(University of Oregon, 2022-05-10) Francis, Elise; Newell, Bryce
The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis ignited protests around the world. Portland, OR quickly emerged as a vanguard for leftist organizing, based on principles of anti-racism, antifascism, and anarchism, leading to nightly demonstrations against law enforcement. The incentives to remain anonymous to thwart identification by police and right-wing opponents play out in-person and in online spaces, prompting new modes of organizing. Monitoring group boundaries, calling out wrongdoings, and limiting information to trusted comrades may estrange others who seek involvement in the rejuvenated Black Lives Matter movement. Social technologies create new dynamics in how activist networks can organize effectively, resolve conflicts, and endure hardship. This thesis proposes that mutual aid offers an inclusive and coalitional approach to addressing inequalities in the Portland community. It does so by leveraging the affordances of digital technologies to benefit the collective without requiring as robust a security culture as protests do and without foreclosing confrontational dissent against institutions of the state.
