Freedom of Expression and Social Movements in the Digital Era

A Case Study of the 2015 Oromo Protest in Ethiopia

Elsabet Samuel Tadesse

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9783031978449
• eBook ISBN:
  9783031978456
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: African Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The book discusses the 2015 Oromo protest as a social movement that brought about new practices and new actors to the exercise of freedom of expression and information through its use of the Internet as an alternative communication platform and a site of political resistance. It is based on empirical data to analyze how collective movements, identity politics, and the Internet interacted and resulted in government change in contexts where draconian regimes operate and access to the Internet is minimal and expensive. The book scrutinizes the genesis and trajectories of the Oromo protest to provide insights into the diffusion of protest tactics learned from other domestic and global movements. It also introduces peculiar mass mobilization and communication tactics the Oromo protest utilized to establish a shared vision between the urban-digital activists and the rural-offline protesters.

Table of contents

• Freedom of Expression and Social Movements in the Digital Era
• Foreword by Wolfgang Benedek
• Foreword by Meron Zeleke
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• List of Figures
• About the Author
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Political Protests and Social Movements in Context
• 3. The 2015 Oromo Protest—Genesis, Movement Actors, Infrastructure
• 4. Cross-Learning Process Across Social Movements
• 5. The 2015 Oromo Protest and Legal Reform Process
• 6. Concluding Notes and Ways Forward
• Bibliography