Lab Rat Stares Back at the White Coat

By AM Thursday, March 15, 2012

Share Tweet Share Share Email

Tonight The Pensive Quill features a piece by guest writer Mark McGregor. Mark blogs at Hearts of Oak and Steel. This article should be of particualr interest to all who like to debate on the web.

Not being one for academia when a friend drew my attention to a seminar organised by the Centre for Research in Political Psychology at Queen's University Belfast on ‘The content and function of dissident Irish Republican discourses online' I surprisingly found the topic interesting enough to invite myself along.

The talk was given by Dr Lorraine Bowman-Grieve from the School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln and the press blurb ‘Dissidents have gone online to advance Republican cause, research suggests’ states:

Use of the Internet by dissident Irish Republicans to disseminate ideological material shows how the movement is changing, but has largely been overlooked until now, an academic expert told a seminar in Belfast this week.

Dr Lorraine Bowman-Grieve from the School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln presented some key findings from her research into how Republican ideals are conveyed on the web.

As someone happy to self-describe as a dissenter who has been engaged with online Republican discourse for an extended period how could I not attend? Though I must admit to immediately feeling like an experimental lab-rat released from its cage to sit on the coffee table while the scientists discuss their observations on my behaviour.

It should have been clear from Bowman-Grieve’s research background and grounding in Forensic Psychology the focus was to be very much on what she termed VDRs (Violent Dissident Republicans). She noted her research was Qualitative and while procedurally systematic, was creative and analytical. Her definition of discourse was ‘the body of communicative interaction between users’.

Bowman-Grieve throughout her talk makes references to her research into both Irish Republican ‘extremism’, right wing extremism and commenced noting research into online Republicanism has been neglected due to a focus on Islamic Fundamentalism. On that I will dissent as I’m sure research on this area is advanced but not raised publicly, perhaps taking place a few miles away from QUB at Palace Barracks?

Interestingly she claimed from her experience there is more philosophical or ideological discussion on extremist right wing than in Republican forums – a claim I’m not tempted to personally investigate.

She defines ‘violent online political extremism’ with three characteristics:

   
• Refusal to sign up to the Good Friday Agreement
   
• Rejection of the PSNI
   
• Commitment to continued use of violence to achieve a United
  Ireland

Only one of her definitions involves violence and left me questioning if she is de-facto labelling non-violent Republicans who maintain the first two characteristics as ‘political extremists’?

Much of the research material inevitable comes from what is currently the largest republican discussion forum currently trading under Republican.ie. This should come as no surprise to republicans aware of real and anecdotal evidence postings from that forum have also been used in the interview rooms of Antrim SCS and by state forces elsewhere. Other discussion forums included in the research were:

   
• Irish Freedom News
   
• IRSP Forum
   
• Up the RA
   
• Irish Republican Bulletin Board (IRBB)
   
• Irish Nationalist
   
• Irelands Future

There were statistics provided on membership numbers, growth, number of discussions and active users of forums over time.

She describes these websites as:

   
• an 'always on' space for sharing material which supports their ideals
   
• playing an educative role, particularly for ‘newbies’
   
• potentially influential of ‘newbies’, contributors
   
• a maintenance base

She briefly tried to define dissenters and separate out Violent Dissident Republicans, these were noted as:

   
• CIRA – RSF – founded in 1986 on rejection of ‘Ballot box and armalite’ strategy
   
• RIRA – 32CSM (with a credit to Bernadette Sands-McKevitt for founding) – founded 1997 on rejection of the GFA – attributed Omagh bomb.

Under factionalisation she noted two Óglaigh na hÉirean:

   
• One based in Strabane
   
• One National and linked to the Republican Network for Unity (the RNU Ard Fheis motion sending comradely greetings was used to illustrate)

While recognising a range of republican views exist on most forums she stated they can be used to analyse how VDR supporters interpret their political environment and violent actions. They were also noted as part of a broader online space including Facebook, blogs and other websites.

Her Thematic Analysis of online discussion suggested core themes identify VDRs and help interpret the ‘phenomena’. Identification of these Themes involved data gathering via trawling the forums to identify main players, how they related to others, and other blogs, websites etc. Some of the core themes she had identified (and illustrated with postings, blogs and statements):

   
• Attaching blame (to enemies) and justifying violence
   
• Identification and characterisation of enemy
   
• Attitudes to terrorism
   
• Statements of support/critique
   
• Use of terminology

(Interestingly the only instance where a username was given for a demonstrative posting I not only recognised the username but was aware of the real identity of the person)

She suggests VDRs on web forum use several methods to connect other users & ’newbies’ to more real activity:

   
• Donation (claiming the psychological value is worth more than the monetary)
   
• Purchase of memorabilia (giving the user a tangible connection)
   
• Encouragement to interact within virtual communities
   
• Encouragement to create supportive websites/blogs
   
• ‘Newbies’ are encouraged/directed to educate themselves
   
• Encouragement to write letters and sign petitions

These are used to reinforce and give encouragement to engage in activity that would permit face-to-face interaction:
   

• Encouragement to support prison protests
   
• Encouragement to attend commemorations

She suggested there is an emphasis on creating the opportunity for face-to-face interactions to prevent sensitive disclosure online and to prevent violation of website Terms of Service and potential prosecutions.

Bowman-Grieve sees the potential for encouragement/radicalisation via these websites to work towards an end point of recruitment to real world involvement and ultimately ‘illegal’ and one must assume violent activity. However, at no point does she provide anything that approaches evidence of this being an actual occurrence - admitting the link between the real and virtual worlds is at best tenuous.

Much of the seminar hints at dark undercurrent which is never proven but is used as the basis for stating further investigation/research is required. Indeed the scare tactic is reinforced by noting an increased involvement in POW campaigns and protests. She particularly emphasised increased discussion/comment in relation to the Ardoyne riots of April 2010, suggesting research is required to investigate if online interaction can be used to gather people at specific times/places for situations that can escalate into riots. She compared this to the use of flash mobs. Again, no evidence was presented that online forum had ever been used to create such situations.

Overall I heard little from Bowman-Grieve to suggest the further research she is suggesting is warranted - as one questioner from the floor noted – is the online shaping the real world or the real world shaping the online? On that question Bowman-Grieve was stumped admitting she had no clear or easy answer. Until it is answered it seems as likely that discussion forum are a natural extension of republicanism into the computer age, that they are no more a radicalisation agent than a conversation in a West Belfast pub. Indeed in the absence of anything approaching empirical evidence it is surely more likely that online discourse is the offline being transplanted to the internet rather than vice-versa?

I’d suggest addressing ‘which came first the chicken or the egg’ before starting a chain of events/research that has forum owners, administrators and users labelled as somehow contributory or facilitatory to a recruitment network for VDRs.

Though, this should give any republican with an online presence pause for thought. Your activities are being researched. You are being profiled. Your psychology is being analysed. Your themes noted. In-depth review of your conversations is being considered or already in progress. Assumptions are being made. Implications are being drawn. One day an intemperate comment or a permitted posting by a Forum Administrator could result in expert witness from the field of Forensic Psychology at a trial.

When one  of the websites central to this analysis exercise is also part of ongoing questions on the very motivations of its owners perhaps it may be time to watch those comments? The one thing I’m sure of Bowman-Grieve's research is the tip of the iceberg – others are watching and their motivation is not academic.

I must also admit to some feelings of discomfort that the field of academic research seemed to be edging close to intelligence gathering/spying.

Finally, the reason for dual posting both here and on my own blog, the penultimate slide before the Q & A closer – a screen shot of The PensiveQuill. They are watching all you lot too!