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'Activism, Artivism and Beyond; Inspiring Initiatives of Civic Power'

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'Activism, Artivism and Beyond; Inspiring Initiatives of Civic Power' Activism, Artivism and Beyond Inspiring initiatives of civic power Activism, Artivism and Beyond Inspiring initiatives of civic power Author Yannicke Goris (The Broker) Co-author Saskia Hollander (The Broker) Project-team Frans Bieckmann (The Broker) Patricia Deniz (CIVICUS-AGNA) Yannicke Goris (The Broker) Anne-Marie Heemskerk (Partos/The Spindle) Saskia Hollander (The Broker) Bart Romijn (Partos) Remmelt de Weerd (The Broker) Language editor Susan Sellars Cover design & layout Soonhwa Kang Printing Superdrukker Photo credit on cover Front No podemos ni opinar, by Martin Melaugh, copyright Conflict Textiles Flamenco anticapitalista 6, by Antonia Ioannidou The Standing March, by Kodiak Greenwood Back Barsik wins momentum, by Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda #NotATarget, by UN Women, via Flickr Relax, it says McDonalds, courtesy of IMGUR Copyright © Partos, 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Partos. One of the key activities of The Spindle, the innovation programme of Partos, is to monitor and highlight trends and new developments on key themes such as on inclusion, civic power, new ways of cooperation and data. Activism, Artivism and Beyond is the first publication in The Spindle Monitor series about civic power. Inspiring people All cultures around the world have civil society, including restrictive leg- leged to have The Broker, an innova- 8 The Standing March their own stories about the epic strug- islation, financial constraints, smear tive think net on globalization and 10 Introducing civic space gles of individuals and civil society campaigns, and even assassinations. development, as the main author of groups seeking freedom and change. At the same time, many countervail- this report. In addition, we are enthu- Visual arts 12 Artivism: when art meets action These struggles are a reaction to the ing actions are being taken. Much can siastic to team up with CIVICUS, both 16 Case: Arpilleras against Pinochet multiple forms of oppression and re- be learnt from these often creative for this report and for the worldwide Crowdsourcing 18 Mobilizing global knowledge pression that have existed since the and surprising initiatives. And that is campaign for civic space. We plan to earliest documented human history. what this report is about. follow up on this report with a crowd- 22 Case: Climate Crowd Throughout the ages people have sourced anthology of recent creative Relax, it says McDonalds .زدلانودكام Humour & public shaming 24 joined forces to protect public good, Partos, the Dutch membership body civic initiatives and perhaps a series make the world more fair, free, and for development organisations, is of webinars to exchange experiences 28 Case: Barsik the cat equal, and oppose those who want dedicated to supporting civil society and assimilate new ideas. Transparency & fact-checking 30 Unmask the Corrupt to keep resources and power in the to better harness civic space and to 34 Case: Transparency International hands of the few. And, although exert its creative power for the pub- To conclude this preface, we would much time has passed, this has not lic good. Together with our members like to thank all those who contrib- Social media 36 Virtual uprising changed. What has changed are both and the Partos Civic Space Platform, uted to this project. We dedicate this 40 Case: #GirlsAtDhabas the forms of restriction, in terms of we seek to warn of threats to civic report to those people with fire in Education 42 Teaching what matters the mechanisms and tactics used, and space and reinforce solidarity and their belly, who decide to stand up the ways in which people circumvent supportive action. Through Partos’ for something. It is their passion and 46 Case: Love Matters persistence that forms the basis of these restrictions. This particularly innovation programme, The Spindle, Music, dance & theatre 48 Performing civic power applies to the civic space – the arena we focus on identifying and analysing society’s resilience and ignites change in which people choose their own way new trends and approaches in activ- for a better world. With Activists, Artiv- 52 Case: Flo6x8 of life, express their opinions and par- ism by civil society and, where possi- ists and Beyond: Inspiring initiatives of Protection 54 Building safety ticipate in society. CIVICUS, the World ble, we develop new ideas and tools. civic power, we hope to help fuel this 58 Case: IM-Defensoras Alliance for Citizen Participation, in This report, Activists, Artivists and Be- change. its annual State of Civil Society Report yond, seeks to highlight these devel- 60 Activism, artivism and the need to go beyond for 2017, warns that in more than opments. By disseminating examples Bart Romijn 62 Barriers to civic action 100 countries around the world the of innovative civic countervailing