The rise and fall of the Reopen movement: an analysis of the online and offline anti-quarantine protests in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic (April - November 2020)
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Abstract
On April 15th, 2020, a group of armed protesters stood on the front steps of the Michigan
State Capitol building, chanting, waving flags, and holding up posters that read: “Live free or
die!” Their intention was clear: end the lockdown that Governor Gretchen Whitmer implemented
to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and reopen Michigan’s economy – no matter the cost.
This small act of rebellion inspired other in-person protests across the United States, all while
hundreds of Facebook groups linked to the new “Reopen Movement” proliferated around the
same time with the original goal to reopen the country. This paper serves as an analysis of the
rise and fall of the Reopen Movement from its conception in April to the U.S. presidential
election in November of 2020. Through a year of original ethnographic research and
observations of over 170 Facebook groups tied to the Reopen Movement, I found that while
members were originally concerned about the economy, these groups became more strongly
supportive and aligned with the Trump agenda as the pandemic worsened in the U.S. and
ongoing racial problems (specifically, American law enforcement’s disproportionate killing of
Black Americans) were reignited. The groups began exhibiting stronger partisanship, signs of
right-wing populism, and latent racism and sexism as events such as the Black Lives Matter
protests, reopening of businesses and schools, and strong anti-mask discourse pushed members
to more radical, violent, and hateful speech. This study analyzes the shift from a center-right
movement to a more radical, polarized partisan movement, and highlights the ways that social
media platforms such as Facebook can inhibit or truncate social movements. It is one of the only
in-depth, original research papers on the Reopen Movement, a contemporary American social
movement with over 2 million members.
Description
Honors thesis. B.A. in International Relations, Spring 2021, Boston University.
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This work is being made available in OpenBU by permission of its author, and is available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the author.