Remembering activism: Means and ends.

This editorial introduces the 12 articles collected in this special issue on Remembering Activism: Explorations in the memory-activism nexus. It frames the articles within current debates in the field of memory studies and social movement studies on the entanglements between memory work, on the one hand, and activism directed towards social transformation, on the other. In particular, it highlights the ways in which the memory of earlier activism is mobilised within later movements; in the process, it also identifies various forms of activist memory work where remembrance is an integral part of the activist repertoire and one of the means used to achieve political ends.

Understanding reaction to corporate activism: The moderating role of polarization.

In our polarized societies, more companies are taking a stand on divisive sociopolitical issues. However, given the mixed findings from previous studies, it remains unclear whether Corporate Activism (CA) is more likely to hurt or help a company's performance and reputation, or shape the public's attitudes toward the sociopolitical issue involved. To better understand the impact of CA in polarized societies, it is valuable to study moderating factors, especially those linked to polarization. A meta-analysis of 72 scholarly works is conducted to examine the impact of CA on various outcomes (e.g. ads and social media engagement, cognitive and attitudinal reactions, public's intentions and actions, emotional reactions, social and ethical engagement, workplace, and employee perceptions) and the role of moderators (a sociopolitical issue's political leaning and controversy level, political orientation of the target audience, key demographics). The analysis reveals a positive, albeit small, effect size (0.085 [95% CI (0.0542, 0.1158)]) with the most impact on two outcomes: cognitive and attitudinal reactions, and emotional reactions. It further reveals that companies adopting liberal-leaning CAs elicit more favorable responses than those adopting conservative CAs and that liberals respond positively to CA, while conservatives are more neutral. However, when there is alignment between the CA's political leaning and the audience's political orientation, conservatives have a stronger positive response than liberals. Also, younger audiences view CA more positively. Finally, per national culture, while power distance and individualism positively moderate the reaction to CA, uncertainty avoidance has a negative effect.

Commodification anxiety and the memory of Turkish revolutionary Deniz Gezmis.

This article examines the impact of commodification on the memory-activism nexus in relation to the cultural afterlife of Deniz Gezmis. It reframes discussions of the 'commodification' of the revolutionary in terms of 'celebrification' and examines why this process generates social unease in Turkey. It shows that this anxiety emerges from the perception that once memory is brought into the circuit of exchange-value, it risks losing its use-value in activism. Cultural memory is indeed becoming increasingly mediated by market relations. Yet, this article calls attention to activist remembrance which occurs within the interstices of capitalist property relations and is therefore not necessarily dependent on the market. As such, it supports a shift from the 'passive consumer' paradigm to the recognition of the political and narrative agency of remembering subjects, demonstrating that people often contest processes of commodification, especially in the context of anti-capitalist activism.

