting rivers means protecting life. It is increasingly understood that protecting the rights of people is no different from protecting the rights of rivers. This new understanding has helped to portray water as a living-being with the right to flow freely and give life (Su Hakki, 2013).

“The Right to Water” website is one example of activist media with rich content. It contains a wide-spectrum of information ranging from national to international news, and encompasses: different campaigns concerned with the prevention of water commodification, a calendar of events, new book releases related to the subject, opinions opposing current legislation, updates on new legislation, and some legislative proposals of their own. “The Right to Water” website features regarding activism potential and participation were examined. In Turkey, participatory and deliberative democratic practices are inadequate within the present economic and political system, and political actors have little influence on legislation. The struggles of “The Right to Water” campaign illustrate how economic and political powers have disregarded the demands of society to stop the privatization of natural water resources. Although these activist initiatives are ineffective when it comes to determining political decisions, they provide crucial environmentalist platforms for promoting participation and opposition.

5. Conclusion

The internet is pivotal to new global activism, to a far greater extent than simply reducing communication costs, or transcending the geographical and temporal barriers of other communication media. Various uses of the internet and other digital media facilitate loosely structured networks, strengthen weak identity ties, and promote a whole range of issues and actions that help to define new global politics. Distributed electronic public spheres have become a model for the propagation of public information in many areas of politics. The growth of global protest networks aim to bring about social justice in the neo-liberal world economic regime. These activist networks have used this new digital medium to coordinate activities, plan protests, and often publicize high-quality information about their causes. The global activist networks also challenge the power of mass media (Bennett, 2003, 2004). Internet is not only a force for democracy and freedom but also a vital channel for the communications of activists and dissenters around the world. Despite the negative aspects of the internet, such as its disaggregated character and its anonymity, it provides an alternative to existing printed media and national public spheres. Environmental online activism has been widely recognized for its innovative use of the internet, often employing it to raise public awareness and to put pressure on politicians. Over the last few years, activist groups have extended their online methods, which they have used as tactical tools for publicizing their campaigns, mobilizing participation, and coordinating actions. The internet, rather than sharply increasing the ability to mobilize participation in protest events within existing environmental groups, serves to strengthen these existing networks and enable quick and cheap communications within them. It also allows an increase in environmental consciousness and creates movements on environmental policies by political elites. Using the internet as a networking tool, users and audiences, or different community members, can mobilize participation in their campaigns, share solutions, discuss ideas, and show support. The connections provided through the internet can provide assurance and solidarity to activists.

The internet provides new opportunities for modes of online participation. The internet modifies and often reduces the cost of information and assistance online, and these basic technological skills and resources are necessary for online participation. The internet removes the boundaries between the press, broadcasting and new media services. The rise of social media has created a set of new online communication environments. The new public sphere created by the internet can be an exclusive space primarily benefiting, for example, the urban and political middle classes, rather than marginalized groups who are against forest degradation and ecological destruction. Online social networking sites are increasingly used around the globe to organize protests and create campaigns, with social network sites being increasingly used to mobilize collective activism. As mentioned by Tatarchevskiy (2011), political actors choose to follow events/opinions regularly through social networks and to use them to communicate with their constituents. It is important to understand the meaning and practices of citizenship emerging from the intersections of these new social ties, visual representations, unbound publicity, and special interests.

In this study, the use of the internet for organizing environmental related actions was examined. The online activism of environmentalist social movement communities provides a new forum for opposition to government policies. When considering the potential of social networking sites for creating networks that inspire collective identity and the trust needed to convince people to participate in collective actions, this website demonstrates that activists have been motivated via online networks. “The Right to Water” movement has been actively interacting with transnational environmental movements. As online activist movements and their linked organizations and groups have no legal basis to directly influence political actors, they need to share their aims with the political public sphere. Therefore, they mobilize supporters by sharing their political agendas in order to create change in the political sphere. Even though it is insufficient for influencing and determining major policies, the website of “The Right to Water” has an important function with regard to organizing, mobilizing, informing, and promoting debate, as well as providing an alternative medium, and a counter-public sphere where collective identities can form.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Y. Furkan Şen http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7767-0203