Citizen movements as sites of elite curations: the case of Pakistan general elections 2013 and Hong Kong Umbrella Movement 2014

This on-going comparative study of social movements, composed of the May 2013 general election campaign in Pakistan and its counterpart in the Umbrella Movement 2014 in Hong Kong, identifies shared patterns and context-specific differences that can shed light on how local actors appropriate available technology to address the communicative needs of such events. Specifically it attempts to explore the agency of the elites/protest leaders/mobilisers/organisers at protest sites and how that shapes, reshapes and advances the perceived objectives of an on-going event. Dharnas, or what this paper refers to as curated sit-ins, deployed by the Movement for Justice party (PTI) during the elections and the numerous debating platforms located along major protest camps during the Umbrella Movement are taken as a case study. Since such sites are located between online and offline spatialities they will be examined through the lens of mediatized events - events created specifically for the media. By using a collection of in-depth interviews with stakeholders and public speakers we attempt to investigate how the spectacle of a collective will for greater and more transparent representation in national politics in Pakistan and a continuation of Hong Kong’s exceptionalism vis-a-viś mainland China is created and engaged with the wider objectives of the protests as set down by the organizers.