The pandemic triggers activism on the Internet

“I am deaf and opaque masks isolate me,” says Marcos Lechet, 48, in his request on the Change.org platform for the approval of transparent masks.

He is one of the thousands of Spaniards who, since the beginning of the pandemic, have opted for

activism

.

“We have seen unprecedented levels of mobilization,” explains Luis Aguado, director of Change.org, which this Sunday celebrates its tenth anniversary in Spain.

The number of requests created on this platform worldwide increased, according to data from the social enterprise, by 80% in the first six months of 2020. During the month of March, when the state of alarm was declared in Spain, more than 14 million people signed an

petition

(3.3 times more than the number of signatures that are usually gathered in a normal month) while the number of petitions created multiplied by four.

"The pandemic has accelerated a trend that we saw coming years ago, which is the growth of

activism

," says Aguado.

The CIS (Center for Sociological Research) barometer shows that in 2012, of all Spaniards who signed petitions, only 9% did so

.

"While that percentage in 2018 was already 30%," he adds.

This phenomenon is not exclusive to Spain.

"It is the first time that the world has stopped at the same time to face a global problem," explains Aguado.

“We are entering a new era of digital activism that is more global in nature.

Today we not only see causes related to covid-19, we see mobilizations for racial justice or the climate crisis, issues that require global responses ”.

Since before the pandemic,

activism

already revealed certain patterns.

For example, the increasing age of digital activists.

“At Change.org, the bulk of the people who participate are between 30 and 65 years old,” Aguado details.

Another characteristic is that the vast majority of requests are from first-time activists, people who have no previous experience in mobilizations of this type.

María de la Cruz, Change's campaign organizer explains that "the advantage that anyone can initiate a petition simply by having access to the Internet is that this does not require knowledge of communication or campaigns to be able to fight for change."

For the team behind the company, this means the democratization of access to activism.

Other

activism initiatives

as Osoigo, a platform for dialogue between voters and public officials, has also detected an increase in participation since the beginning of the pandemic.

Its director Eneko Aguirre explains that there is "an exponential interest in publicizing and promoting problems" through the Internet.

Health and education issues prevail in the last six months.

"The majority are people with chronic diseases and who, due to the pandemic, have suffered delays and changes in their treatments and care times," emphasizes the creator of Osoigo.

"This leap forward is also an opportunity to generate a more active and participatory dialogue between citizens and politicians," he concludes.