Page 143 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

11 BEARING WITNESS AND THE LOGIC OF CELEBRITY … 133

role of media in relation to protest and social movements. Of particular
interest is his focus on the media-savvy repertories of contention enacted by
political actors.
In developing his perspective Cammaerts cites della Porta and Diani’s
(2006, p. 17) argument that there are “three distinct, but not mutually
exclusive, logics that activists ascribe to their protest actions when deciding
from the available repertoire of action” (Cammaerts 2012, p. 121). Each of
these logics is underwritten by a reflexive awareness, or at least a ‘lay
theory’, of which actions will receive media coverage and what kind of
coverage it is likely to be (McCurdy 2011).
First, the “logic of numbers”, is most commonly expressed through mass
demonstrations. As a tactic for claiming attention however, filling the
streets with marchers has become routinised and predictable in both its
execution and the media reporting it attracts.
The second logic, the “logic of damage”, involves the threat or enact-
ment of damage to either property and or/people. Here, Cammaerts
(2012) rightly stresses the need to clearly differentiate both “conceptually
and morally” between “violence—directed at people—and damage—di-
rected at property” a differentiation too often lost in the resort to the
catch-all label, ‘political violence’ in mainstream media discourse.
In contrast, the third logic, the “logic of bearing witness to injustice” is
firmly rooted in principles of non-violence. As della Porta and Diani argue,
protest action underwritten by this logic is “…not designed to convince the
public or decision makers that the protestors constitute a majority or a
threat. Rather it seeks to demonstrate a strong commitment to an objective
deemed vital for humanity’s future” (2006, p. 176). As exemplified by the
head-in-the-sand installation described earlier, acts of witness now rou-
tinely incorporate resonant images or spectacular and/or performative
elements. Their currency is evident in the rise of media stunts and “image
event” (Deluca 1999) protests. However, I would argue there is a fourth
logic not initially discussed by della Porta and Diani (2006) nor expanded
upon by Cammaerts: the logic of celebrity.
The logic of celebrity is a modus operandi symptomatic and emblematic
of living in media-saturated times. Recognizing celebrity as a logic
acknowledges the extent to which, under contemporary conditions, the use
of, or resistance to, celebrity involvement in protest can underwrite, orient,
constrain or facilitate political action. The logic of celebrity operates
whenever established celebrities, such as actors and musicians, are recruited
to boost the visibility of a social cause and in the cultivation of “celebrity