DOCSLIB.ORG

Geographies of the Indymedia Network of Independent Media Centres

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Geographies of the Indymedia Network of Independent Media Centres INTERNET, SCALE AND THE GLOBAL GRASSROOTS: GEOGRAPHIES OF THE INDYMEDIA NETWORK OF INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRES VIRGINIE MAMADOUH Department of Geography and Planning, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-Mail: [email protected] Received: June 2003; revised November 2003 ABSTRACT This paper addresses the role of the Internet in global collective action through an analysis of the scale practices of the Indymedia network. Indymedia is a worldwide network of interlinked websites run by volunteers organised in local Independent Media Centres (IMCs). These websites, a global site at www.indymedia.org and over one hundred local sites, are meant to empower activists groups by providing them with a media platform. The case study focuses on the role of the Internet in four facets of collective action: grievances and alternatives, organisation, mobilisation and identities. The analysis deals more specifically with scales, examining scaling practices in the light of three scale metaphors (scale as level, scale as size, scale as relation). While scales are also framed as bounded areas (territorial communities to be served) and as levels when targeting specific government agencies, the prevailing scale frame is that of a network of scales in which the local and the global mutually constitute each other. Key words: Collective action, Internet, scales, globalisation The anti-globalisation movement is not use the Internet and how does it affect their simply a network, it is an electronic network, geographies and more specifically the ways they it is an Internet-based movement (Castells organise and mobilise at different scales? Does 2001, p. 142). the Internet indeed empower global grassroots and how is it used to navigate between places The global dimension of the Web facilitates and between scales? transnational movements transcending the This paper explores the role of the Internet boundaries of the nation state (Norris 2001, in the multi-scalar politics of the global grass- p. 191). roots. It presents a case study of the Indymedia network, analysing the material scale pro- INTRODUCTION duction in the organisation and the mobilisation of the network and the discursive scale production While it is nowadays customary to acknowledge on its websites. The next section briefly reviews the potential of the Internet for global col- social movement approaches and discusses lective action, the ways grassroots groups and scale issues and the potential role of the Inter- organisations actually use the Internet are still net. The remainder of the paper analyses the rarely scrutinised (for a recent exception see: role of the Internet in Indymedia, a worldwide McCaughley & Ayers 2003). How does the Inter- network of news websites for grassroots activists. net influence the nature and shape of political The audience of the network was estimated organising? How do social-movement groups at 400,000 individual visits per day (in January Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie – 2004, Vol. 95, No. 5, pp. 482–497. © 2004 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden MA 02148, USA INTERNET, SCALE AND THE GLOBAL GRASSROOTS 483 2002, reported in Uzelman 2002; p. 17). The at the national level only and neglecting local paper presents the Indymedia open publishing configurations of resources and local oppor- software; it analyses the use of the Internet to tunity structures inside the same country (Miller organise the Indymedia network and to mobi- 1994, 2000). Moving across scales, i.e. ‘jumping lise activists at different scales; and it examines scales’ is an important strategy for protagonists the use of the Internet in the framing of In- in a conflict. An action group might try to mobi- dymedia and the global grassroots and their lise individuals and seek support and allies at multiscalar practices. the scale with the most opportunities. Scales are therefore crucial to issues of empowerment COLLECTIVE ACTION, SCALE AND (Staeheli 1994; see also the notions of ‘spaces of THE INTERNET dependence’ and ‘spaces of engagement’, Cox 1998). Moreover it is not only about jumping Studying collective action – Broadly speaking pre-existing scales, but also about producing four approaches to social movements can be them. It is nowadays common in geography to distinguished. Early research on collective view scales as social constructs (Leitner 1997; action focused on grievances to explain why Delaney & Leitner 1997; Marston 2000; Bren- people get mobilised. By contrast, the resource ner 2001; Marston & Smith 2001; Herod & mobilisation approach (RMA) stresses the Wright 2002; Kurtz 2003). importance of resources available (or not) to The overused concept of globalisation sug- individuals and groups involved (or not) in gests the emergence of a new scale of politics: collective action (McCarthy & Zald 1973, 1977). the global scale, and a new scale of collective The third thread, sometimes labelled the Politi- action with a global grassroots (or globalisation cal Process Approach, criticised this actor- grassroots, as phrased by Appadurai 2000 centred approach and focuses on the political and Routledge 2003). Social movements are context with the central concept of political acknowledged to play an important role in opportunity structure (POS) (Kitschelt 1986; the renegotiation of political scales, as show Kriesi et al. 1992). While the RMA questions why examples concerning environmental issues some groups are more active than others, the (Lipschutz 2000; Heins 2000; Soyez 2000; Schä- POS approach wonders why groups in certain fer 