Social media as a sphere of political disruption

Abstract

The public sphere in Africa has always been a preserve for “old boys” who at all material times dominated and monopolised the political discourses over their citizens. However, there has been an observable change with the advent and accelerated use of social media, as subalterns are now talking back to power. In Zimbabwe, much of the public sphere disruption has been led by what the government has termed “cyber-terrorists” or “dissidents” who openly discolour the characters of the ruling party and government elites. The use of social media, defined by its heightened ductility in the hands of users, has thrown the government and ruling party elites into panic, inviting extra-judicial and legislative changes seeking to curtail online expression. This chapter investigates how “cyber-terrorists” have been employing social media in Zimbabwe (2016–2018) to disrupt the general communication convention of top-down approach. Zimbabwe’s “cyber-terrorists” draw inspiration from folkloric, cultural, spiritual, pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial dissident figures who were celebrated as founding fathers/mothers and patriots among the African people while being lampooned and executed by government elites of the day. Deploying a reconfigured theorisation of the public sphere and of subalternity, the study examines the nature of dissidence in a sample of Evan Mawarire’s #ThisFlag campaign – thus, establishing the possibilities and limitations of deploying social media as a tool for disrupting and challenging hegemonic discourses, and expressing dissent, protest and dissidence as citizens engage with political and state actors.