Protests, Social Movements and media legislation in Mexico 2012-2014
Before May 2012, in Mexico there was only one great reference on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by a social movement, the Zapatistas, which emerged in 1994, which has based much of its communication strategy on Internet, even before the emergence of platforms for virtual social networks.
These in line with development and technological convergence have become an excellent means of communication, understanding previously that this tool , by itself, does not constitute any change.
Like any medium, it offers the possibility of bringing together those actors who share the same project or ideology, but with the technological advantage that such an approach enables the message to be massive and immediate.
This means that one of the greatest potentials of virtual social networking platforms is its ability to keep the organization of almost any large event in synchronous time, but it is clear that the movement is not made up by the use of these tools, but the ideal citizens who support it, in other words, the so called virtual social networks exist through the diverse thematic affinity and the mechanisms to implement them, and not by the mere fact of using computing platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube , etc.
As Azuela and Tapia (2013) point out, it is clear that activism on digital platforms has created new communities in virtual spaces pursuing common causes , identifying with each other and sharing the same goals; facilitating exchanges, building consensus and coordinating processes within a group, as well as the management of information and contacts effectively.
The objective of the proposed chapter is to describe and analyze the use and appropriation of ICT by movements such as # YoSoy132 , YoSoy26 and the Ayotzinapa movement, as well as the scope of the concepts of social movement mobilization and protest, as technologies have not only been a means of organization and mass synchronous call, but before the tendency of social exclusion in Mexican media legislation, the virtual social networking platforms have become the alternative media.
In the same manner the chapter aims to describe and analyze how the introduction of ICT in the social movements represents at least two challenges, one conceptual and one instrumental.
Conceptually because it energizes social relationships, the organization and the behavior of the movement itself, revolutionizing the so-called virtual or cyber social movements, concepts that simultaneously remain under discussion; and instrumentally, because it must overcome the barrier of second order digital divide , which seeks to assert that the development of cyber activism and appropriation of the platforms of virtual social networks are an essential tool for social movements of the XXI Century, surpassing certain challenges that are essential as a way of communication on the Internet, contributing to the creation of the Network Society that Castells has spoken of.
In May 2012 the disqualification of a rejection of the presence of the then presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto at a private university and the subsequent media attempts to discredit the protesters, led to one of the largest student movement in recent years: # YoSoy132 .
One of the peculiarities of this movement was the use of the platforms of virtual social networks for their organization and call for mobilizations in the electoral context of 2012 won adherents of various other movements to speak out against the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
The model of communication and collaboration # YoSoy132 was replicated in other contexts, such as the Tlatlaya and Ayotzinapa cases.
In the first, in the community of San Pedro Limon in the municipality, a confrontation was reported that occurred on the morning of June 30, 2014 between organized crime members and soldiers of the 102nd Infantry Battalion , and where 22 suspected criminals had been killed, however, a series of journalistic investigations began to assume that they had been extra judicially executed, which is a very serious and delicate situation for the Mexican State.
In the indictment and the intervention of military justice, 25 individuals underwent process "for their alleged responsibility in the commission of an offense against military discipline" (Sedena, 2014), who would be admitted to the military prison of Campo Marte, the October 3, 2013.
After the ruling a movement was formed called # YoSoy26, Referring to the 25 accused soldiers and 26 citizens who support them, similar to the idea of #YoSoy132.
A request was made on the change.org page "Free unfairly appropriated military doing their jobs in the Tlatlaya" case.
Which up to January 10, 2016 had two thousand 356 signatures.
The Ayotzinapa problem occurred In parallel form , in which we now know that on the night of September 26 in Iguala, Guerrero, the students of the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa were beaten, deprived of freedom and delivered to a cell of a criminal organization known as GUEREROS UNIDOS , Presumably with the connivance of units of the state police and the Mexican army.
During the months of October, November and December, various demonstrations and events were carried out convened mainly through the virtual social networking platforms .
By the end of 2014 demonstrations had been held in 56 Mexican cities and in 102 cities of 39 countries in most of America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
For the development of the objectives of this chapter the historical-structural method shall be used, since it does not intend to develop an a priori study but one of observation taking into account the context around the phenomena of study, linked to its own historical development, linked to the concepts of social networks and social movements from the perspective of sociology and political science.
To understand the concept first a theoretical framework will be built from the founding positions of Radcliffe-Brown (1996) through the vision of contemporary authors such as Colsa, Gonzalez Servin (2013) Galindo (2013) and Andión (2013); while talking about the concept of social movements will be based on the definition of Melucci (1989 and 1992), Munck (1995) and Lozares (1996).
On obtaining data and qualitative terms, the movements own platforms, blogs, columns and other critical information portals generated mainly by academics and reporters, and news circulating and that has circulated in the electronic media thereon shall be reviewed .2012-2014