Clickthrough Democracy

This year has surely been an interesting one in many aspects. North Africa has completely transformed itself in ways in which not even the most veteran political commentators thought possible. Many European capitals experienced protests which attracted thousands. Events escalated in unprecedented fashion. Happenings felt closer and we all got this half-feeling that the internet made us participants. The web was a catalyst, a boiling pot.

Recent events shed light on the fact that social media has dramatically changed the ways in which activists exchange and share ideas, be it real life protesting or just making their voice heard. Our traditional concepts of campaigning have truly evolved. But the internet has not been always perceived as the right tool for activists. Many believed that by just liking a cause on Facebook or signing an online petition one would not attract the masses to the streets, leaving them as passive participants, oblivious in front of their computer screens.

The internet was seen as the domain of slacktivists, people who would only go as far as signing an internet petition without actively contributing to a cause. A couple of mouse clicks is not such a hard thing to do after all. Following or 'liking' a cause on Facebook is nowadays widespread but is it such a game changer? This thinking might be partially true but a second look at some things that happened this year might make us reconsider our conclusions. Just look at what happened when Mubarak decided to switch off the internet for a week with the delusion that this action would silence the online activists by removing their planning tools. It back-fired big time and more people switched off their computers, mobilised and took to the streets.

Slacktivism turned into active clicktivism even though the two words are in effect interchangeable depending on whether you are sceptical of the whole concept or not such as Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion.
We have all received online petitions of some sort or another in our mailbox or viewed some cause that our contacts on facebook liked. But can these simple gestures (which sometimes are more close to spam) make a difference? Can they really be effective? Are internet-generations becoming more apolitical and unengaged?

Nowadays, clicktivism is also understood as the act of signing online petitions and some governments are realising how this activity is changing the political landscape or how citizens can participate more than dropping their vote in a ballot box every few years. Groups such as Avaaz, Unlock Democracy and 38 Degrees are only three of a long list of groups which have sprouted around the whole idea of clicktivism and they are finally getting noticed and recognised. Technology can open doors, even those of the political kind and clicktivism has turned out to be something more than just the lazy version of protesting or the mobilisation of angry crowds.

The UK Government was one of the first to encourage clicktivism with the introduction of new forms of electronic petitions in order to better engage with the general public, recognising that the web can not only serve as a tool to organise real protests but it can enable citizens to have their voice heard. The system is really dead simple. You can create an e-petition about anything that the government is responsible for and if it gets at least 100,000 signatures, it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons.

Perhaps in Malta we will stick to the old fashioned way for a bit longer. Even this system is dead simple. You can speak to your neighbour MP, the one you voted for in your district during the last election. This potentially reflects our bi-partisan history of doing things but as more people are finding themselves not perfectly just fitting in one political side, government endorsed clicktivism (as in the UK) might be something worth discussing. People might say that Malta is too small a community to ride on clicktivism but the popularity of social networks in our tiny island might well instigate some serious considerations on this phenomenon.

The rise of Web 2.0 has meant that there is no local newspaper report published online which would not, just after a few minutes, stimulate an online discussion (albeit sometimes verging on the stupid or plain sick) through the multitude of comments posted. E-petitions go a step further than just a plain comment. They can act as tool with which the unengaged apolitical masses can be politically engaged.
Political action can take the form of just a couple of mouse clicks. Claims that the web is 'the greatest democratising force of our times' might not be far off the mark after all.