Director, Partos space for civil society is shrinking. It power, we hope to inspire citizens 68 Definitions extensively documents the threats to and their organizations. We feel privi- 70 References 5 ©Kodiak Greenwood COP21 – took place in Paris. This event On the Standing March website, JR society organizations (CSOs) may not was of major importance, because, explains the power of his work: “For have the means to produce their own for the first time in over 20 years of security reasons, marches are for- massive video projection, if we take a UN negotiations, world leaders aimed bidden in Paris. But our art piece is closer look at what makes the Stand- to achieve a universal, legally-binding a silent march. And we are march- ing March so effective, other forms climate agreement (the Paris Climate ing, backed by the Assemblée Na- of protest art could be created that Agreement). Given the importance of tionale, the heart of the French de- would have a similar effect. the meeting, massive protests had been mocracy”. So, even though people planned by environmental groups. were not allowed to be physically The Standing March transformed a However, due to the ongoing state of present, JR and Aronofsky man- well-known public space – in this case emergency, French authorities forbade aged to make a clear statement to the building of the French National all mass gatherings, severely constrain- the 25,000 officials gathered for the Assembly – into something complete- ing the public’s freedom of expression. COP21. “It symbolizes that people ly different: a piece of art. By address- are watching, and everyone on this ing an issue on the minds of a broad Representing humanity building, and everyone in the world audience (the COP21) and depict- Despite this protest ban, many peo- is watching to see what our diplo- ing a big crowd of people in a place ple found creative ways to make mats do”, explained Aronofsky. where mass protests are not allowed, their voices heard. On 29 November the Standing March not only chal- 2015, at the start of COP21, people After its initial showing on the As- lenged authorities, but also conveyed passing by the Assemblée Nationale semblée Nationale, the art piece was a message about societal resilience. ©Kodiak Greenwood building in the heart of Paris were project at different locations through- This example, like all the examples stunned. Staring back at them were out Paris during the conference, in- contained in this report, shows that the faces of over 500 people from cluding the Louvre, the Pantheon, the people cannot be easily silenced and, The French protest ban all over the world, projected on the Musée Picasso, and the Bibliotheque with collective energy and power, will On 13 November 2015, Paris fell victim building’s massive façade. The vid- Sainte Genevieve. Thus, the piece it- always find a way to claim their right- The to a series of gruesome terrorist attacks. eo projection – titled ‘The Standing self marched through the city and, ful space to be heard. Suicide bombers and mass shootings March’ – was created by renowned thanks to social media, attracted at- by a number of gunmen left 130 dead French artist JR and Brooklyn-based tention not only from passers-by in Standing and another 368 wounded. That same film director Darren Aronofsky. the streets, but also from people all evening, president Francois Hollande, These ‘artivists’ used their skill and over the world. who was earlier evacuated from the creativity to protest when protest- Stade de France, closed France’s borders ing in traditional ways was forbid- Whether because of fear of terrorist At the time of the Standing March and declared a state of national emer- den. Their video installation shows attacks, anti-terrorism legislation, re- March, elsewhere in Paris, gency. These security measures, which people from different backgrounds, pressive regimes or cultural norms, another demonstration have been extended until at least July who were all filmed separately, all around the world people find took place: the ‘Empty 2017, have given French authorities ex- rotating on a green background. themselves in situations where their Shoe March’. Thousands of people, who could not ceptional powers, including the right to Later, these separate images were right to protest is restricted. What the physically demonstrate set curfews, limit the movement of peo- Standing March shows is that human combined to create a representa- due to the protest ban, ple and prohibit mass gatherings. tion of humanity – a crowd of peo- creativity, and art in particular, goes sent in their shoes to rep- ple standing united to save their a long way to circumventing such re- resent their march on the Only two weeks after the attacks, the shared planet. strictions. And, although many indi- Place de la Republique. 2015 Climate Conference – known as viduals, grass-roots groups and civil 8 9 Across the globe, people are taking Introducing innovative and proactive steps civic space to defend and expa nd their civic spa ce .
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