# Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/books/twitter-and-tear-gas-the-power-and-fragility-of-networked-protest/
- Published: 2018-06-05T11:27:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**A firsthand account and incisive analysis of modern protest, revealing internet-
fueled social movements’ greatest strengths and frequent challenges**

To understand a thwarted Turkish coup, an anti–Wall Street encampment, and a packed
Tahrir Square, we must first comprehend the power and the weaknesses of using new
technologies to mobilise large numbers of people. An incisive observer, writer, 
and participant in today’s social movements, Zeynep Tufekci explains in this accessible
and compelling book the nuanced trajectories of modern protests – how they form,
how they operate differently from past protests, and why they have difficulty persisting
in their long-term quests for change.
Tufekci speaks from direct experience, combining
on-the-ground interviews with insightful analysis. She describes how the internet
helped the Zapatista uprisings in Mexico, the necessity of remote Twitter users 
to organise medical supplies during Arab Spring, the refusal to use bullhorns in
the Occupy Movement that started in New York, and the empowering effect of tear 
gas in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. These details from life inside social movements complete
a moving investigation of authority, technology, and culture – and offer essential
insights into the future of governance.