2000) and the anti-globalisation movement countries or periods are more successful than and its resistance against global neo-liberalism others. A fourth strand of social movement (Routledge 2000, 2003; DeFilippis 2001). The research turns away from the material aspects relation between global and local is crucial of social movements to underline their discur- to these analyses. DeFilippis (2001) is worried sive practices: it focuses on so-called new social about disconnected scales (pp. 369–371): resist- movements (NSM) that challenge the hegem- ance to neoliberalism needs to be both global onic framing of social issues (Melucci 1989, and local, as capitalism. Others state that these 1996; Tarrow 1995). ‘These are movements to movements are ‘anchored locally, linked glo- seize the power of the mind, not state power’ bally’ (Soyez 2000), underlining the multi- (Castells 2001, p. 141). Collective action frames scalar politics of the anti-globalisation movement feature motivational elements (defining the (such as the Peoples’ Global Action analysed in community), diagnostic elements (stating the Routledge 2003). Transforming ‘local’ distur- problem) and prognostic elements (proposing bances into global activism (Herod & Wright a solution) (Martin 2003). These four appro- 2002, p. 4), ‘going globile’ (Routledge 1998, aches address different aspects of grassroots 2000), globalising resistance, globalising networks mobilisations and point at four complementary of communication, solidarity information sharing perspectives to structure this case study: griev- (Routledge 2003) are seen as crucial to oppose ances, resources, opportunities and identities. neoliberal globalisation. By contrast, Gibson- Graham (2002) (please note that Gibson-Graham Global grassroots and scale issues – Scale issues is the pen name of Katherine Gibson and Julie are generally neglected by collective action Graham) questions the ways ‘geographical research that tends to focus on the national rescaling’ is often depicted and the frequently scale, analysing resources and opportunities declared need for resistance to neoliberalism © 2004 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG 484 VIRGINIE MAMADOUH to organise globally (for example: Hardt & Negri to share information and ideas across space, in 2000): and contends that local resistance is no other words to jump scales, and how this scale less important, and no less challenging to the politics of telecommunications alters the bal- global economy (Gibson-Graham 2002). ance of power in social struggles. This raises an Without taking a definitive position in this important question for the present study: How debate, it is important to underline that collec- do grassroots activists use the Internet to jump tive actions produced their own ‘scalar narra- scales between local, national and global pol- tives’ (Kelly 1997) or ‘scalar discourses’ (Herod itical arenas, to articulate new agendas and to & Wright 2002). ‘Scale frames’ (Kurtz 2003) can frame the configuration of local and global be seen as strategic discursive representations of issues? social grievances, including the practice of nam- The Internet is a communication network ing (i.e. constructing a social grievance), blaming linking computers worldwide. As such, it is (i.e. providing explanations for the present- both a communication medium and an organis- day situation), and claiming (i.e. formulating ational infrastructure. It can be an instrument solutions). This framing does not necessarily for collective action; Internet-based arenas involve one single scale, on the contrary, collec- (such as BBS or forums, and the Web as the pub- tive action groups might appeal to national lic space of the Internet) offer new arenas for solutions for local problems and vice versa collective action; Internet-based communi- (think
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reclaim the Streets, the Protestival and the Creative Transformation of the City
    Finisterra, XLVii, 94, 2012, pp. 103-118103 RECLAIM THE STREETS, THE PROTESTIVAL aND THE CREaTiVE TRaNSFoRMaTioN oF THE CiTY anDré carMo1 abstract – the main goal of this article is to reflect upon the relationship between creativity and urban transformation. it stems from the assumption that creativity has a para- doxical nature as it is simultaneously used for the production of the neoliberal city and by those seeking to challenge it and build alternative urban realities. first, we put forth a criti- cal review of the creative city narrative, focused on richard florida’s work, as it progres- sively became fundamental for the neoliberal city. afterwards, and contrasting with that dominant narrative, we describe a trajectory of Reclaim the Streets that provides the basis for our discussion of the protestival (protest + carnival) as its main creative force of urban transformation. Keywords: Creativity, urban transformation, Reclaim the Streets, protestival. Resumo – reclaiM the streets, o protestival e a transForMação criativa Da ciDaDe. O principal objetivo deste artigo é refletir sobre a relação existente entre criativi- dade e transformação urbana. Parte-se do princípio de que a criatividade tem uma natureza paradoxal, na medida em que é simultaneamente usada para a produção da cidade neolibe- ral, mas também por aqueles que procuram desafiá-la e construir realidades urbanas alter- nativas. Primeiro, fazemos uma revisão crítica da narrativa da cidade criativa, focada no trabalho de richard florida, por esta se ter progressivamente tornado fundamental para a cidade neoliberal. Depois, e contrastando com essa narrativa dominante, descrevemos uma trajetória do Reclaim the Streets que providencia a base para a nossa discussão do protesti- val (protesto + carnaval) como a sua principal força criativa de transformação urbana.
