Abstract
Social movements have become a communicative practice that the marginalised have used and still use to speak back to systems of oppression. This study investigates the communication practices of social movements in South Africa with specific reference to the Wits Fees Must Fall (Wits #FMF) and Abahlali baseFreedom Park (AbFP). The purpose is to understand how different modes of communication play out in activist spaces, the dynamics involved, and how the communicators and messages communicated intertwine with processes occurring every day. It looks at the implications of multiple communication practices of the two movements in expanding socio-economic and political transformation in South Africa. The “repertoires of communication” (Treré & Mattoni, 2016) conceptual framework is used to zoom into and compare the communication environment of movement activists in student and community movements in South Africa. I gathered the data presented in this study by conducting individual interviews with key participants of the Wits #FMF and AbFP movements, observing Abahlali in their natural settings, and analysing published and unpublished documents of the Wits #FMF. The findings of the study were analysed using content analysis and thematic analysis.
The findings highlight the role of multiple communication practices in the communication environment of activists in South Africa. It shows how different communication practices complement one another instead of cancelling each other out. It helps overcome theorisations that look at single online/offline communication practices. It shows the allowances and limitations of different communication environments and how these are related to the socio-economic and political inequalities in South Africa. It challenges dominant literature and its emphasis on the role of Twitter in the student movement. The comparative element of the study not only reveals the fluidity and multiple uses of various technologies and practices at once but highlights the continuous importance of face-to-face interactions in a world that seems to be glued to the recent wave of digital communication. At the same time, the study reveals the problematic role of the WhatsApp instant messaging platform for both Abahlali and the students. These highlights make an important contribution to the literature on social movements and digital media.