Challenging power through social media: A review of selected memes of Robert Mugabe’s fall

Abstract

Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. However, in recent years, he
has faced serious resistance from ordinary citizens. This article examines subversive internet
memes that were created by ordinary Zimbabweans and posted on social media in the aftermath
of Robert Mugabe’s collapse at the Harare International airport on 4 February 2015. Firstly, the
study reads internet memes of the Mugabe fall as forms of resistance to the regime. Secondly,
it interrogates the methods that internet memes use to challenge official discourse. Thirdly, the
study critically analyses the various ways in which internet meme creators imagine and represent
Zimbabwe under the Mugabe regime. The article argues that internet memes of the “Mugabe fall”
express subversive views that undermine the regime through humour, exaggeration, satire and
other stylistic devices. Internet memes present an alternative discourse that counters the official
narrative promoted by the regime.