This article clearly contributes to the overall discussion of online activism, particularly as its case study, China, shares similarities with Arab and African nations with heavy censorship and economic difficulties for its people. Its sub-classification of activism into categories of cultural, social, political, and nationalistic activism is of value, as other articles did not cover this particular aspect of the topic.

Online political activism is defined as separate and distinct to the other forms of activities as it "focuses on human rights, political reform, and other issues that touch directly on how China is governed, by whom, and on what basis" (Yang, 2009, p.33-34). The article indicates that people have become creative in the ways that they can legally harness the Internet as a tool for collaboration and organization, through provoking controversy (resulting in raised awareness), bypassing filters, and anonymous participation (Yang, 2009, p.34-35). This clearly relates to the plight of protestors in Arab nations, like Egypt and Tunisia, as they engaged in similar methods to demand political change.

It appears that like the Africans in "Encouraging Political Participation in Africa: The Potential of Social Media Platforms", China is slowly gathering momentum and has the potential to threaten the power of the government in the future, similar to the Arab Revolutions.

The article "The Revolutions Were Tweeted: Information Flow during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions" highlighted the significance and power of the "other", ordinary individuals, who were the largest number of contributors to the movement (Lotan, Graeff, Ananny, Gaffney, Pearce, and boyd, 2011, p.1398). The "other" is also gathering momentum in China and is clearly the driving force behind the circulation of the KONY 2012 campaign.

This article is relevant to the topic, as it links to majority of my own articles, and covers previously undiscussed areas of political activism. It appears to be a reliable source and is of great value to the project.

Reference:

Chatora, A. (2012). Encouraging Political Participation in Africa: The Potential of Social Media Platforms. Institute for Security Studies. Retrieved April 8, 2012 from http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/15Mar2012SocialMedia.pdf

Lotan, G., Graeff, E., Ananny, M., Gaffney, D., Pearce, I., & boyd, d. (2011). The Revolutions Were Tweeted: Information Flows during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions. International Journal of Communications, 5, 1375-1405. Retrieved April 9, 2012, from http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1246/643