Disruption as a communicative strategy: The case of #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall students’ protests in South Africa

Abstract

In 1994 South Africa became a miracle in the world of postcolonies as a newly independent ‘rainbow’ nation state. Apartheid was replaced by an informal but still identical system which I refer to as apartheid. Good governance, democracy, peace, civility and quiet are framed by the media and regarded by investors and political elite among others to be the preferred set-up of things. Using the rage in the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student protests as data, I argue that disrupting the world as we know it in order to address the poor’s grievances is part and parcel of strategic and effective communication especially for the marginalized poor majority black people whose dreams remain deferred. This argument will be framed by questions around the current burdens of apartheid, the achievements of disruptive protests and the meaning, roles and behaviours of officialdom towards members and ideologies of Fallist movements.

Dark Humour, Ubuntu and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of Subaltern Humouring of Political Elite Deaths on Social Media

“…Social media have played different roles in politics, including as a space for resistance against the government atrocities and memory suppression (Ndlovu, 2017a, b;Ndlovu, 2018;Theocharis et al, 2015;Mpofu, 2014Mpofu, , 2015Mpofu, , 2019a, as sites for resistance and protest planning (Shirky, 2011;Mpofu, 2017), and as citizens' sites for critiquing the government of the day and expressing themselves during elections (Stein, 2013;Poell, 2014;Jungherr et al, 2016;Mpofu, 2019b) and undermining or rebelling against governments (Matsilele & Ruhanya, 2020;Guobin, 2009;Cross, 2016;Matsilele, 2019). Dissidents are seen as traitors and enemies of the state especially if they depart from the political elite authored script of what it means to be a citizen.…”

Theory Meets Practice: Updating the Contingency Theory of Conflict Management with Insights from an Adroit Practitioner

“…The jam strategy was also identified since it is a specific form of activism that matches very well with Playmaker definition. Mpofu (2017) discusses how engaging in aggressive protests employed as publicity events, like blocking traffic, disrupts societal routines. These events are inherently newsworthy and can easily attract media attention to a cause or issue.…”

Communication, Social Movements, and Collective Action: Toward a New Research Agenda in Communication for Development and Social Change

“…These insurgencies emerged for multiple reasons, many developing in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008 (Kavada, ). The examples range from the Arab Springs across the Middle East, to insurgences in Southern Europe, with the Spanish Indignados movement and its widespread protest against austerity as a powerful example (Castells, ; Gerbaudo, , ; Ordóñez, ), to student protests in South Africa (Mpofu, ), as well as public service and anticorruption protests in the Vinegar revolution in Brazil (Cammaerts & Jiménez‐Martínez, ) and the youth‐led Umbrella revolution in Hong Kong. While the list is long and the reasons for insurgency and protest among these social movements were many, communication rights lie at their heart (Milan, ; Peruzzo, ).…”