Abu-Ayyash, S 2013, ‘Online Activism: Palestine Solidarity Movement’, paper presented at the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association ‘MeCCSA’ conference, Derry, 9-11 January.

1. MeCCSA 2013
PGN Panel:
“Social Movements”
Online Activism
Palestine Solidarity Movement
National University of Ireland, Galway
Shadi Abu-Ayyash
10-1-2013

2. ISM
The Palestine solidarity movement is made up of international
groups and societies that are active in supporting the Palestinian
people rights of freedom and self-determination and opposing the
Israeli occupation. The International Solidarity Movement (ISM),
which is a major global movement defines it self as “a Palestinian-
led movement committed to resisting the Israeli apartheid in
Palestine by using nonviolent, direct-action methods and
principles…. It aims to support and strengthen the Palestinian
popular resistance by providing the Palestinian people with two
resources, international solidarity and an international voice with
which to nonviolently resist an overwhelming military occupation
force.”
The solidarity societies, groups and campaigns that are widely
spread around the globe are created on local and national levels;
including on-campus.

3. Campaigns
The work of the solidarity groups could be classified under two levels:
1) On-going campaigns that focus on
- Raising awareness of the Palestinian cause (online websites, social
media, on ground activities, stalls)
- Organising visits to Palestine
- Supporting the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel)
campaign
- Lobbying media, politicians and decision makers in favour of the
Palestinian people rights
2) Responding to major incidents occur in Palestine (such as recent attack
on Gaza, Palestinian prisoners hunger strike)
- Organising demonstrations and protests
- Contacting local media and MPs
- Galvanising online campaigns through social media sites

4. Study Case:
Pro-Palestine Groups Activity on Facebook & Twitter
During Attack on Gaza/Operation Pillar of Cloud
14-22 November 2012

5. Questions
Examining patterns of online activities in particular type of materials
posted on Facebook pages and Twitter accounts during the selected time
frame:
- Nature of content
- Similarities and differences between local and regional groups
- Number of posts related to on-ground /offline activities
- Priorities of the pro-Palestine groups during crisis

6. Data Collection
• Data were extracted from the selected groups’ Facebook pages and twitter
accounts using Nvivo software
• Content posted between 13th to 23rd November 2012
• Materials posted only by the group admins were analysed , excluding other
content posted by group members/pages fans
• Studied groups are local, national and university based groups
• Non-active groups online were excluded form the analysis
• FB posts were classified into several categories
• Analysis of Twitter accounts is based related hashtags tweeted
Off Campus On Campus
Ireland 3 0
England 3 0
Northern Ireland 1 1
Scotland 0 2

7. Ireland Based Groups Activity on Facebook
1) Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC): HQ in Dublin, has branches in most
Irish cities; active in organising protests, cultural activities, lobbying and BDS
campaigns
- content related to the attack and Gaza news were the top two subjects
- The group on-ground/offline activities related materials came on 3rd and 4th places
(including the group branches activities)

8. Ireland Groups cont.
2) Act for Palestine: Small group, but active in organising constant protests in Dublin
- Top content were related to the attack news;
- Group and similar groups activities, mainly protests, took the next place

9. Ireland Groups cont.
3) Sadaka - the Ireland Palestine Alliance: The Dublin based organisation focuses on
lobbying politicians and NGOs; active in issuing reports
- Low activity on the group page on Facebook during the war
- The few posts were about news from Gaza
- Has not posted content related to its activities

10. Northern Ireland Groups on FB
1) Derry/Irish Friends of Palestine: Most active group in Northern Ireland; constantly
updating it s Facebook page content with materials related to its on-ground activities,
mainly its members’ visits to Gaza.
- Vast number of posts were news from Gaza and the war news update, compared to
few on-ground activities related news

11. Northern Ireland Groups cont.
2) University of Ulster Palestine Solidarity Society: Relatively newly formed group
- Shows limited activity online, in particular on its FB page
- Lobbying MPs comes in the second rank

12. England Based Groups on FB
1) The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC): the London based group, is active on the
national level in lobbying decision makers and organising grass roots activities
- Almost all of the content posted on the group page related to the war on Gaza
- The group local activities, including announcements and the actual activities news
took the second place
- News about England based protests in solidarity with Palestine and “sister” groups
news ranked on the 3rd place

13. England Groups cont.
2) Leeds Palestine Campaign: Leeds based solidarity group with Palestine, often
coordinates its on ground activities with the Leeds University based group.
- Active FB page compared to other national and regional groups
- Similar to other groups in terms of posting about the war and Gaza news
- Significant number of its all posts on FB page were related to media advocacy, and
media lobbying campaigns

14. England Groups cont.
3) Liverpool Friends of Palestine
• Similar to Leeds group in terms of focusing on Gaza news and local media
advocacy, although less number of posts

15. Scotland Based Groups on FB
1) Glasgow University Palestine Society: One of the most active Scottish groups; a lot
of its on-ground activities are carried on the streets of Glasgow city
- Relatively small number of posts during the war time
- Shares similar groups activities on its FB page
- Uses the page to announce internal activates such as the group meetings

16. Scotland Groups cont.
2) Students for Palestinian Rights (Caledonian University): Glasgow based group;
carries out a lot of shared activities with other Scottish universities groups.
- On-ground activities, in particular demonstrations organising and news comes on the
second place after the war related posts

17. The Bigger Picture
• Although groups differ from each others priorities, most of their FB pages were
focusing first on news coming from Gaza followed by the groups local activities,
adverting other groups activities, and less focus on lobbying media and decision
makers.
9 6
25
Lobbying Media & MPs
On-Ground Activities (meetings & protests)
Palestine (Gaza) News
Other Regular Campaigns (BDS, Settlements)
92

18. Ireland groups and Twitter #hashtags
1) Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (@ipsc48)
- Mostly tweeted about the war using the hashtags, Gaza and GazaUnderAttack
trending tweets
- Mentioning and tweeting Irish cities names indicates announcements of and news
about local on-ground activities

19. Ireland groups and Twitter #hashtags cont.
2) Act for Palestine (@ActForPalestine)
- Similar to IPSC in terms of using Gaza and GazaUnderAttack the most
- Tweets about on-ground activities focused on Dublin as a primary place for the
group activities

20. Northern Ireland groups and Twitter #hashtags
Irish/Derry Friends of Palestine (@IrishPalestine)
- Low volume of activity on Twitter during the study frame time
- GazaUnderAttack along with local related tweets were on same level of focus

21. England groups and Twitter #hashtags
1) Kent University Palestine Society @KentPalSoc
- GazaUnderAttack was used massively compared to other trending hashtags

22. England groups & Twitter #hashtags cont.
2) Labour Friends of Palestine (@lfpme)
- Gaza tweets were first (29 times), followed by BBC Question Time (bbcqt)

23. Scotland groups & Twitter #hashtags
• Although, Scottish activists were using twitter during the war to tweet about
events in Gaza, studied groups twitter accounts administrators, have not been so
active.
• Could be tweeting through their personal accounts
• More effort dedicated to Facebook or other social media sites

24. Gaza News vs. Local Activities News
160
140
140
120
100
Gaza news related tweets
80
67 Tweeting about local events
Other solidarity campaigns & activities
60
40
20 14 13 15
8
4 2
0
Ireland Northern Ireland England

25. In other words…
1. FB & Twitter sites are used mainly for sharing news about the central
point (Palestine/Gaza)
2. Second priority is announcing local events, sharing other groups
activities
3. Similar language (attack, occupation, solidarity)
4. Major/National level working groups is much more active online
5. The smaller the group, the more it shows interest in organising
demos within its local area
6. Level of effort put on lobbying decision makers and local media
advocacy is less than other areas of work
7. No sign for organising online campaigns
8. The online activity level/volume of materials posted, does not always
represent the effort carried out offline/on-ground
9. The mission and organisational nature of the groups decide their
work priorities; towards focusing on decision makers lobbying or on
streets demonstrations organising

26. Thank You

Shadi Abu-Ayyash
Huston School of Film & Digital Media,
NUI Galway
shadi.abu-ayyash@nuigalway.ie
http://actdigital.wordpress.com/
@shadi3000