Tag Archives | protest

The false media focus on violence: If it bleeds it still leads

By on September 14, 2017 in Digital Activism, Facebook, Journalism, Police, Social Movements, Sociology, Twitter

On Sunday, August 27, in downtown Berkeley, I witnessed thousands of protesters raising their voices against a planned white supremacist “Patriot Prayer” rally. In my decades as a documentary filmmaker of activism and now an academic studying movements and media, it was one of the most positive, diverse and unifying gatherings I ever observed. While […]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

From French Resistance to hashtag activism: How our obsession with the extraordinary masks the power of the ordinary

By on December 17, 2014 in Academia, Big Data, Digital Activism, Facebook, Silicon Valley, Social Movements, Twitter

I’ve become obsessed with “Un village français.” No, it’s not an idyllic town in Provence. It’s a French television series set during World War II. The show follows the residents of one French town as they navigate the German occupation. I tell myself that I am already into the 6th season (thank you, Netflix) because […]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Good Cop, Bad Cop at the DNC Protest

By on September 2, 2012 in Occupy, Police, Social Movements, The South

I was initially surprised at the demeanor of the police in Charlotte during the Wall Street South March on the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Having lived in North Carolina for 14 years, I always relish the cordiality when I return. But friendliness by cops at a protest? Last fall I had witnessed aggressive Oakland police in full […]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

I’m on the Wall for being at the Mall

By on May 17, 2012 in Academia, Occupy, Police, Social Movements, Sociology, The South

The Governments’ Digital Pictures of Protesters is not a Pretty Picture for Democracy I should be in court this week in Raleigh, North Carolina. Well, I am in a way, even though I’m writing this from Oakland, California. No, this isn’t science fiction or schizophrenia. It’s all about a sociogram. What’s that, you say? Let […]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }