How to see the world by Nicholas Mirzoeff

Summary of chapter 7 

Rebellion through the use of media and online platforms now coined ‘hactivism’ was first used by the Mexican rebel army the Zapatistas in 1994, with the agenda was to open up an alternative way of life to that of globalisation. The Zapatistas released their political agenda online through a series of declarations “form below, for below” (255). Since then global digital culture and social media have become widely used to evoke visual thought about representation and social change in the era of globalisation (256, 259). Social media allows for the rapid dissemination of information uncontrolled by mainstream media. This new form of communication and protest influenced other forms of visual culture such as street art, graffiti and video collectives. “Graffiti is a way to reclaim public space” and drive political debate and discussion for those who may not have access to mainstream media or art galleries (264). The 2011 movement Occupy Wall Street allowed those who were usually made invisible within the paradigm of financial globalisation a voice. The relatable slogan “we are the 99%” was used to represent this movement referencing the vast majority of people that live outside of the 1% of Americans that own a quarter of the countries wealth (274). Although the Occupy movement did little in changing wealth inequality, it opened up discussions of inequality into mainstream media, this was heavily aided by online platforms such as Tumblr and Twitter. Participants took selfies holding hand written signs telling their story, this platform allowed any participant to tell their story with the authenticity that mass produced protest signs could not (275, 276).  During the occupy movement and since, the Internet has been used to expose police brutality, through memes (a widely reproduced and circulated visual image) and viral videos. Following this exposure mainstream media started distributing these visual sources of police brutality, “what began as a social media meme has become a mainstream media pattern of reporting that unintentionally reinforces the events that are being covered” (282).