Written by Luke Gowers | 29 December 2010
Posted in Comment - Politics

Are social media outlets like Facebook generating political activism? Photograph: Facebook

As we draw to the end of 2010 what is clear is that this year has brought us something different. The 13 years of a New Labour government came to an end and Britain found itself with a Conservative and Lib-Dem coalition ready to reshape the state for good through vast cuts. What has made this year most significant though is the increased engagement of the youth in politics. The previous year has brought us YouTube broadcasts from Gordon Brown, whilst WebCameron took us into the kitchen of the leader of the opposition. Where their attempts to bring politics to the young were mostly a failure, Facebook may have successfully brought the young to politics. Although there have been critics (most prominently Malcolm Gladwell) dismissing the power of social networks, the student demonstrations this November may prove they are wrong.

It all began with a Facebook campaign group to get “Killing in the Name of” by Rage Against the Machine to Christmas number 1. I remember at the time the controversy the campaign caused amongst hardcore X-Factor fans and the apathetic who dismissed it as pointless and immature. In a discussion with a friend - on Facebook, as it were - she had attacked my status which celebrated the defeat of last year’s X-factor winner (I wouldn’t have been able to tell you his name back then, let alone now where his defeat seemed to result in his disappearance). She told me how pointless it all was as the profits of the sale of the RATM single all went to the same company anyway. On this point I agreed with her, and I was relieved at Rage’s free gig when they handed over the profits from the Christmas number 1 to Shelter. My retaliation was simply that she had missed the point of how significant this event was. As I see it, it was an interesting step forward in political participation: a social networking site had united people behind a cause - one that was perhaps trivial - but it demonstrated the potential for Facebook to perhaps play a role in democracy. If it could be used to influence the sales of a music track, what could its potential be for more serious campaigns?

Then in the spring of 2010 the general election was called and party politics came to Facebook. Fan pages of Nick Clegg appeared. Pro-Lib Dem groups such as “We got Rage against the Machine to Christmas number 1, now let’s get the Lib Dems into office” played on the success of the campaign the following winter. Alongside this came anti-Tory groups with people posting Conservative Party posters with humorously edited alternatives. Then on May 6th, the day of the election, Facebook counted how many users had said they had voted. Of course anyone who understood the British electoral system was aware of the fact that the Lib Dems winning a majority vote in the majority of constituencies to win the general election was always quite an ambitious task. Finally with the election results came even more groups campaigning for proportional representation and anti-Tory slogans that users could “like”.

This would all spearhead this winter; a year since the Christmas number 1 campaign as the Facebook generation took to the streets in protest of the Coalition’s plans for reforming Higher Education through severe cuts and almost tripling Tuition Fees. The significance of the protests over the last few weeks has been highlighted very well by many journalists; youngsters are taking to the streets without a necessary affiliation to a party or campaign group. With the NUS soon to abandon the student cause after the first march on November 10th, youth organised themselves through the medium of Facebook. I witnessed for myself how social networking has aided political organisation when I found myself kettled in Whitehall amongst youngsters as young as 14 - if not younger - on November 24th. These students were still at school and not old enough to vote. When I was 14 my awareness of politics and government policy was minimal; yet these boys and girls were here in their school uniforms with homemade banners being pushed and held by police, prevented from getting access to food, water and toiletry provisions. When I was finally released from the Kettle after eight hours it was amusing to watch the police having to form a smaller line to keep parents out. The age of those protesting is a sign that politics is reaching them from outside the mainstream political process.

Facebook has provided a place where young people can debate and organise such events with considerable speed. The ability to create “Events” has evolved from simply birthday parties to organising protest. If you look at one event organised in London you will also find access to other events that others are advertising in other areas of the UK. Charities can advertise through “Groups” and “Pages”, whilst MPs now make the most of twitter to engage with voters. Even Ed Miliband has given people the chance to “Tweet” him policy suggestions for the Labour Party Manifesto.

I remember my ‘A’ level History lessons, wherein we discussed the effect developments in technology had on protest in the 1800s. For example, how the invention of trains made fast transport possible to bring people together in one place so that over 20,000 people could meet on Kennington Common in 1848 for the Chartist cause. Now in the 21st Century political organisation is taking place online – just like most of our lives now are. The days of standing on your soap box on Speaker’s Corner are gone; Facebook groups, blogs and Twitter are the future platform for political discussion. Groups such as “Students against Higher Tuition Fees - SIGN THE PETITION” have brought together over 150,000 people in one place.

As X-Factor came to an end this year, many campaign groups were quick to propose Iron Maiden, the Wombles and others for Christmas number 1. It will be interesting to see what developments 2011 will bring.

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