COVID-19, social media, algorithms and the rise of indigenous movements in Southern Africa: perspectives from activists, audiences and policymakers.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic, as a holistic event of cultural trauma, significantly influenced social structures and behaviors globally. Under its impact, social movements leveraged digital platforms to sustain and amplify their causes, creating new forms of solidarity and resistance, and fostering a rise in digital and hybrid collective actions. Concurrently, social media thrived as a transformative tool for social change, revolutionizing communication, mobilization, and advocacy. Platforms like WhatsApp and X redefined traditional activism by enabling rapid information dissemination and facilitating global grassroots movements. This technological evolution has provided marginalized communities, including the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa, with a powerful voice. These communities face challenges such as land rights disputes, environmental degradation, and socioeconomic marginalization. Social media allows them to raise awareness, galvanize support, and engage with a broader audience beyond their geographical confines. The paper hypothesizes that social media plays a multifaceted role in supporting indigenous movements, by not only providing a platform for activists to organize and advocate, but also enabling engagement with the general public and influencing the perspectives and actions of policymakers and other audiences. Through the lenses of rural or indigenous activists who leverage these digital platforms to drive change, audiences who consume and interact with digital content and feeds, and policymakers who are increasingly mindful of the power of social media narratives, this paper aims to understand the complex interplay of forces that shape the trajectory of digital indigenism (indigenous digital activism). Methods: The paper employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate the influence of social media on social movements among indigenous communities in Southern Africa. The methodology incorporates (a) netnography and in-depth interviews to explore the experiences and strategies of indigenous activists, (b) the counterpublics framework to understand the formation and dynamics of indigenous digital activism, and (c) the Technology-Media-Movements Complex (TMMC) as a theoretical anchor to analyze the interplay between technology, media, and social movements. The case study of the Community Leaders Network (CLN) of Southern Africa is used to contextualize the findings. Results: Findings reveal that indigenous activists recognize the power of social media in amplifying their voices but use these platforms out of necessity rather than preference. They find social media solutions often misaligned with their contextual needs, citing concerns over platform constraints, privacy issues, cultural insensitivity, superficial engagement metrics, and breaches of consent. Additionally, they reckon that the global emphasis on social media engagement can divert focus from essential field activities that directly benefit local communities, causing social media fatigue. It was also revealed that trying to convey practical information to an audience with preconceived notions is incredibly time-consuming and often feels like an endless loop for indigenous activists. Subsequently, they expressed a desire for platforms that consider users' mental well-being in their architectural design and incorporate cultural and linguistic practices, suggesting a preference for digital environments that are more aligned with values and modes of communication that contrast with western models. Discussion: The results underscore social media's complex role in indigenous movements, highlighting its empowering potential while also presenting significant challenges due to algorithms and platform dynamics. While the ability to share stories, disseminate information about rights abuses, and mobilize support has significantly transformed social movement dynamics in rural communities, social media's potential for advocacy and mobilization is tempered by challenges that can limit their effectiveness. The findings highlight a pressing need for social media innovations that resonate with indigenous cultural identities, ensuring that their narratives are disseminated in a manner that faithfully preserves their authenticity. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for policymakers, activists, audiences and technology developers, emphasizing the importance of creating digital spaces that are culturally sensitive and supportive of indigenous activism.

Exploring Organisational Agility's Impact on Nurses' Green Work Behaviour: The Mediating Role of Climate Activism.

AIMS: To examine the relationship between organisational agility and nurses' green work behaviour and to assess how climate activism mediates this relationship. Understanding this relationship is crucial for promoting sustainable practices in healthcare. DESIGN: A cross-sectional research design was employed. This approach was chosen to examine how organisational agility and climate activism simultaneously influence green work behaviour in the present context, providing a snapshot of their synergistic interactions. METHODS: This study was conducted in 2024 at eight hospitals in Egypt, with a total of 781 nurses conveniently selected for participation. Data were collected using validated instruments: the Agility Survey, Employee Green Behaviour Scale and Environmental Action Scale. Correlation and path analyses were utilised to test the study hypotheses. RESULTS: Nurses reported moderate levels of organisational agility, climate activism and green work behaviour. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between organisational agility, climate activism and green work behaviour. Organisational agility and climate activism emerged as significant predictors of green work behaviour, with climate activism acting as a partial mediator between organisational agility and green work behaviour. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on fostering sustainable nursing practices as results indicate that agile organisations, which embrace flexibility and nurse-led climate initiatives, are better positioned to promote sustainable behaviour. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PROFESSION: Practical strategies include selecting nurses with high climate literacy, designing agile working strategies and promoting eco-conscious behaviours. Nurse leaders should develop policies that integrate climate initiatives into everyday practice to enhance green work behaviour. IMPACT: The healthcare sector faces increasing environmental challenges, making it crucial to foster green work behaviour. Our study addresses a gap in the literature by revealing that organisational agility and climate activism are essential drivers of green behaviour among nurses, offering actionable insights for greening healthcare practices. REPORTING METHOD: This study was reported in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE). PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

Breaking Taboos: Arab Breast Cancer Activism in Art and Popular Culture.

