‘Žít Brno’: Czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategies
The paper presents a case study of the Czech online activist group Žít Brno. The group that challenges local representatives and employs tactics of political satire, parody and culture jamming, evolved from a spontaneous one-off event to an ongoing political project and eventually became an institut...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Masaryk University
2014-10-01
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| Series: | Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/4313 |
| _version_ | 1797248050416058368 |
|---|---|
| author | Alena Macková Jakub Macek |
| author_facet | Alena Macková Jakub Macek |
| author_sort | Alena Macková |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The paper presents a case study of the Czech online activist group Žít Brno. The group that challenges local representatives and employs tactics of political satire, parody and culture jamming, evolved from a spontaneous one-off event to an ongoing political project and eventually became an institutionalized political actor. The case study, based on interviews with group members, content analysis of the project website, longitudinal observation of the group's activities and other additional material, enables us to research the limits and the potential of online tactics and the way online practices are intertwined with a more traditional repertoire of collective action. Building on debates about online political participation and the broadening concept of the political, we interpret the group's protest as a reaction to the crisis of institutionalized local politics and we discuss the actual role of new media in such a protest. The conclusion is that online protest and new media, despite their criticized action-less character, could enable a functional bridge to “real” politics but at the same time they do not play an exclusive role in successful protest politics and have to be interpreted within the context of a particular political action. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T20:08:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0224a9033c9942379b151787a961084b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1802-7962 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T20:08:25Z |
| publishDate | 2014-10-01 |
| publisher | Masaryk University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace |
| spelling | doaj.art-0224a9033c9942379b151787a961084b2024-03-23T13:15:27ZengMasaryk UniversityCyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace1802-79622014-10-018310.5817/CP2014-3-5‘Žít Brno’: Czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategiesAlena MackováJakub MacekThe paper presents a case study of the Czech online activist group Žít Brno. The group that challenges local representatives and employs tactics of political satire, parody and culture jamming, evolved from a spontaneous one-off event to an ongoing political project and eventually became an institutionalized political actor. The case study, based on interviews with group members, content analysis of the project website, longitudinal observation of the group's activities and other additional material, enables us to research the limits and the potential of online tactics and the way online practices are intertwined with a more traditional repertoire of collective action. Building on debates about online political participation and the broadening concept of the political, we interpret the group's protest as a reaction to the crisis of institutionalized local politics and we discuss the actual role of new media in such a protest. The conclusion is that online protest and new media, despite their criticized action-less character, could enable a functional bridge to “real” politics but at the same time they do not play an exclusive role in successful protest politics and have to be interpreted within the context of a particular political action.https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/4313Online activismpolitical participationculture jammingelectronic repertoire of contention |
| spellingShingle | Alena Macková Jakub Macek ‘Žít Brno’: Czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategies Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace Online activism political participation culture jamming electronic repertoire of contention |
| title | ‘Žít Brno’: Czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategies |
| title_full | ‘Žít Brno’: Czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategies |
| title_fullStr | ‘Žít Brno’: Czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategies |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Žít Brno’: Czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategies |
| title_short | ‘Žít Brno’: Czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategies |
| title_sort | zit brno czech online political activism from jokes and tactics to politics and strategies |
| topic | Online activism political participation culture jamming electronic repertoire of contention |
| url | https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/4313 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alenamackova zitbrnoczechonlinepoliticalactivismfromjokesandtacticstopoliticsandstrategies AT jakubmacek zitbrnoczechonlinepoliticalactivismfromjokesandtacticstopoliticsandstrategies |