Aksi Bela Islam: Islamic Clicktivism and The New Authority of Religious Propaganda in the Millennial Age in Indonesia

Abstract

The great Islamic mass rally, known as “Aksi Bela Islam (Defending Islam action) 212” in Indonesia, has always been claimed as the triumph of Islamic activism. This action continues to be voiced through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so forth with the jargon “ 212 spirits “. The voluminous actions of “Aksi Bela Islam 212” sound like authoritative propaganda jargon which is exhaled to spread the Islamic identity through the internet. Along with the proliferation of online Islamic activism, some major questions emerge about: (1) whether the online religious discourse is an authoritative source that gives Muslim society an authority in religious propaganda; (2) to what extent the proliferation of online Islamic activism has shaped the new Islamic propaganda authority? This article aims to examine the discourse of Islamic activism in the online public sphere, which makes the internet and online social media a new vehicle in the transformation of traditional-modern Islamic propaganda authority for the technologically literate generation. The article highlights some transformations of traditional religious propaganda authority to the new one, which is appropriate for technological advancement. Using a political sociology approach, this article will map Islamic online activism, which is termed Islamic clicktivism, and its relation to the religious propaganda authority. The finding of this article reveals that Islamic clicktivism can be an authoritative method in shaping religious and political discourses. Finally, this article argues that the Islamic social movement in the millennial age – especially in the post 212 movement – has the consistency to play a role in political contestation through Islamic clicktivism.

Keywords: Aksi Bela Islam, Religious authority, Clicktivism, Populism