In search of a new vanguard

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This study explores the historical relevance social movement vanguards within the framework of Marxian scientific socialism, while ascertaining the emergence of women as drivers of connective action in digitally enabled movements (DEMs). While the rhizomic structures of social movements have thrived on the spontaneity of emerging cells of social activist leaders, this study contests the claims of contradictions between spontaneity and vanguardism in DEMs. The study adopts the case study methodology to establish how technology affords more visibility to female icons of social movements by drawing examples from Sudan, Lebanon and Nigeria. Data was sourced from primary literature, digital archives and newspaper reports to tease out the history and current dynamics of women’s roles in social movements. It uses vanguardism as the conceptual framework for teasing out the intersections of gender, age, identity and technology as observed in DEMs. The study thus contends that technology plays important roles in restructuring the power dynamics of social action by showcasing how women such as Alaa Salah (Sudan), Malak Alawiye Herz (Lebanon) and Aisha Yesufu (Nigeria) emerged as icons of DEMs. It concludes that the weaponization of female bodies has become a potent form of resistance against the gendered biopolitics of sexual objectification and the necropolitics of state repression. The study thus advocates an all-inclusive approach to understanding the structures of social movements in recentring the iconic roles of women during connective action and physical protests. This is to enable the balance between vanguardism and spontaneity that is requisite for effective social action in the digital age.