Helena Marie Fahnrich

The ripple effect of WikiLeaks brings out questions of privilege.  Classified information carries a public perception - a perception shaped by rhetoric.  How does Wikileaks take down our perceptions of privilege information?  How does Wikileaks create accessibility of information?  How is Wikileaks a newspaper?  In what ways is Wikileaks interchangeable for a go-to newspaper like, for example, The Guardian?  Conducting an analysis of the website will address these questions      

Parameters of digital activism are defined in the first online reading as such: The reasons that spur people to action (the author mentions oppression) + digital activism = inspiring people towards social/political movement. The revolutionary quality of digital activism lies in the basic functionality of the internet, which is individual agency; anyone online can access what is available online and the internet allows people to produce whatever they want online. The potential for freedom is unencumbered.   Digital activism offers a route of practical enactment when fostering decentralized movements. The internet facilitates anonymity. The internet is a method of disseminating activist agenda. It functions as a method of action (She uses the example of Cablegate). Because the internet is a major aspect of our culture, organizations maintaining complex structures online are inherently susceptible. Lastly, the digital realm is a placeholder for monetary...

The chapter begins with instances of the Arab Spring.   Lybia's national army was not supported by the nation, but instead by the "dictator and his clique" (in regards to Gaddafi). Furthermore, Gaddafi played the social population against one another and his actions were a political outgrowth of concentrated wealth in the region surrounding Gaddafi and a lack of wealth in, specifically, eastern parts of the country. Castells gives a short explanation of how social media  impacted efforts of " tribal rebellion,"  which in turn escalated to civil war. The discussion soon moves to g eopolitical strategy. An intervention via France/UK/Italy, US and NATO  prevented Gaddafi and his sons from engaging in a planned door-to-door murder of rebels. Also, t he geopolitical move involved a strategy to obtain Lybian oil by France/UK/Italy in which Russia/China were "caught off guard and out maneuver by NATO" (p.99).  Reflecting on these events, Castells points out...