Brewing for democracy: digital activism & the #MilkTeaAlliance

­In cooperation with the convenor, Nhu Truong, New Mandala is happy to share a sequence of articles primarily based on papers introduced on the Individuals’s Energy and Resistance in Southeast Asia Roundtable on the thirty fifth Biennial Convention of the Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Research. You may learn Nhu Truong’s introduction right here.

The #MilkTeaAlliance Motion happened when Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thai netizens banded collectively in response to the harassment of two Thai celebrities accused, by nationalistic Chinese language web customers, of supporting Hong Kong and Taiwanese independence. This meme-war-turned-movement has since expanded, transcending nationwide and linguistic borders. But, as main social motion students Erica Chenowth and Zeynap Tufekci argue, the digital enjoying discipline is tilted towards authoritarians. The political scenario in nations the place the #MilkTeaAlliance originated has remained dismal and worsened for some greater than a 12 months later. Is digital activism nonetheless cogent and worthwhile for social actions below authoritarian regimes?

Worldwide media was fast to laud the #MilkTeaAlliance as an innovation to “beat China’s on-line military” and battle towards authoritarianism. Whereas there was a lot optimism about on-line activism such because the Arab Spring, disappointment has adopted as authoritarian leaders responded by consolidating energy. This leads to authoritarian resurgence and state failure.

Following the dissent in Hong Kong, Thailand and Myanmar, the political landscapes within the three locations has deteriorated. The implementation of the Nationwide Safety Legislation has amounted to a multifront assault on Hong Kong’s political rights and civil liberties. Thai authorities weaponised lèse-majesté to focus on protest leaders. The army authorities in Myanmar has doubled down on its repression of dissenting voices, with the toll of arrests and killings has skyrocketed for the reason that coup. In accordance with the 2022 V-Dem report, all three nations are more and more autocratic.

It’s untimely to conclude that digital activism is futile, because it takes greater than digital mobilisation to alter the prevailing energy construction. The higher query can be why do protesters nonetheless faucet into digital activism? What do these contentious repertoires provide activists below authoritarian regimes?

Whereas students and practitioners emphasise the attainment of targets (coverage acquire and alter) in measuring motion success, it’s pertinent to additionally take into account the sustainability of the motion as a objective in itself. For example, lots of the Hong Kong protesters within the 2019 Anti-ELAB motion have been initially politically activated by their participation within the 2014 Umbrella Motion. Biographical penalties of activism prolong past the affect on the activist’s private life to incorporate results on the broader tradition.

The #MilkTeaAlliance gives an impetus in cultivating a pan-Asian solidarity and has the potential to be a long-term transnational community constructing venture that reshapes how residents from the area forge a collective pro-democracy consciousness. The preliminary commonality activists shared centres across the frustration and threats many really feel towards Beijing’s assertiveness within the area: China’s aggression within the South China Sea, its army tensions with Taiwan and India, and rising violations of Hong Kong’s autonomy.

Because the alliance matures, its message has broadened to embody pushback towards authoritarian governments and demand for democratic reforms. The hashtag spiked when the Thai authorities cracked down on the student-led protests of 2020-2021. Equally, #MilkTeaAlliance trended when Myanmar individuals took to the road protesting the army coup that ended the quick span of Myanmar’s quasi-democracy. This perceived shared wrestle for democracy fosters collective identification and reciprocal solidarity, which may enhance the willingness to interact in additional and even higher-risk activism.

Moreover, solidarity that transgresses state borders, wherein individuals converse for and assist one another’s values, can be seen in diaspora mobilisations. Those that have migrated out of authoritarian states right into a democratic host nation are granted political alternatives to advocate on behalf of their communities-of-origin, thus regaining their voice after exit. In a survey of Hong Kong People my colleague and I carried out in August, nearly half of our respondents (585) reported taking part in US-based actions akin to becoming a member of a rally and donating to organisations/people that advocate for Hong Kong, and actively discussing Hong Kong points on-line.

Extra so, offline mobilisations led by diaspora teams below the #MilkTeaAlliance motion have gone past homeland orientation. Not solely advocating for political modifications of their homeland, diasporic #MilkTeaAlliance activists additionally mobilise for the problems of different nations. For example, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Thai and Taiwanese diaspora teams organised joint rallies in Washington DC and New York Metropolis to protest the Myanmar army coup. This outward diaspora activism, as proposed by Kennedy Wong, thus echoes the solidarity and reciprocity that has emerged in Asia whereas transnationally bridging diaspora teams to broaden the actions’ community.

Actions which are unable to take care of some type of collective political identification will face decline and disintegration. The digital energy #MilkTeaAlliance has galvanised a wave of transnational pro-democracy mobilisations, but is just too early to inform whether or not “milk tea is thicker than blood” (as within the Thai slogan), as collective identification must be repeatedly reaffirmed and renegotiated. The alliance must construct infrastructure to facilitate additional trade and mobilisation, which would be the subsequent problem given the decentralised nature of the motion.