This essay examines the breast cancer accounts of four Arab female celebrities who have spoken out in public about their illness experience: the Egyptian TV presenter Basma Wahba and the actress Yasmine Ghaith, the Iraqi actress Namaa al-Ward, and the Lebanese pop singer Elissa. By reading their testimonies against the backdrop of critical literature on illness narratives and memoirs, as well as on cancer narratives and activism, the essay asks: how are the accounts of these women's cancer diagnosis and treatment disclosed and described? In what medium do they communicate and circulate their breast cancer experiences? What significance do these public disclosures have on challenging and breaking the Arab taboo of cancer? In conclusion, the essay argues that these women's willingness to share their stories in public constitutes an important form of multimedia activist intervention-visual, sonic, and performative-that is playing a key role in the development of a breast cancer movement.

Impact of NGOs' undercover videos on citizens' emotions and pro-social behaviors.

Undercover videos have become a popular tool among NGOs to influence public opinion and generate engagement for the NGO's cause. These videos are seen as a powerful and cost-effective way of bringing about social change, as they provide first-hand evidence and generate a strong emotional response among those who see them. In this paper, we empirically assess the impact of undercover videos on support for the cause. We in addition analyze whether the increased engagement among viewers is driven by the negative emotional reactions produced by the video. To do so, we design an online experiment that enables us to estimate both the total and emotion-mediated treatment effects on engagement by randomly exposing participants to an undercover video (of animal abuse) and randomly introducing a cooling-off period. Using a representative sample of the French population (N=3,310), we find that the video successfully increases actions in favor of animals (i.e., donations to NGOs and petitions), but we fail to prove that this effect is due to the presence of primary emotions induced by the video. Last, we investigate whether activists correctly anticipate their undercover videos' (emotional) impact via a prediction study involving activists (exploratory analysis). PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: This manuscript is a Stage-2 working paper of a Registered Report that received In-Principle-Acceptance from Scientific Reports on November 20th, 2023 [ Link to Stage-1 ]. The Stage-1 that received In-Principal-Acceptance can be found here: https://osf.io/8cg2d .

Pathways to Youth Activism Orientation in STEM: the Role of STEM Classroom Inclusivity and Motivational Beliefs.

Activism around science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a critical task to promote social justice and to develop sustainable and effective solutions to global problems (e.g., climate change) in contemporary society. The present study examines relationships between adolescents' perceptions of gender and ethnic classroom inclusivity, outcome expectancies, utility values, and activism orientation in STEM, grounded in the situated expectancy-value theory. Participants were 699 adolescents (50.2% boys, 47.8% White; MT1age = 15.11 years, SD = 0.84) in the southeastern United States. A structural equation model with FIML estimation, multiple imputation with Bayesian analysis, and multigroup SEM analyses were utilized to test the hypothesized associations using two time points, controlling for sociodemographics and STEM grades. The findings revealed that adolescents' perceptions of STEM classroom inclusivity appeared to play an important role in shaping STEM expectancies and perceived value of STEM. Multigroup SEM analysis showed that ethnicity significantly moderates the effect of perceived STEM classroom inclusivity on STEM expectancies, suggesting the effect of inclusivity on expectancies is stronger for racially/ethnically majoritized adolescents as compared to racially/ethnically minoritized adolescents. Associations from STEM motivational beliefs to activism orientation revealed that adolescents with higher STEM utility values are more likely to have a higher orientation toward STEM activism. Adolescents' perceptions of STEM classroom inclusivity had an indirect positive effect on STEM activism orientation through STEM utility values. These findings provide support for the conceptual premise that classroom inclusivity can foster motivational beliefs, and activism orientation in STEM.

Exploring the Nexus: Personality Disorders and Their Impact on Violent Extremism, Radicalism, and Activism.

The escalating global concerns surrounding radicalization and violent extremism necessitate a comprehensive understanding and explanation. Identifying the risk factors associated with radicalism and violent extremism is critical to the development of risk assessment, prevention, and intervention strategies. It is imperative to distinguish these risks from civic responsibilities (i.e., activism) to safeguard individual rights. This study aims to examine the association between well-established risk factors for violence-personality disorder symptoms-and violent extremist attitudes, radicalism, and activism. Findings indicate that antisocial personality disorder symptoms were linked to violent extremist attitudes and radicalism, whereas obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms were related to activism. This suggests that obsessive-compulsive personality disorder may signify a readiness for legal and nonviolent political action; in contrast, antisocial personality disorder symptoms signify a readiness for extremist violence and illegal political action.

