Paper long abstract:

Internet ideology has a focal role in the activist imaginary in Lebanon. The belief that the widespread use of internet and social media will affect society led many actors to see the new media as an end not only as a means.

My aim is to investigate practices and imaginaries of activists involved in local NGOs, on-line journalism and new media projects supported by international humanitarian aid organizations. I show how new media are shaping people's understanding of activism and political partecipation, within a new context of transnational forms of powers, technologies of governances and development. Therefore I am interested in exploring new critical thoughts on new forms of disciplinary processes in the Middle East, and the way they are related to new hegemonic discourse about the capacity of new digital technologies to renew democracy, citizen empowerment and civil society.