Considerations for Bystanders of Online Harm

By Chloë Arkenbout, March 17, 2025

Trigger warning: this article discusses unwanted and harmful behavior such as (intentional or unintentional), (physical or verbal) aggression, violence, assault, harassment, intimidation, exclusion and discrimination. These are mostly thematically discussed in a broader sense. The circulation of videos with misogynistic jokes in a WhatsApp group is a concrete example, illustrated in more detail. “We were [...]

Fragments of a History of Conflict, Social Organising & Digital Communication

By Chloë Arkenbout, February 18, 2025

“People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them.” — James Baldwin “Do not wait for the last judgment. It takes place every day.” — Albert Camus “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” — Arundhati Roy I have been [...]

Navigating Emotional Tensions Within Social Movements During the Rise of Platform Fascism

By Chloë Arkenbout, January 15, 2025

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin “Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.” – Frantz Fanon “To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization [...]

Reflections on Trigger Warnings: A Practice of Care, a Refusal of Witnessing

By Chloë Arkenbout, July 11, 2024

Trigger warning: various topics where trigger warnings are often used are discussed in this article, such as sexual assault, car crashes, trauma and PTSD, misogyny, the genocide of Palestinian people and burn-out. “Survival is the ability to swim in strange water.” – Ocean Vuong When in January of 2022 the Dutch news exploded because of [...]

Theory Fragments of the Shadowban: Navigating Censorship of Palestinian Content

By Chloë Arkenbout, March 29, 2024

I’m not an influencer or public figure. Nor do I have the aspiration or skills to be one. I have around 1600 followers on my personal Instagram account, which are mainly friends, acquaintances, some work-related people and a few I do not know personally. When I share something on my account it’s usually a chaotic [...]

Out now – Critical Meme Reader III: Breaking the Meme

By Chloë Arkenbout, May 17, 2024

Critical Meme Reader III: Breaking the Meme When you want to say something about memes, it is impossible to escape having to situate them. What usually happens is that meme makers and thinkers fall back on two definitions: Dawkins (1976), Shifman (2014). How can memes be defined beyond their work in a way that is [...]

Memes as a Portal to the Past and Future: How Extinction Rebellion Is Using Memes to Change the Narrative Around the Climate Crisis

By Chloë Arkenbout, September 28, 2023

Since their first occupation of the A12 highway in The Hague, Extinction Rebellion has been reporting live on their actions through memes. Yes, you read that right, memes. The climate activists even organized a meme workshop during one of their membership meetings in September. Whether you think that the civil disobedience organization that peacefully protests [...]

OUT NOW – Critical Meme Reader II: Memetic Tacticality edited by Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz

By Laurence Scherz, November 10, 2022

The (political) power of memes has moved beyond virtual images. The distinction between the virtual and ‘real life’ no longer applies, or perhaps was never really there. Their effects (or should we say affects?) are moving through digital infrastructures, policy, regulations and bodies. If memes are used as a tool by the alt-right to mobilize [...]

Challenging Oppressive Discourses in the Digital Public Sphere: Reflections on Anger and Empathy in Comment Wars

By Chloë Arkenbout, December 22, 2022

I used to be a voyeur. I would spend hours a day reading the comments in endless social media discussions where people were arguing. I would cheer people on who were making sharp analyses, were putting ignorant people in their place and were showing up for others in solidarity. In my head of course. I [...]

The Potential and Limits for Call-Out Culture as an Activist Practice: How the Internet Tried to Hold J. K. Rowling Accountable For Her TERF’ism

By Chloë Arkenbout, June 8, 2022

“‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” When world-famous author J. K. Rowling posted a trans*phobic tweet in 2020 (see Fig. 1) the internet exploded. Rowling her tweet clearly exposed her problematic views on trans* people. TERF’s (trans*-exclusionary radical feminists), like [...]