Mpox Discourse on Twitter by Sexual Minority Men and Gender-Diverse Individuals: Infodemiological Study Using BERTopic.

BACKGROUND: The mpox outbreak resulted in 32,063 cases and 58 deaths in the United States and 95,912 cases worldwide from May 2022 to March 2024 according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Like other disease outbreaks (eg, HIV) with perceived community associations, mpox can create the risk of stigma, exacerbate homophobia, and potentially hinder health care access and social equity. However, the existing literature on mpox has limited representation of the perspective of sexual minority men and gender-diverse (SMMGD) individuals. OBJECTIVE: To fill this gap, this study aimed to synthesize themes of discussions among SMMGD individuals and listen to SMMGD voices for identifying problems in current public health communication surrounding mpox to improve inclusivity, equity, and justice. METHODS: We analyzed mpox-related posts (N=8688) posted between October 2020 and September 2022 by 2326 users who self-identified on Twitter/X as SMMGD and were geolocated in the United States. We applied BERTopic (a topic-modeling technique) on the tweets, validated the machine-generated topics through human labeling and annotations, and conducted content analysis of the tweets in each topic. Geographic analysis was performed on the size of the most prominent topic across US states in relation to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) social climate index. RESULTS: BERTopic identified 11 topics, which annotators labeled as mpox health activism (n=2590, 29.81%), mpox vaccination (n=2242, 25.81%), and adverse events (n=85, 0.98%); sarcasm, jokes, and emotional expressions (n=1220, 14.04%); COVID-19 and mpox (n=636, 7.32%); government or public health response (n=532, 6.12%); mpox symptoms (n=238, 2.74%); case reports (n=192, 2.21%); puns on the naming of the virus (ie, mpox; n=75, 0.86%); media publicity (n=59, 0.68%); and mpox in children (n=58, 0.67%). Spearman rank correlation indicated significant negative correlation (ρ=-0.322, P=.03) between the topic size of health activism and the UCLA LGB social climate index at the US state level. CONCLUSIONS: Discussions among SMMGD individuals on mpox encompass both utilitarian (eg, vaccine access, case reports, and mpox symptoms) and emotionally charged (ie, promoting awareness, advocating against homophobia, misinformation/disinformation, and health stigma) themes. Mpox health activism is more prevalent in US states with lower LGB social acceptance, suggesting a resilient communicative pattern among SMMGD individuals in the face of public health oppression. Our method for social listening could facilitate future public health efforts, providing a cost-effective way to capture the perspective of impacted populations. This study illuminates SMMGD engagement with the mpox discourse, underscoring the need for more inclusive public health programming. Findings also highlight the social impact of mpox: health stigma. Our findings could inform interventions to optimize the delivery of informational and tangible health resources leveraging computational mixed-method analyses (eg, BERTopic) and big data.

Gray hair and pink slips: An analysis of Twitter responses to gendered ageism.

When Canadian broadcaster, Lisa LaFlamme, announced in August 2022 that CTV National News did not renew her contract, some observers suggested that the corporation's decision resulted from LaFlamme's choice to "let her hair go gray" during the pandemic. An international public outcry ensued on Twitter. Our study involved an examination of these tweets (n = 440). Analyses revealed that approximately 80 percent of tweets indicated opposition to LaFlamme's dismissal, while only 2 percent indicated support and 18 percent indicated a neutral position. Among tweets expressing opposition, the most common justification, found in 79 percent of these tweets, centered on assessments of the employer's decision as poor. The frequency of all other justifications for opposition was considerably lower, with only 26 percent of these tweets mentioning ageism, 22 percent mentioning sexism, and 20 percent mentioning a general sense of unfairness to LaFlamme. These findings suggest the salience of capitalist logics in shaping how the public frames gendered ageism in the workplace. Our analyses also suggest a view of responses to this inequality as personal bodywork choices. Together, these framings reflect a more individual- than structural-level critique of gendered ageism, knowledge of which can inform efforts to dismantle it.

