An exploration of online network societies of social movements, ideologies and the communication of united action in Kenya

In recent years, social and political movements and protests have risen in striking numbers
throughout the globe, and much of their success may be attributed to the use of digital technologies
and new media (Selander, Young and Vaast, 2019). The studies into these movements, however,
have been mostly interested in those that occur in the global north, and apart from the Arab
uprising in North Africa, the mass resistance of activists in sub-Saharan Africa have not received
similar attention (Aidi, 2018). The north African Arab Spring may have inspired other socio-
political movements in some countries in the sub-Saharan region (de Waal and Ibreck, 2012).
However, there is very little research available into how different movements of varying political
ideologies coordinate online activism and sustain a united resistance against the state. This
research seeks to fill this gap, by examining the relationships between ideologies, how the
experiences and structures of oppression are connected in Kenya, and how activists collaborate,
and form unified fronts against oppressive forces through the medium of digital communication.
The successful efforts of recent western online movements like #BLM, for instance, is said to have
benefitted from the multiple sets of ideologies inherent in the movement, such as anti-police
brutality, racial equality, economic and social class, queer rights, anti-fascism, feminism and
progressive or Marxist political motivations (Cohen and Jackson, 2016; Ransby, 2015; Adams, 2020;
Mattson, 2016). In the Kenyan context, human rights activists and social movements campaign
against several issues that are prevalent in the country. These include suppression of speech/media
(Abdi, 2019), anti-LGBT laws (Ghoshal, 2019), femicide and gender inequality (Ombuor, 2019;
Nyabola, 2018), police brutality (Wabwire, 2020) and political/government corruption (Khalid and
Thompson, 2019), to name a few. Digital technology and social media are slowly broadening the
landscape for political dissent in the country (Admire, Bosch and Ncube, 2020; Ogenga, 2020),
while also paving the way for social and political movements to form and find freedom in online
spaces (Lim, 2012; Mbenga, 2013; Kamau, 2017). However, there are still institutional barriers to
speaking about certain anti-establishment causes and on-the-ground activities and offline protests
are sometimes stifled and may risk violence from opposition groups (Mutahi and Ruteere, 2019).
This PhD is specifically interested in the bypassing of those institutional controls. How the free
flows of information in online spaces allows multiple strands of anti-establishment ideologies to
form digital communities of activists, and the capacity to which this might lead to a cohesive
message against state-imposed and institutionalised oppression. The study will investigate five
social movement groups in Kenya, which includes LGBT rights, women's rights, free speech/media,
anti-government corruption and anti-police brutality. This research will explore the ways in which
these movements use digital technologies, new and social media to exchange ideas, mitigate
challenges of online activism, and whether the internet plays a particular role in unifying
movements. The selection of these particular groups is based on the idea that, although these
groups are motivated by singular issues and that forms of oppression or repression are subjective,
it can be argued that the principal adversary to each of their causes is primarily the Kenyan state,
with regard to laws and policies, for example. Therefore, it provides a solid foundation on which to
begin a study into the formation of digital networks of activists and social movements, and how the
merger of these ideologies may result in collective action.