    [Show full text]
  • Thoughts on Libertarian Municipalism
    Thoughts on Libertarian Municipalism Murray Bookchin Age, chronic illnesses, and the summer heat oblige me to remain at home—hence I am very sorry that I cannot participate in your conference on libertarian municipalism. I would like, however— thanks to Janet Biehl, who will read these remarks—to welcome you to Vermont and to wish you well during the course of your discussions over the next three days. Some issues have recently arisen in discussions of libertarian municipalism, and I would like to offer my views on them. One of the most important involves the distinction that should be drawn between libertarian municipalism and communitarianism, a distinction that is often lost in discussions of politics. Communitarianism By communitarianism, I refer to movements and ideologies that seek to transform society by creating so-called alternative economic and living situations such as food cooperatives, health centers, schools, printing workshops, community centers, neighborhood farms, “squats,” unconventional lifestyles, and the like. Allowing for the works of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the notable spokespersons of communitarianism have been Martin Buber, Harry Boyte, and Colin Ward, among many others. The word communitarian is often interchangeable with the word cooperative, a form of production and exchange that is attractive because the work is not only amiably collective but worker-controlled or worker-managed. At most, communitarianism seeks to gently edge social development away from privately owned enterprises—banks, corporations, supermarkets, factories, and industrial systems of agriculture —and the lifeways to which they give rise, into collectively owned enterprises and values. It does not seek to create a power center that will overthrow capitalism; it seeks rather to outbid it, outprice it, or outlast it, often by presenting a moral obstacle to the greed and evil that many find in a bourgeois economy.
    [Show full text]
  • Reclaim the Streets, the Protestival and the Creative Transformation of the City
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Directory of Open Access Journals Finisterra, XLVii, 94, 2012, pp. 103-118103 RECLAIM THE STREETS, THE PROTESTIVAL aND THE CREaTiVE TRaNSFoRMaTioN oF THE CiTY anDré carMo1 abstract – the main goal of this article is to reflect upon the relationship between creativity and urban transformation. it stems from the assumption that creativity has a para- doxical nature as it is simultaneously used for the production of the neoliberal city and by those seeking to challenge it and build alternative urban realities. first, we put forth a criti- cal review of the creative city narrative, focused on richard florida’s work, as it progres- sively became fundamental for the neoliberal city. afterwards, and contrasting with that dominant narrative, we describe a trajectory of Reclaim the Streets that provides the basis for our discussion of the protestival (protest + carnival) as its main creative force of urban transformation. Keywords: Creativity, urban transformation, Reclaim the Streets, protestival. Resumo – reclaiM the streets, o protestival e a transForMação criativa Da ciDaDe. O principal objetivo deste artigo é refletir sobre a relação existente entre criativi- dade e transformação urbana. Parte-se do princípio de que a criatividade tem uma natureza paradoxal, na medida em que é simultaneamente usada para a produção da cidade neolibe- ral, mas também por aqueles que procuram desafiá-la e construir realidades urbanas alter- nativas. Primeiro, fazemos uma revisão crítica da narrativa da cidade criativa, focada no trabalho de richard florida, por esta se ter progressivamente tornado fundamental para a cidade neoliberal.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Anarchists
    A Movement of Movements?—5 david graeber THE NEW ANARCHISTS t’s hard to think of another time when there has been such a gulf between intellectuals and activists; between theorists of Irevolution and its practitioners. Writers who for years have been publishing essays that sound like position papers for vast social movements that do not in fact exist seem seized with confusion or worse, dismissive contempt, now that real ones are everywhere emerging. It’s particularly scandalous in the case of what’s still, for no particularly good reason, referred to as the ‘anti-globalization’ movement, one that has in a mere two or three years managed to transform completely the sense of historical possibilities for millions across the planet. This may be the result of sheer ignorance, or of relying on what might be gleaned from such overtly hostile sources as the New York Times; then again, most of what’s written even in progressive outlets seems largely to miss the point—or at least, rarely focuses on what participants in the movement really think is most important about it. As an anthropologist and active participant—particularly in the more radical, direct-action end of the movement—I may be able to clear up some common points of misunderstanding; but the news may not be gratefully received. Much of the hesitation, I suspect, lies in the reluc- tance of those who have long fancied themselves radicals of some sort to come to terms with the fact that they are really liberals: interested in expanding individual freedoms and pursuing social justice, but not in ways that would seriously challenge the existence of reigning institu- tions like capital or state.
