Paper short abstract:

We examine how the public space of media in Benin advances people's dialogue in the change from participatory programming on radio to social media pages. As discontent moves from mass media to internet sites due to the political situations, we explore the possibilities of Online Politics from Below.

Paper long abstract:

People in Africa have recently been using mobile phones, which has greatly changed the way they communicate. In Benin, people can listen to the radio and watch TV with mobile phone, which makes programming more easily accessible than ever. Since the democratic turn in 1990, several private stations have opened with entertainment and participatory programs, so called “talk radio,”which have enabled people to publicly talk.

There are so many programs in which audience calls in to express their complaints of everyday life. The programs appeal to the audience, what we call Grogneurs, and allow them to express anything they want to say as there is a freedom of speech, which has empowered the development of democracy of Benin. In this communicative interaction, so called a public sphere, the audience who accuse government offices and politicians of injustice have the desire of criticizing and rebelling against authority.

However, in such model country for democratization, the situation has become more difficult in recent years. Since taking office, the current administration has gradually become authoritarian and controlled critical opinions. The government has controlled not only the opposition in parliament, but also the private media and the general public. Restrictions on media coverage have also tightened, prompting public opinion to seek alternative venues. Thus, in recent years, particularly young web activists have emerged who communicate directly to the public via social media. In this presentation, I would like to examine the possibility of digital activism through media and Online ‘politics from below’.

Paper short abstract:

The Anglophone crisis which erupted in Cameroon in 2016 and metamorphosed into a full blown war in 1917 saw the internet appropriated by youths whom I prefer to call them “Virtual Presidents.”

Paper long abstract:

Media and power can be likened to intimate strangers. This is not strange to Africa. Africa has been befuddled by conflicts of all sorts at the dawn of 21st Century. These conflicts have made use of social media in ways that were never intended by those who created the social media. The Anglophone crisis which erupted in Cameroon in 2016 and metamorphosed into a full blown war in 1917 saw the internet appropriated by youths whom I prefer to call them “Virtual Presidents.” These new types of warlords, who were living in the diaspora (United States, Europe and South Africa) used the internet, Twitters and WhatsApp to control some of the people on the ground. They gave instructions such as no schools, ghost towns, kill and kidnapped to their soldiers on the ground and the instructions were obeyed to the latter. Although this war met with resistance from the incumbent power brokers who saw the diaspora youths as digital dissidents, it showed in a way that those who teleguided the war from the diaspora by use of social media had become presidents in their own right. This paper questions who are these faces behind the masks? In other words who are these virtual presidents? What are their backgrounds how do they manipulate the population on the ground? What are the networks which they have created? What are the reasons that explains their actions?.

Paper short abstract:

On TikTok in Mali, influencers and other users spread messages on conflict that go viral. TikToks play a new role in the audiovisualization of conflict, as well as how people portray politics. What are these mediations about?

Paper long abstract:

The list of TikTokers with a large follower base is growing in Mali. These quote-on-quote influencers use TikTok to advocate certain beliefs, interests, and virtues. Like in the rest of the Malian media ecology, conflict is an important topic on the platform. Hence, TikTokers play a role in the communication of conflict and everyday livelihood in wartime. In this paper, I discuss TikTok as a discursive space of conflict by zooming in on Internet celebrities and viral messages on conflict. Based on discourse analysis, I make evident that TikTok is an affectively charged space where people discuss the conflict in biased terms.

Mostly, the tendentious content is characterized by a pro-government sentiment. The popularity of this content among audiences, as well as the success of TikTokers and the potential of TikToks to go viral, shows the growing importance social media users play in the creation of socio-political landscapes. Drawing on audiovisual examples, I demonstrate the role of famous as well as infamous TikTokers in the making of audiovisual perceptions of conflict.

Paper short abstract:

Le conflit au Mali s’exprime aussi en conflit intercommunautaire, qui se trouve en discours entamé surtout dans les groupes WhatsApp. Qui sont les influenceurs dans ces groupes ? Quels sont leurs rôles, leurs activité sur l’interprétation des relations intercommunautaires ?

Paper long abstract:

Le centre du Mali est tombé dans une insécurité chronique à la suite de l’implantation des islamistes radicaux de la Katibat Massina en janvier 2015. L’Etat malien décida de combattre ces groupes armées, ciblés comme terroristes et souvent Peuls, en s’adjudant le soutien des groupes d’autodéfense avec son corollaire le conflit intercommunautaire. Ce dernier fut à la base d’une médiatisation sans précédent du conflit sur les différents médias notamment sociaux. C’est ainsi qu’au niveau national et même de la diaspora, des plates-formes communautaires poussèrent comme des champignons sur WhatsApp avec des porte-paroles devenus porte-étendards d’un conflit communautaire. Devenus célèbres, ils propagent à tort ou à raison des messages de tous genres, notamment ceux soutenant les ‘terroristes’ ou évoquant le terrorisme d’Etat et de ses alliés envers des communautés. Ceci a valu à certains d’entre eux des bastonnades de la part du pouvoir militaire en place et de la séquestration pendant des semaines dans les geôles de la sécurité d’Etat. Qu’à cela ne tienne, ils demeurent des informateurs clés pour les communautés et des célébrités reconnues tant au niveau national qu’international. Cette communication se focalise sur le rôle de porte-paroles/influenceurs communautaires dans les groupes WhatsApp et leur impact dans l’exacerbation des tensions entre les communautés et le conflit dit intercommunautaire qui en a résulté.

Paper short abstract:

Using smart-phones, Mali's new 'videomen' are increasingly producing content and publicity for the post-coup political elites. The paper shows how nationalism, populism, and panafricanism is spread and performed through mass rallies and social media and with what political effects.

Paper long abstract:

Using smart phone technology, Mali's new 'videomen' are taking the center stage in producing content and publicity for the new pro-junta political actors. Since the military coup d'état in August 2020, the military transitional government derives its popular support through youth groups like Yéréwolo debout sur le Rempart (Yéréwolo). While previously excluded from national politics, these new actors are now positioning themselves and shaping post-coup conflict and politics in Mali. In these youth actors' protests against former political elites and new claims to authority, anti-French sentiments, support of Mali-Russia security cooperation intertwine with renewed claims to sovereignty to mobilise followers and disrupt existing authority structures. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Bamako amongst youth groups, journalists and video-men, online research of social media as well and participatory observations in meetings, this paper asks how key mobilization elements of nationalism, populism, and panafricanism is spread and performed through mass rallies and social media and with what political effects. The paper draws on assemblage theory (Deleuze) to analyse the heterogenous ways in which digital technologies and social media are shaping the transformation of politics without ignoring the wider sociocultural context within which specific technologies and digital information are conceived, refined, produced, diffused, and put to use (Bousquet, 2020). Following this approach, the paper explores two analytical tracks: the role of social media in shaping new claims to authority in a context of conflict and democratic uncertainty; and how nationalist and populist claims are tied to panafricanism and reconfiguring geopolitical orders in the region.