CARACAS, Venezuela — “The Oscars in Venezuela are televised. The repression is not.”
This was the slogan for the #OscarsForVenezuela hashtag movement that swept Twitter a few days before the 86th Academy Awards. The movement is aimed at getting Hollywood actors and celebrities to speak up as a collective body for protesters during the ongoing conflict in Venezuela.
Social media users tweeted at their favorite celebrities asking them to mention the conflict in their speeches. (One user even asked Leonardo DiCaprio to show support during his acceptance speech. If only.) Supporters also used the #SOSVenezuela, #PrayForVenezuela and #FreeLeopoldLopez tags, the latter referring to the economist-turned-opposition leader who turned himself in to authorities last month. Bizarrely enough, users on Storify juxtaposed these trends with an opposing #VzlaDisfrutaElCarnaval (Venezuela Enjoys the Carnival), referring to the annual carnival that takes place in Venezuela this time of year.
But, at the heart of this movement are Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian knee-jerk reactions when it comes to dealing with the opposition. The Maduro administration seems to possess all the paranoiac tendencies that plagued Hugo Chavez yet none of the charisma and personality cult appeal that built chavismo as a movement.
Maduro and the Media
Unlike Ukraine’s Euromaidan there is no single event to pinpoint as the catalyst for the protests in Venezuela. Some point to the scarcity of basic goods. Others suggest a build-up of resentment from years of economic uncertainty, private sector troubles, unemployment and crime. Some even suggest that the murder of former Miss Venezuela Mónica Spear during a highway robbery had a role in escalating tensions.
Maduro, after all, did deliver a statement on Spear’s death that was nothing short of a slap in the face to her supporters, blaming the violence in Venezuela on soap operas. (Mónica Spear was also an actress in several telenovelas.) Thus like Chavez—who’s formerly blamed the U.S. for everything from the Haiti earthquake to his own cancer—Maduro is not very media savvy. And when panicky politicians are not good with the news, they tend to want to do away with them.
So naturally, the Venezuelan government began its war on the internet. Maduro’s relationship with Twitter has already been shaky, having accused the site of hijacking 6,600 of his followers last year. With state controlled media being the primary source of information, coupled with the complete lack of local news outlets, protesters in Venezuela have generally turned to social media to report on the violence.
A few days after Feb. 12 orders by Maduro to detain protesters who incite violence, Twitter’s online images were shut down as well. Later on, reports surfaced that smartphone internet service was next to be shut down, including several apps and walkie-talkie features used in mobilizing protesters. While it is not clear if these shut-downs were country-wide, through a single provider or through all of them, it was regarded as a “media blackout” by most Venezuelans.
Some have furthermore claimed that the Maduro administration was using the media blackout as a chance to build-up its own online “counter campaign” through pro-government commentators on social media sites. Meanwhile, tech-savvy Venezuelans are taking to VPNs and the Tor network for anonymous internet access and browsing. Twitter has also suggested “workarounds” asking users to activate SMS messaging to use the app offline.
All in all, the last few weeks have been a classic example of the “information wars” (if you will) that have categorized all major uprisings since the Arab Spring. It has become apparent that conflict takes place in cyberspace and social media as much as it does on the ground.
“To all the dreamers…”
The #OscarsForVenezuela movement climaxed in a televised victory at the Academy Awards when Jared Leto stepped up to receive his Best Supporting Actor award for Dallas Buyers Club. After thanking his family, he dedicated a short part of his acceptance speech not just to Venezuela but to Ukraine: “To all the dreamers out there around the world watching this tonight in places like the Ukraine and Venezuela, I want to say we are here and as you struggle to… to make your dreams happen, to live the impossible… We’re thinking of you tonight.”
According to a Fox News report, the message was missed by about half of Venezuelans after Academy Awards programming switched from broadcast to cable TV, which many do not have access to—an unfortunate piece of news that gives even further credence to the importance of social media campaigning. An original draft of Jared Leto’s speech is available on the actor’s website, in which he states, “The impossible is possible, and we believe.”
Sources: Bloomberg, Latin Post, Politico, The Economist, New York Times
Photo: Veeoz