Honorary Professor Zeynep Tüfekçi: “The success of protest movements is quickly forgotten”

Tüfekçi grew up next to Gezi Park, a city park in Istanbul known for the large-scale, nationwide, anti-authoritarian protests held there in 2013. Her career began as a computer programmer but soon focused on digital technology in protest movements. According to her UvA honorary supervisor Justus Uitermark, Tüfekçi is someone who, in a “headstrong way” can provide “penetrating analyses” of “developments that are taking place right this moment.”

With the advent of corona, protest movements worldwide came to a standstill. At that time, Tüfekçi changed her tack and focused on corona policy and the role of the media. For example, she was critical of the mainstream media that failed to convey the importance of wearing face masks. But that was not a definitive career move. “When the protest movements start up again, of course, I’ll go back to following them again.”

Did the honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam come as a surprise?

“Yes, it was a huge surprise. My field, digital technology in social (protest) movements is still young, and when I first started I often had to explain to people what I was actually researching. To be awarded an honorary doctorate for it now is a huge honor. It also shows that protest movements and technology are interesting subjects to study scientifically.”

How do you compare protest culture in Amsterdam to the rest of the world?

“I have been to Amsterdam several times, but not for a protest. More broadly, protest culture in Europe is very different from Arab countries, because Europe is generally much more stable and has democracies. That affects the protest culture, since protesting is a means people use to be heard. In the Netherlands, by voting, or through freedom of speech, you can also make a statement or attract attention. In Europe, a protest is not the only way to get something done.”

How have protests changed with the advent of digital technologies such as smartphones and social media?

“With the advent of the Internet, it has become easier to announce protests and get people together. It used to take large organizations, years of organizing, and calls to action in newspapers. The process was much more complex. Now you can just post something on Facebook or Twitter to organize a protest. As a result, some protest movements today lack the internal structure and organization to have conversations among themselves and determine strategy. All of this may have, paradoxically, made today’s protests seem less important in the eyes of those in power.”

What makes a protest movement successful?

“That depends on what you want to achieve. If you just want to get a message across and create awareness, you don’t always need a strong structure. But if you want to change a policy, a higher level of organization is essential. Also, successful protest movements in the past have always had internal conversations and thought strategically about how best to make an impact.”

Does the action group Extinction Rebellion (XR) have the ingredients to force the government to adopt better climate policies?

“It hasn’t succeeded yet, but it’s too early to judge. Some protest movements take decades to make a difference. Besides, climate is a very complicated issue. You are asking to rearrange the whole energy economy of the Earth. So it’s hard to attach labels like ‘success’ or ‘failure’ to this. Even if it succeeds in changing climate policy, the climate will not change immediately.”

“Yet climate movements have proven successful in history. In the last century, there was a lot of air pollution, such as the great smog build-up in London in 1952 that caused an estimated 12,000 deaths.  In the 1970s, Earth Day protests were organized that led to policy changes such as the regulation of emissions from cars and buildings. Over the next 10 to 20 years, the air became cleaner. So it was an incredible success, but once you achieve that, people tend to forget about it quickly.”

“I’m trying to figure out what the next phase of protest movements will be, and I’m also interested in how AI will impact it. Artificial intelligence will not directly affect the protest movement, but it will affect the economy and jobs. But how this will happen exactly we can’t predict because it depends on so many complex processes.”

Honorary doctorates are awarded at the Dies Natalis of the University of Amsterdam. This year it will take place on Thursday, January 11th. Besides Tufekci, the UvA is also awarding an honorary doctorate to Editor for Legal Affairs and Commentator at NRC, Folkert Jensma.