2019-08-26 Bloomberg Businessweek

The New Old Tools of Protest

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KANG HEE KIM FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK; STYLIST: PAOLA ANDREA

topropelandsustaintheiruprisings.

Thisis in partbecausethesame

technologicaladvancesthatmadeit

possibletomassmillionsofpeoplein

thestreetsofCairohavealsoenabled

increasinglysophisticatedgovernment

surveillance.“Ifwelookatmovements

andgovernmentsasengagedin a

contest,youexpecttoseea cycleof

innovationandcounter-innovation,”

saysHardyMerriman,presidentof

theInternationalCenteronNonviolent

Conflict,basedin Washington.

“Whatwe’reseeingnowis anincredible

cycleofcounter-innovation,anda lotof

peoplearewatching.”

Encryptedmessagingapps,social

mediamobilizing,andlivestreaming

havealldonetheirpartthistime

around.Butorganizershavelearned

thatit doesn’ttaketechnology

todisrupttrainservice,snarl

traffic,orcreatea strikingimage.

�JanetPaskin,withGregoryViscusi,

WilliamTurton,JakeRudnitsky,and

PatriciaLaya

CLICK

COUNTERS

Governmentsunder

pressurehaveevery

incentivetominimize

thescopeofdissent,

andtheyoften

downplaythesizeof

massdemonstrations.

Torefutethepolice

figures,a Russian

groupcalledWhite

Counterhasvolunteers

counteveryonewho

passesthroughofficial

entrypoints.“The

policefiguresare

usedforpropaganda,

whichlongago

divorcedfromreality,”

saysa volunteer

coordinatorforthe

group.“Independent

mediabegantotrust

ourfigures.”

LASER

POINTERS

Bysomeestimates,

HongKonghas50,000

closed-captionedTV

camerastrained

onpublicareas.

Protestershavelong

wornmasksand

bandannastoavoid

recognition,butthey’ve

alsobegunwaving

laserpointersand

flashlightstomake

thefootageharder

todecipher.The

erraticlightshowhas

theaddedbenefit

ofdisorientingand

annoyingpolice.