European University Institute Library

"Don't worry, we are from the internet", the diffusion of protest against the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement in the age of austerity, Julia Rone

eng

This thesis focuses precisely on the anti-ACTA mobilization and the way it fits within the broader wave of contention. While the anti-ACTA campaign did not include occupation of squares (but only the more traditional protest marches), it shared many important features with other protests in the wave of contention, including the adoption of the Anonymous mask and the national flag as crucial symbols (Gerbaudo, 2017), the demand for more democratic decision-making, and most importantly - the belief in the Internet as a tool for empowerment that could contribute to a more horizontal democratic society (Beyer, 2014; Jarvis, 2014; Juris, 2012; McCarthy, 2015). The big difference is that for anti-ACTA protesters, the Internet was more than a tool - it became a cause in itself. People protested to defend Internet freedom, interpreted in a wide variety of ways by different actors, but most often as the freedom of sharing culture (and files) online, the freedom of not being 2 under surveillance, and the freedom of expressing oneself as a key prerequisite for the functioning of any democratic community

Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-276)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--European University Institute (SPS), 2018

no index present

non fiction

"Don't worry, we are from the internet"

theses

1027662953

Defence date: 22 February 2018

Julia Rone

EUI PhD thesesEUI theses

the diffusion of protest against the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement in the age of austerity