Digital placemaking, while easy to dismiss as immaterial and ineffective, is crucial in shaping the physical spaces that propel revolutions forwards. In Woman Life Freedom, Asma Mehan argues that digital spaces create sites of “virtual resistance” that aid in community organizing, amplifying feminist messages, and increasing engagement with feminist movements. However, Anita Varma and Sara Shaban warn of superficial activism in digital spaces as well.

The digital realm can create a sense of unity in the midst of geographic separation. Videos of women taking off their hijabs in public going viral create a sense of collectivity between individual actors. One notable example of this unity came in the form of the #WhiteWednesdays campaign begun by exiled Iranian activist Masih Alinejad. The campaign encouraged women to wear white hijabs on Wednesdays in protest of compulsory hijab laws. Mehan argues that digital campaigns like these enhance the protests happening in physical spaces by giving those protests a wider reach and “inspir(ing) collective action” (Mehan 9). 

Digital spaces also allow the messages of Woman Life Freedom to reach broader audiences, both in text and in art. For example, artists like Roshi Rouzbehani and Maryam Ayeen paired their art with the #MahsaAmini tag, allowing their work to reach an existing audience both in and out of Iran, Mehan says (12). The hashtag choice also ensured their work was viewed within the context of Woman Life Freedom and the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini, sparking dialogue and conversations that increase overall participation in the movement. The Iranian diaspora plays a particularly important role in this aspect of digital placemaking, because their position outside Iran allowed the movement to reach a diverse, international audience. The internet was also a pivotal method in which young people in Iran, arguably at the forefront of the movement, engaged in Woman Life Freedom.

While digital placemaking is important to advancing revolutions, scholars Anita Varma and Sara Shaban argue that digital activism must be substantive rather than superficial to be effective. To truly show solidarity, they argue, digital activism must not only amplify but propel revolutions in material ways. Substantive solidarity leverages publicity to create pressure for change, whereas superficial solidarity consists only of vapid messaging from afar. Varma and Shaban contend that digital placemaking, while critical to Woman Life Freedom, must show substantive rather than superficial solidarity to be effective. 

The state’s attempts to suppress digital spaces through internet blackouts further highlights the importance of digital spaces in moving modern revolutions forward. An Amnesty International investigation found that the regime killed at least 237 people within 48 hours of an internet shutdown in November 2022, preventing any online documentation of the killings. While Amnesty International was able to piece together large swaths of what happened during the internet shutdown, the lack of live documentation prevented them from obtaining a full picture. Mahsa Jina Amini's death sent shockwaves throughout the world because it had the internet to tell her story, not just of her death but of her life as well-- these 237 (probably more) people will not be able to have their stories amplified in the same way due the internet blackouts. 

Physical spaces have always been key to revolutions, but digital places create other avenues of participation and foster a sense of collectivity across borders. To truly be effective, these digital places must center meaningful displays of solidarity that center voices on the ground.

-M.A.

References

Mehan, Asma. "Digital Feminist Placemaking: The Case of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement." Urban Planning [Online], 9 (2024): n. pag. Web. 9 Dec. 2024

Anita Varma, Sara Shaban, Conceptualizing feminist solidarity through resistance in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, Communication, Culture and Critique, Volume 17, Issue 2, June 2024, Pages 120–126, https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcae003