VISIBILITY UNDER SIEGE: INTERNET SHUTDOWNS, DIASPORA MEDIATION, AND THE POLITICS OF DELEGITIMIZATION IN IRAN’S PROTEST MOVEMENTS

Abstract

This article examines the ways internet shutdowns, far from entirely eliminating resistance, transform the politics of visibility and resistance in Iran's protest movements, including the January 2026 protests. The paper draws on interdisciplinary sources, including theories of political legitimacy, digital activism, and media studies, to show how authoritarian censorship affects the domestic information sphere by closing off spaces for communication and the flow of protest narratives within Iran. This research shows how the censoring of digital visibility within Iran creates a pivotal moment in which diaspora populations take on the role of mediating, translating, and amplifying information about protests across national borders. It focuses on diaspora-mediated visibility as an act of political participation through which local acts of resistance are transformed into global narratives of resistance against state power. It can also be seen that such processes do not suppress resistance but rather move it, making possible new forms of delegitimization that extend beyond the Iranian state's borders. The article adds to the fields of digital authoritarianism, transnational activism, and politics of visibility by showing how censorship can inadvertently create alternative structures of resistance in authoritarian settings.

Keywords

• Digital Authoretarianism Internet Shutdowns
• Iranian Protests, Diaspora Activism
• Political Legitimacy

KUŞATMA ALTINDA GÖRÜNÜRLÜK: İRAN’DAKİ PROTESTO HAREKETLERİNDE İNTERNET KESİNTİLERİ, DİASPORA ARACILIĞI VE MEŞRUİYETSİZLEŞTİRME SİYASETİ

Abstract

Bu makale, internet kesintilerinin direnişi tamamen ortadan kaldırmaktan ziyade, İran’daki protesto hareketlerinde görünürlük ve direniş siyasetini nasıl dönüştürdüğünü, özellikle Ocak 2026 protestoları bağlamında incelemektedir. Çalışma, siyasal meşruiyet, dijital aktivizm ve medya çalışmaları gibi disiplinlerarası kuramsal yaklaşımlardan yararlanarak, otoriter sansürün İran’daki bilgi alanını nasıl yeniden şekillendirdiğini ve iletişim kanallarını kapatarak protesto anlatılarının dolaşımını nasıl sınırladığını ortaya koymaktadır. Araştırma, İran içinde dijital görünürlüğün bastırılmasının, diasporanın protestolara ilişkin bilgiyi ulusötesi ağlar aracılığıyla aracılık etme, çevirme ve yayma rolünü üstlendiği kritik bir kırılma anı yarattığını göstermektedir. Çalışma, diaspora aracılı görünürlüğü, yerel direniş pratiklerinin küresel ölçekte devlet otoritesine karşı anlatılara dönüştüğü bir siyasal katılım biçimi olarak ele almaktadır. Ayrıca bu süreçlerin direnişi bastırmak yerine onu yeniden konumlandırdığı ve İran devletinin sınırlarını aşan yeni meşruiyetsizleştirme biçimlerine olanak tanıdığı da gözlemlenmektedir. Bu makale, sansürün otoriter bağlamlarda istemeden alternatif direniş yapıları üretebildiğini göstererek dijital otoriterlik, ulusötesi aktivizm ve görünürlük siyaseti literatürüne katkı sunmaktadır.

Keywords

• Diaspora Aktivizmi
• Iran Protestoları
• Ulusötesi Medya

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