The tactic that I want to focus on is the last one, investigate and expose. The clip begins by exposing videos of criminal tortures that took place in Egypt. Tortures occurred in Egypt, but the media rarely showed it. The spread of videos of Egyptians torturing people inspired bloggers and journalists to write about it, that way they helped to share the information. This type of information activism is efficient, and an example of its efficiency can be seen in Noha Atef Hefny’s blog about torture. A woman reached out to her sharing her story. Her husband was declared innocent in the trial, but the police kept him incarcerated for 14 years. Noha shared the story on her blog and it made it to the mainstream media. Thanks to her information activism the man was set free. In this case, digital activism was effective to reach a goal.
As opposed to Jodi Dean’s opinion in Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics, activism through social media does indeed work. Dean is pessimist because she believes that social media activism cannot bring change, it is useful to raise people’s voices altogether, but those voices will not be listened to. On the other hand, Schmidt and Cohen who are techno-optimists have an opinion that goes along with the 10 tactics video. They share the belief that people together can bring social change, but nobody can make it happen alone. The government has an obligation to listen to the voices of the people. They can make a difference thanks to the “interconnected estate”, which is a place that can be accessed by everyone in the world who has access to the internet.
An example that connects to Sardine is the small group of Sardine Here, which is still part of the movement but they focus on the fight against racism.
“Dear racists, the black sardine are born. This is just the beginning. For too long our voices were condemned to silence, for too long our bodies were used and exploited. For too long our rights were trampled and let sink in the sea of discrimination and hate”
Sardine Nere
This is the beginning of the video of Sardine Nere. They fight for the rights of those immigrants who risk their lives to reach a better life. They give voice to those who are not heard by anyone. They are currently fighting to abolish the Security Decree issued by Matteo Salvini that makes it almost impossible for migrants to enter the Italian peninsula and seek the help they need.
The fight is still going on, so now it is too soon to say if it will be successful or not. By making these videos, Sardine Nere advocate for those who do not have a voice, they reveal what is actually going on in the third world countries where they come from. Not very often we are shown images of the living conditions that people have in places like Nigeria, Mali or Iraq, to name some. Still, too many people in Italy believe that these people do not escape from war, hunger or bad living conditions, because most Italians do not even know what is actually going on.
Sardine 