Outlining the history of cyberactivism in Brazil

Abstract

Notwithstanding the growing interest in cyberactivism in Brazil since the 2013 protests, not much is known about the previous unfolding of this kind of activism before it became a major actor in challenging the political system. Thus, this paper aimed to offer a first outline of cyberactivism’s history in Brazil, taking into account which actors and practices were present in each moment, stressing their continuities and discontinuities. To this end, we used existing empirical literature – predominantly focused on particular actors, practices or moments – to gather data, facts and processes. Our investigation found out three moments of cyberactivism in the country, disrupted by an entaglement of socipolitical and technological factors and classified on the basis of existent actors, practices and platforms. First, the emergence, whereby web portals served as a source of information and a space for self expression and political articulation. Second, the consolidation, in which blogs provided networks for debates known as blogospheres. And, finally, the routinisation, when the emergence of social networks – stimulating debates, individual political manifestations, exchange of strategic information and calls for demonstrations – enabled cyberactivism to become part of everyday life.

Keywords:

• Cyberactivism
• internet history
• Brazil
• social movements

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For classical uses of the “new” in the Brazilian debate, see Sader (1988) and Avritzer (1997). For a critical perspective of the usage, see Perruso (2010) and Lavalle (2003). For Gohn (2016), cyberactivism is an example of a “novíssimo” social movement, which stands for something such as “very new” or more precisely “newer than the new”.

2 The term is not a consensus in the academic debate, but we contend it is the most precise for the definition we suggest. “Media activism” can represent activism in any media, not only in the internet. “Networked activism” will be alternatively used throughout the text, but it may cause the wrong impression that all cyberactivism is decentralised, as are networks. “Internet activism” is more accurate, but it too may seem to mean something else: activism concerned only with internet freedom, usage etc. “Digital activism” might sound better, but its meaning is imprecise, as “digital” stands for “recording or storing information as a series of the numbers 1 and 0, to show that a signal is present or absent” or “using or relating to digital signals and computer technology” (Digital, n.d.), both being way beyond the internet. “Cyber”, in turn, means “involving, using, or relating to computers, especially the internet” (Cyber, n.d.). Besides that, as many works cited here show, “ciberativismo” is an usual term in the Brazilian debate (e.g. Alcântara, 2015; Sarmento & Viana, 2019).

3 Backbone is the central connection structure of a networking system. It is through this structure that the various devices find their way to communicate.

4 It is worth mentioning that a similar strategy was carried out through Alternex in 1988, when the environmentalist Chico Mendes was executed.

5 Danillo Ferreira is a military police officer from Bahia, founder of the blog Abordagem Policial (Police Approach). The text to which the authors refer is that: http://abordagempolicial.com/2009/02/os-objetivos-da-blogosfera-policial/

6 In addition to these blogospheres, many others conform the cyberspace. For a geographically division of the blogosphere, see Martins et al. (2009).

7 The use of social networks for political purposes in Brazil, however, did not start at that time. In 2004, a Google Turkish engineer, Orkut Büyükkökten, launched a social networking site named after him. Although US-oriented in its conception, Orkut became Brazil’s sweetheart as soon as it went public. The country turned into the social network’s largest audience. It was not long before the political debate started occupying Orkut communities, which is true for both electoral and institutional policy debates (Chaia, 2007), as well as debates about racism and sexism (Bergo & Reis, 2008). As Rocha (2019) argues, Orkut was fundamental to the development of a neoliberal youth activism in Brazil. These young people debated and politically organised themselves around economic issues within the network. The platform also served for them to call for protests in the streets, but they were only of a small scale (Agência Estado, 2006; Redação, 2009; UOL Notícias, 2011). Over the course of the 2010s, Orkut became less and less important, until it ceased its activities in 2014. As in the rest of the world, the decrease in the use of Orkut by Brazilians was linked to the increased use of Facebook, and, to a lesser extent, of Twitter.

8 Hashtags are short utterances (usually keywords or slogans) preceded by a hash sign (#) to aggregate content about one particular subject on social networks.

9 See, for example: Grillo et al. (2015).

10 Alcântara (2014) makes a good point on cyberactivism being a continuation, but also a transformation, of the historical usage of communication by social movements.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FAPERJ Nota 10 scholarship.

Notes on contributors

Raul Nunes

Raul Nunes holds a licentiate degree in Sociology at the Federal University of Viçosa, a master in Sociology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro and is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. His reasearch themes involve the transformations of contemporary activism and the history of cyberactivism, both focusing on Brazil.