APPROACHES OF ANTI-RACIST ACTIVISM ON INSTAGRAM IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Singaporean activists are faced with various legal restrictions that govern both the physical and online civil space. This study explores how local activists navigate the online terrain, namely Instagram, to promote anti-racism. Despite the Public Order Act, Internal Security Act and Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulations Act (POFMA), online activists are still observed to advocate for their social cause albeit through various approaches. Vigilante Activism urges the public to take the law into their own hands and address social injustices while Civil Disobedience is a nonviolent approach that engages majority groups and the state while adhering to established order. By studying the rhetorical techniques applied by five Instagram accounts, the approaches of activism were identified to observe how Singaporean activists pursue anti-racism online. Overall, Civil Disobedience was most frequently employed. Activists consolidated personal encounters of racism and spread awareness through techniques of Storytelling, an Argumentative tone, Two-way Symmetrical Communication and Forensic performance. Therefore, this study concludes that local anti-racist activists seek understanding from the those in positions of power instead of disrupting social order to incite reform. Online anti-racist activism thus adheres closely to state motivations but show an increasingly participative and strategic civic culture that has been suited to the authoritative governance in Singapore.