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I am deeply concerned about the situation in Bangladesh. There is euphoria, rightly, about the power of the people. But far too often in recent years, we have seen that power succeed at disruption while leaving dangerous power vacuums for succession...
We saw it in different ways in the Arab Spring, in Tunisia and Egypt, and then in other ways in Syria and Yemen: popular movements in the digital age excel at mobilization and disruption but are totally unequipped for transitioning or holding power toward something better. Repeatedly, legacy institutions step in and reassert their raw power, making things worse.
Zeynep Tufekci captured this dynamic well in her book Twitter and Tear Gas: https://www.twitterandteargas.org/downloads/twitter-and-tear-gas-by-zeynep-tufekci.pdf [PDF!]
If We Burn by Vincent Bevins seems to capture it in even more depth, but I have only read reviews: https://newrepublic.com/article/175314/decade-mass-protest-mass-disappointment
From a media perspective, this is a story of online social infrastructures designed for outrage and virality but that do not enable participants to build durable organizational power.
In the years since my euphoric book on 2011 protests, I have been trying to crack this nut: how can online networks enable not just disruption but co-governance, not just circulation but solidarity?
It is for moments like this, in part, that I have been searching for ways that people can collectively govern online, from co-ops to DAOs to simple shifts in interface design: https://ntnsndr.in/books
But there is a long way to go.
For now, beware of the euphoria. If you are in a position to do so, help put pressure on the Bangladeshi military and other institutions to bring about more democracy and respect for human rights, not less.
Long term, as we build movements, we need to be sure we have the institutional power to follow through on our disruptive dreams.
@ntnsndr do you know the software liquidfeedback? I didn't read the developers book (https://liquidfeedback.com/en/book-the-principles-of-liquidfeedback.html) but used the software in my time at the German Pirate Party and I haven't seen such a good working machine for creating democratic decisions ever after. Not only yes or no answers but complex texts. Of course liquidfeedback wouldn't work in all scenarios but liquid democracy and some other concepts implemented by liquid feedback are, from my perspective, key to good online democracy.
Yes, it is definitely a helpful tool to have, though certainly not sufficient on its own.
@ntnsndr I assume you're familiar with like https://newpublic.org/ and what not? And Ethan zuckerman?
These are probably mildly insulting questions so apologies, but maybe they'll be useful to someone reading
Thanks! I'm a big fan of both:)