ABSTRACT
This chapter examines virtual politics in its current incarnation, contrasting its democratizing potential with its oppressive applications. It begins with a brief history of the very short life of information and communication technologies and explores the proliferation of political uses of this technology. The chapter compares cyberapplications in conventional politics with cyberfeminism and the use of information and communication technologies in women's transnational social justice activism. In addition to examining the strengths and limitations of new media as a political tool, it also considers virtual politics in relation to the microphysics of power that is sexualization, racialization, the politics of representation and geopolitics. The chapter discusses the question of the politics of transformation and empowerment, situating the emancipatory potential of the Internet in the context of discussions concerning the replication and intensification of existing racial, gender, and global hierarchies.