Borderlands: A Place of Transformation for Nursing-Where Nepantleras Thrive.

Spaces produced in healthcare settings and research institutions tend to perpetuate marginalized populations' state of social otherness. We believe nurses from borderlands are best suited to walk between dominant (striated) spaces and margins in healthcare settings. Borderlands is a liminal space where multiple identities, places, cultures, paradigms, or ways of thinking intersect. We believe nurses can navigate these spaces by becoming walkers/travelers between worlds or as nepantleras Anzaldúa's critical rhetorical analysis framework can assist borderlands nurses to create geographies of inclusion for equity-denied groups as it is within these borderlands spaces that the dominant narratives are relegated to the margins and new spaces are imagined.

Older people's Contributions During the COVID-19 Pandemic Response.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, older people were identified as requiring additional support and protection. This multi-method qualitative study shifts this narrative by asking: how did older people contribute to the COVID-19 public health response? We conducted a reflexive thematic analysis of responses from 870 letter-writers and 44 interviewees who were older people living in Aotearoa, New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older people made substantial contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic through: 1) volunteering; 2) nurturing; and 3) advocacy/activism. We argue that policy makers should take seriously the ways older people were providers of help and support in this period.

What is the role of scientists in meeting the environmental challenges of the twenty-first century?

We live at a time of rapid and accelerating biodiversity loss and climate change that pose an existential risk to the environment, humanity, and social justice and stability. Governmental responses are seen by many citizens, including scientists, as inadequate, leading to an increase in civil protests and activism by those calling for urgent action to effect change. Here we consider the role(s) of scientists in responding to those challenges and engaging with policy given that when a scientist moves into political advocacy, reflecting their values and preferences, their objectivity and the value of scientific opinion may be seen as compromised. We then consider whether institutional setting and career stage may affect decisions to engage with policy or activism. Against this backcloth, we ask whether it is sufficient for scientists to act as impartial 'brokers' in societal decisions, arguing they should consider acting as 'Honest Advocates' in policy formation in some circumstances. Such advocacy can contribute to decision-making in a purposeful, well-informed manner, doing societal good without damaging the reputation of science. We encourage scientists to each reflect on their multiple roles in addressing the environmental challenges of our time.

Legal mobilization dilemmas in the Nordics - an autoethnographic reflection on the role of scholars in the asylum commission.

The present article investigates key dilemmas in collective legal mobilization initiatives in the field of asylum and migrants' rights. Focusing on my own experiences from working in the Asylum Commission - a trans-sectional mobilization initiative that ran in Sweden from 2019 to 2022, involving researchers, civil society representatives, and professionals - I analyze two central dilemmas that characterized our work. First, I consider how we collectively struggled for the legal right to asylum and through this struggle also reproduced injustices and potential border control harms which are embedded in asylum regulations. Second, I analyze how the Commission strived to provide a knowledge-based account of the consequences of legislative changes post the long summer of migration in 2015 that would have an impact on future legislation, while simultaneously taking an open stand in solidarity with people who were excluded from the legislative process; i.e., asylum seekers. The article underlines the need for sociolegal research that highlights ways to address dilemmas in legal mobilization work and offers empirical insights from collective mobilization for migrants' rights in a Northern European country.

Corrigendum: The totalising nature of secure and forensic mental health services in England and Wales.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.789089.].

Clashing Decolonial and Sociocultural Factors: Revisiting Palestinian Queer Liberation Using the Events of Summer 2019.

