Thoughts on Revolution, State Aid and Liberation Technologies

Abstract

The terms 'Twitter Revolution' and 'Facebook Revolution' gained currency during the so-called 'Arab Spring' which began in early 2010. It was then that representatives of the conservative Swedish coalition government began to make increasingly overt statements regarding the role of social media in the uprisings in North Africa, and the desire of the administration to offer not only political, but also material support to 'Net activists' working in the region. In this paper, I will discuss a number of the ways in which the Swedish government addressed and rationalised such support, and I will expand on the conclusions reached in a study conducted on the discourse surrounding technology and social change present in Swedish policy documents and political speeches. Of particular importance to the study was the question of the extent to which the Swedish government utilised what is called a 'liberation technology' perspective on the use of social media in the service of democratic change.