3.4.1 Technology and activism
Teaching students about how technology is being used in the context of climate activism can be informative while also offering examples that students may wish to put in practice themselves. Additionally, it’s important to raise awareness of how technology can be used to oppress and misinform.
Digital technologies have transformed the political practices of social movements, organisations and collectives around the world. Examples where technology has made a difference to activism include protests against state oppression, such as the Arab Spring protests in the early 2010s, recent protests against other forms of oppression, such as the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, and the school strikes for climate.
Technology, and particularly social media, allows a rapid coordination of thousands of people, as well as an incorporation of diverse forms of protest linked to art and culture, such as body art, concerts and flash mobs. All these recent protest movements had a strong youth presence. Powered by technology, activists are able to spread their messaging, expose inequalities and climate emergency, and advance social justice movements on a grander scale.
