A weak-tie movement

The kind of activism adopted by Sardine is associated with social media, therefore it is built around weak ties. The term “weak ties” means that the people who participate in the social movement are tied with acquaintances and their relations with each other are strengthened by social media. Sardine constantly plan their next meetings in Italian squares using Facebook. Social media are an excellent means to create awareness about an issue and to exchange information among a large number of people. Sardine count thousands of people in the Italian squares every time they plan a protest against Salvini. As Gladwell says in the article Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, social media are the opposite of hierarchies, because decisions are made by consensus and not only by one single authority. Sardine identified Mattia Santori as their leader, but decisions are made by reaching the consent of the participants, not only when the leader wants to take action.

Gladwell says that weak-tie protests are not capable of changing things, “A networked, weak-tie world is good at things like helping Wall Streeters get phones back from teen-age girls.” I find myself disagreeing with his statement because, in the case of Sardine, they were able to defeat their common enemy, Matteo Salvini. They tremendously helped the left-wing parties to gain votes in the Emilia Romagna regional election, which ended with a total of 48,12% consent to Stefano Bonacini (left-wing candidate) and 45,41% for Lucia Borgonzoni (right-wing candidate).

Their presence in the 2020 Emilia Romagna election made it possible for the left-wing candidate to maintain his role as regional president for the second time in a row. Although Sardine is a weak-tie movement, they were able to make a change, therefore Gladwell’s statement does not fit for the movement I am analyzing.