Cross-Learning Process Across Social Movements
摘要
This chapter discusses the online strategy and the Internet-oriented social movement practices developed and utilized by the 2015 Oromo protest leadership structure to demand human rights protection and mobilize the masses through Internet-based political campaigns. The chapter provides insights into the diffusion of protest tactics from the Dimtsachin Yisema Muslims’ protest to the 2015 Oromo protest. It further reflects on the influence of the Arab Springs in mobilizing the mass and framing movement messages through the use of the Internet and the counternarrative that the Ethiopian government used to curb both Dimtsachin Yisema and the Oromo protests. These social movements were chosen for discussion, considering three key features they shared: the Internet’s central place in the organization of these three movements, the pivotal role young people played in these movements and the timeline when these movements happened as the turn of events in post-2010 developments. This chapter investigates how the Internet has functioned as an effective tool for political mobilization and cross-movement learning between the Dimtsachin Yisema Muslim protest and the 2015 Oromo protest. In doing so, the chapter situates these movements within a broader transnational context, examining the influence of the Arab Spring in mobilizing the mass and framing movement messages and repressive state responses aimed at curbing these Internet-mediated social movements.