Change.org: The Problem of Subaltern in Women and Digital Activism in New Media as an Alternative
Selin Kiraz, Seyra KestelFrom a historical perspective, the concept of “subaltern” was first introduced by Antonio Gramsci in 1930 in relation to hegemony. However, the present day definition of subaltern includes people who are termed “oppressed” or “the other,” and their voices are unheard in society. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s term, “the other” is another name that makes this issue controversial. Gramsci and Spivak’s views on this subject are not only associated with each person but also separated at certain points. According to Spivak, the main problem is that subalterns can-not speak; in other words, their voices cannot be heard. In this context, when we use the concept of subaltern, the biggest issue we are facing is the problems faced by women, which in turn arise from the hegemonic inequality caused by gender. A woman can be identified as a subaltern because of social gender axis and counter-hegemony. New communication technologies have broadened the counter-hegemony areas of subalterns, while also ensuring the digital activism movements. For instance, with the widespread use of new communication technologies, almost everyone is able to use these technologies, and those who can-not physically have a power of opposition to the dominant ideology can create new formations through these channels. This article focuses on the campaigns related to women, which reflect the counter-hegemony efforts of subalterns and the effectiveness of such efforts in terms of digital activism that appears in www.change.org. In this study, women’s campaigns, launched in Turkey between January 1, 2016 and May 1, 2017 on change.org, were examined through content analysis and their results were evaluated.
Kadınların Madun Sorunsalı ve Bir Alternatif Olarak Yeni Medyada Dijital Aktivizm: Change.org
Selin Kiraz, Seyra KestelTarihsel süreç içerisinde ‘madun’ kavramı ilk kez hegemonya ile ilintili olarak Antonio Gramsci tarafından ‘subaltern’ terimiyle ortaya atılmıştır. Gramsci’nin bu tanımı günümüzde ‘ezilen’ ya da ‘öteki’ olarak tabir ettiğimiz, toplumda sesi duyulamayan kişileri kapsamaktadır. Bu konuda güncel tartışmaların önünü açan bir diğer isim; Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’tır. Madun kavramı; Gramsci ve Spivak tarafından birbiri ile bağlantılı ancak belli noktalarda ayrışan tanımlamaları barındırmıştır. Spivak’a göre asıl sorun; madunun sesinin duyulamıyor olmasından ziyade hiç konuşamamasıdır. Bu bağlamda; madun kavramını değerlendirdiğimizde karşımıza en çok toplumsal cinsiyetin neden olduğu hegemonik eşitsizlikten doğan kadınların sorunları ortaya çıkar. Toplumsal cinsiyet ekseni ve ataerkil hegemonyada madun olarak konumlanan kadınların hegemonya karşısında başkaldırabilmesi için alternatif bir alanın oluşması, madunun konuşması bağlamında önem taşımaktadır. Yeni iletişim teknolojileri madunun hegemonyaya karşı durabileceği alanlarını genişletirken, aktivist hareketlerin de dijitalleşmesini sağlamıştır. Bu makale; www. change.org’ta yer alan kadınlarla ilgili kampanyaları madunun hegemonyaya karşı durabileceği alternatif bir kanal olması bağlamında ele alarak, dijital aktivizm ile ilintili olan etkinliğini araştırmaktadır. Araştırmanın ana amacı; yeni iletişim teknolojilerinin gelişmesiyle birlikte alternatif kanalların ortaya çıkmasının örgütlenme bağlamında ne ölçüde başarı sağladığını saptamaktır. Çalışmada change.org’ta 1 Ocak 2016 ile 1 Mayıs 2017 tarihleri arasında Türkiye’de başlatılmış olan kadınlara yönelik kampanyalar içerik analizi yöntemiyle incelenerek sonuçlar değerlendirilmiştir.
From a historical perspective, the concept of “subaltern” was first introduced by Antonio Gramsci in 1930 in relation to hegemony. However, the present day definition of subaltern Gramsci includes people who are termed “oppressed” or “the other,” and their voices are unheard in society. Another theorist that gives rise to current discussions on this issue is Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Gramsci and Spivak’s views on this subject are not only associated with each person but also separated at certain points. According to Spivak, the main problem is the subaltern’s inability to speak, rather than being inaudible. Hereunder, it is impossible to speak for subaltern. In this context, when we use the concept of subaltern, the biggest problems that we are facing are women’s problems arising out of a hegemonic inequality and caused by gender. A woman can be identified as a subaltern because of social gender axis and counter-hegemony. New communication technologies have broadened the counterhegemony areas of subalterns, while also ensuring the digital activism movements.
This article focuses on women’s campaigns, which are related to counterhegemony efforts of subalterns, and their effectiveness in terms of digital activism that appears on www.change.org. In this study, a content analysis of women’s campaigns, launched in Turkey between January 1, 2016 and May 1, 2017 on Change. org, are conducted, and the results thereof are evaluated.
In this context, answers to the following research questions are sought:
Between the related dates, how many campaigns were launched about women’s issues, and what are their success rates?
Between the related dates, what kinds of organizations were made and what are their success rates?
Who are the campaign initiators and who are the receivers? What are their success rates?
What is the key role of the new communication technologies to create counterhegemony?
In this study, a content analysis was conducted through the above-mentioned research questions. Content analysis is a type of descriptive research method. Therefore, www.change.org was chosen as the communication resource sample of the study. As sample documents, women’s campaigns on the web site were specified, and they were limited to the period between January 1, 2016 and January 5, 2017,
From January 1, 2016 to May 1, 2017, a total of 226 women’s campaigns were launched on www.change.org, and only 26 of these campaigns were successful. Most of these campaigns were about violence against women (44.6 %).
As per the statistics derived from the analysis, the most successful campaigns are about improving women’s representation in the media vehicles.
The success rate of the campaigns, which were launched for increasing women’s employment as well as improving their working conditions, is 6.7 %. In addition, 5.8 % of the campaigns, which are regarding gender equality and positive discrimination in social as well as legal rights, were successful.
The campaigns on those dates were 57.5 % launched by women, 26 % by men, and 16.3 % were launched by different organizations or platforms.
Between the limited dates, a total of 59 men launched campaigns about women’s issues. Most of them launched campaigns on the web site after a case of violence against women occurred.
Receivers of the campaigns about women’s issues are governmental authorities, bureaucrats, constitutional and security units, opposition parties, and local government members—such as governors and mayors. Since most campaign efforts are about violence against women, especially Ministry of Justice was targeted in the campaigns. The Ministry of Social Policies and Family and the Ministry of Interior were also targeted in the campaigns.
Between January 1, 2016 and May 1, 2017, 26 of the 226 campaigns that were initiated on women issues were successful, and they created a change. The measure of success of a petition is to create change, as well as reaching the target number of signatures; as some of the petitions could not create any change even though they reached the target number of signatures. We do not consider these petitions as successful within our study. When we pay attention to receivers, the most successful campaigns are the ones sent to media companies and the Radio and Television Supreme Council (35.8 %). The other ranking rates are: private companies (21.7 %), political parties (19 %), the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (15.6 %), Presidency of the Republic (10 %), Ministry (9.7 %), Security and Forensic Units (6.3 %) and Prime Ministry (3.2 %).
New media and technologies help the society in making developmental progress; further, the voices of the subaltern can be heard by creating alternative media channels. Subaltern who can-not hear the voice in the traditional media can include digital activism by the development of new media technologies and can be heard. The campaigns of Change.org save individuals from being subalterns in the “context of discourse,” and the oppressed can make themselves audible through these new media.
