Following the defense of his master's thesis in Strategic Communication and Leadership, Israel Campos wants to share the results of his dissertation with the Angolan community, more specifically with Angolan students and social movements in that country.
Entitled “Amplifying voices through alternative means: Facebook's role in strengthening social movements in Angola”, his thesis is a study of how Angolan activism has managed to overcome the lack of access to the public media in Angola, because these media are very much conditioned by political power. In his own words, “[activists] can organize a protest that mobilizes ten thousand people and it will hardly make the headlines or even make the main news services.” Since they hardly have access to the media, “social movements turn to social media, especially Facebook, to communicate, to mobilize, to call people to their activities,” explains Israel.
Despite noting that activist groups often use social media without any technique, or even professional knowledge, but in a very strategic way, Israel intends to pass on the knowledge he has acquired throughout his academic career, showing techniques and tactics for communicating better on social media and also “talking about any limitations and areas for improvement”.
This year, in addition to defending his master's thesis, was awarded the Liberdade de Imprensa (Press Freedom) Award by the Angolan Journalists' Union; took part in a literary residency in Accra, the capital of Ghana, under the guidance of the writer Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie; was invited to take part in the Reflection Group “The Future Has Already Begun” at the Senate of the Republic, and also took part in the Salzburg Media Academy.