Podcast - The Story of Zimbabwe's Internet Shutdown

In January 2019, Zimbabwe's busiest cities were rocked by turbulent demonstrations and clashes between protesters and police. The images and messages of resistance in the streets were projected to the world through the Internet and social media — until the ZANU–PF Government initiated a full Internet shutdown.
Zimbabwe is not alone in this experience. The uprising in Egypt in 2011; the harrowing scenes in Sudan and the Kashmir region in 2019; the continued acts of censorship in Ethiopia and China - all of these are instances where social unrest and political turbulence have flowed from, and become entangled with, the repercussions of an Internet shutdown.
This investigation of Zimbabwe’s shutdown explores classic theories of the crowd and delves into the concept of resonance to answer the central question: why do Governments shut down the Internet when faced with civil unrest? 
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Orders in Decay · #14 Disconnected: Zimbabwe’s Internet Shutdown

With special guest, Dr Anne Alexander
DIRECTOR OF LEARNING, CAMBRIDGE DIGITAL HUMANITIES, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Dr Anne Alexander unravels what she and Dr Miriyam Aouragh (University of Westminster) call "spheres of dissidence" in their article, 'The Egyptian Experience: Sense and Nonsense of the Internet Revolution’. She helps us to understand Zimbabwe's Internet shutdown through her studies of digital media in the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Dr Alexander draws on her expertise to explain how the Internet was an important tool for Egyptian protesters - but we learn from her that it wasn't the only tool.

Top takeaways

Spheres of dissidence: ​"the capacity of activists...to create spaces where they can imagine alternatives to the existing political/social/economic order"
Resonance: "resonance is an overwhelming and assertive collective empathy...As activists articulate their dissent and desires through text, images and videos, resonance instantly courses through the online spheres of dissidence as a political force."
The aftermath: "People's homes were raided in the night. Men were lined up on the ground and beaten with batons. Or they were told to outrun the police. Children were arrested and held in the same cells as adults. The Commission described what happened as systematic torture."​
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Select resources
FOR THE FULL LIST OF RESOURCES, CLICK HERE

• Aouragh M and Alexander A, ‘The Egyptian Experience: Sense and Nonsense of the Internet Revolution’ (2011) 5 International Journal of Communication 
• Howard P, Agarwal S and Hussain M, ‘When Do States Disconnect Their Digital Networks?’ (2011) 14 The Communication Review 216
• Access Now, ‘Internet Shutdowns in Context’ last accessed 11 April 2019 
• Access Now, ‘#KeepItOn: Joint letter on keeping the internet open and secure in Zimbabwe’ last accessed 11 April 2019 
• Gordillo G, ‘Resonance and the Egyptian Revolution’ last accessed 11 April 2019 
• Gordillo G, ‘The Speed of Revolutionary Resistance‘ last accessed 11 April 2019 
• Magaisa A, ‘Zimbabwe – Silence of the Birds‘ last accessed 11 April 2019