Why public spaces matter in the Twitter revolution, and how they are under threat

For anyone who now questions the uses of Twitter or Facebook, or dismisses them as trivial and unimportant, point them to the Arab Spring. Point them to Tripoli and Tunis, to the fall of Mubarak and the loosening of Assad’s iron grip. Point them to Haytham Al-Hamwi, a Syrian student in the UK whose father, an aged heart-attack sufferer, was only three months ago released as a political prisoner.

Social media has revolutionized the ability of disaffected citizens to coordinate and organize their dissent. Its potency as a tool for protest and even revolution is evident in the Middle East, where high internet activity has brought revolutions over the past eighteen months to a head. Its influence is also clear from the failure of Chinese riots occurring early in 2011 to transform into the same widespread unrest that had broken out across North Africa and the Levant. Where internet access was (largely) free and unfettered in the nations of the Arab Spring, the Communist government’s control over its citizens’ internet activity was enough to quell coordinated protest.

Pixels alone then cannot topple a dictatorship. A physical presence is also needed. Across the Middle East, a mass of people became un-ignorable because of their presence in a public place. A position close to the heart of power and high profile enough to be noticed. True, their presence and their numbers were given coverage by Twitter and Facebook (as much as actual newsreel). But the sites of protest gave these revolutions a focal point.

Tahrir square was this focal point for Egyptians for three significant reasons. It was a universally recognized place where internet users could organize to meet. It was a place close to the centre of Mubarak’s regime which would grab his attention and the world’s. Finally and most importantly, it is a place close the hearts of the Egyptian people. It has been the site of previous protests such as the 1977 Bread Riot and the 2003 protest on the Iraqi war.

These places matter for citizens who wish their government to take notice of them. It is for this reason that we in Britain should view the loss of our own public spaces with fear. Opinion articles over the past year in the left-leaning press have decried the ‘privatisation’ of public spaces. But this is not the problem and by continuing to argue this, journalists are hiding the real culprits.

It is the Corporation of the City of London who was responsible for preventing the Occupy movement from camping at the London Stock Exchange. This governing body is responsible for the Square Mile of the City of London, and has special responsibilities to promote and protect London’s business interests. So pervasive is this Corporation’s influence, that it employs a ‘Remembrancer’, essentially a lobbyist, to work in the House of Commons and protect the City’s interests.

So why does the location of the Occupy protest matter? It may seem trivial, but consider the two significant effects of this action.

Firstly, most news coverage of the Occupy protestors followed the camp and therefore few visuals of the Stock Exchange were seen. This contributed to shielding the Stock Exchange from the debate.

Secondly, news media, by focusing on the new location outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral shifted the debate away from protests against unregulated banks. Instead the Occupy movement and the Church of England became embroiled in a months long battle about democratic rights and the moral role of the Church in modern Britain.

Now that the Occupy movement has finally been evicted from in front of St. Paul’s too, the abuses of the banks have successfully been taken out of the debate. Following the escalating eurocrisis, blame for the recession lies no longer with unregulated finance, but with government. The Occupy movement is the only group making the case for stronger banking regulation and a more compassionate response to those affected by the recession. But without a place to protest, the debate doesn’t exist.

Town and city squares are essential to the functioning of a liberal democracy. They are the focal point that can catalyze protest and force our leaders to pay attention. They cannot fulfill this function however when they are no longer genuinely public. As the fate of the Occupy movement shows, we may not have the liberty of protest for very long.

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