Starting in the summer of 2019, a series of events saw queer Palestinians taking to the streets and appearing in mainstream Palestinian culture and media at an unprecedented scale. Drawing on 53 interviews with queer Palestinians, activists and nonactivists, this article critiques the queer organizing around these events as it appears in the two largest queer Palestinian organizations alQaws and Aswat. Because most research and activism on queer life in Palestine centers either the decolonial discourse against "homonationalism" within the Israeli nation-state expansion project and the Palestinian queer opposition to it, or the anti-orientalist critique of Western interventionist internationalization of queer rights, participants' opinions and lived experiences challenge the scholarly and grassroot organizing tendency to ignore queer lives and voices who believe that targeting the sociocultural aspects of their queerness is an equally viable strategy for creating change. In doing so, this article sheds a new light on the clashing sociocultural and decolonial approaches-whereby clash refers to the debates regarding the ideologies and practices Palestinian activists and scholars find most ideal for their queer liberation.

Crisis management: pathways to crisis pregnancy centers.

Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) provide social support, material aid, and counseling against abortion. We evaluated the perspectives of CPC clients to understand how they found the CPC that they attended for services. In 2019, we conducted in-depth interviews with 21 clients of 10 CPCs in Ohio, who were recruited from the CPC (n = 9) or an abortion clinic (n = 12), to understand their experiences attending the center. This analysis focused on the ways in which pregnant people end up as clients at a CPC seeking assistance instead of attending another setting, such as a medical center. We identified two pathways through which clients find CPCs. First, in the internet pathway, clients needing abortion services found CPCs via internet search for pregnancy symptoms, abortion care, or ultrasound services. Second, in the social safety network pathway, clients needing material aid found CPCs through recommendations from trusted others and due to the proximity of CPCs to their homes. Structural conditions influence the pathways clients pursue, such as the need for healthcare services and material aid. Future research should further explore the demographics of those who attend CPCs and motivations for attendance.

Hysterical lesbians and respectable gays. Lesbian anonymity in mainstream LGBT+ and grassroots activisms.

This article is informed by sixteen in-depth interviews with LGBT + activists in Romania, my archive and notes during my involvement in feminist and queer activist circles, as well as archival materials of an LGBT + NGO. It proposes the concept of lesbian anonymity as a means of investigating the way in which marginal positions within mainstream movements are anonymized and their contributions to the movement dispersed within the generic queer/gay activism. By looking at specific case studies from Romaniás transition period (1989 to mid 2000s), I analyze how matters of representation were tackled within the LGBT + mainstream movements in relation to grassroots activist circles. The article explores what happens when queer gatekeepers fail to engage with internal criticisms concerning the selective erasure of certain categories of voices such as queer women, trans people, racialized people, sex workers. I argue that lesbian anonymity offers another angle of analyzing the clashes between and within different LGBT + groups in post-socialist spaces. How does lesbian anonymity shape the queer movements and why is it important to keep representational issues in mind while working on non-normative sexualities, gender, and women´s reproductive rights? This contribution offers a necessary critique of the representational gaps within queer movements.

Political action in nursing and medical codes of ethics.

Political action has a long history in the health workforce. There are multiple historical examples, from civil disobedience to marches and even sabotage that can be attributed to health workers. Such actions remain a feature of the healthcare community to this day; their status with professional and regulatory bodies is far less clear, however. This has created uncertainty for those undertaking such action, particularly those who are engaged in what could be termed 'contentious' forms of action. This study explored how advocacy and activism were presented in nursing and medical codes of ethics, comparing disciplinary and temporo-spatial differences to understand how such action may be promoted or constrained by codes. The data for this study comes from 217 codes of ethics. Because of the size of the corpus and to facilitate analysis, natural language processing was utilised, which allowed for an automated exploration of the data and for comparisons to be drawn between groups. This was complemented by a manual search and contextualisation of the data. While there were noticeable differences between medical and nursing codes, overall, advocacy, activism and even politics were rarely discussed explicitly in most codes. When such action was spoken about, this was often vague and imprecise with codes speaking of 'political action' and 'advocacy' in general terms. While some codes were far more forthright in what they meant about advocacy or broader political action (i.e., Nursing codes in Denmark, Norway, Canada) more forceful language that spoke in specific terms or in terms of oppositional or specific actions (e.g., civil disobedience or marches) was almost completely avoided. These results are discussed in relation to the broader literature on codes and the normative questions they raise, namely whether such action should be included in codes of ethics at all.