    [Show full text]
  • Reclaim the Streets! from Local to Global Party Protest
    THIRD TEXT Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Art and Culture July 2013 Reclaim The Streets! From Local to Global Party Protest Julia Ramírez Blanco If I can’t dance it’s not my revolution.1 Over the years, we have become used to experiencing works of art instead of merely watching them. As spectators, we are asked to become participants in what are considered to be artistic ‘situations’. The institutional and academic worlds propose terms such as ‘relational art’ or ‘community art’.2 A certain neo-situationist theoretical current introduces quotes of Guy Debord, Jean Baudrillard, Raoul Vaneigem and Michel de Certeau into the texts that deal with these practices. In considering these developments, Claire Bishop has spoken of a ‘social turn’ in contemporary art. However, in the introduction to her book Artificial Hells (2012), she states that this might actually be a return, and that such a return belongs to a certain tradition: From a Western European perspective, the social turn in contemporary art can be contextualized by two previous historical moments, both synonymous with political upheaval and movements for social change: the historic avant-garde in Europe circa 1917, and the so-called ‘neo’ avant-garde leading to 1968. The conspicuous resurgence of participatory art in the 1990s leads me to posit the fall of communism in 1989 as a third point of transformation. Triangulated, these three dates form a narrative of the triumph, heroic last stand and collapse of a collectivist vision of society. Each phase has been accompanied by a utopian rethinking of art’s relationship to the social and of its political potential – manifested in a reconsideration of the ways in which art is produced, consumed and debated.3 As had happened with previous explosions of participation in the art field, the renewed interest in participation of the 1990s cannot be fully understood without looking at what was happening at the same time in the field of activism.
    [Show full text]
  • Changing Anarchism.Pdf
    Changing anarchism Changing anarchism Anarchist theory and practice in a global age edited by Jonathan Purkis and James Bowen Manchester University Press Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Copyright © Manchester University Press 2004 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press, copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors. This electronic version has been made freely available under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC- ND) licence, which permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction provided the author(s) and Manchester University Press are fully cited and no modifications or adaptations are made. Details of the licence can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN 0 7190 6694 8 hardback First published 2004 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Typeset in Sabon with Gill Sans display by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Manchester Printed in Great Britain by CPI, Bath Dedicated to the memory of John Moore, who died suddenly while this book was in production. His lively, innovative and pioneering contributions to anarchist theory and practice will be greatly missed.
    [Show full text]
  • Capitalist Movement
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by MURAL - Maynooth University Research Archive Library © Copyright Irish Journal of Sociology ISSN 0791 6035 Vol. 18.2, 2010, pp. 86–105 Revolution in the air: images of winning in the Irish anti- capitalist movement LAURENCE COX Department of Sociology, National University of Ireland, Maynooth LIZ CURRY Researcher, Dublin City University Abstract This article explores strategic conceptions within the alter-globalisation move- ment in Ireland. Based on action research carried out within the left-libertarian (“Grassroots’) wing of the movement, it notes imbalances in participation in a very intensive form of political activity, and asks how activists understand winning. It finds substantial congruence between organisational practice and long-term goals, noting social justice and participatory democracy along with feminist, environmental and anti-war concerns as central. Using Wallerstein’s proposed transition strategy for anti-systemic movements, it argues that Irish alter-globalisation activists are realistic about popular support and state power, and concerned to link short-term work around basic needs with the construction of alternative institutions and long-term struggles for a different social order. Key words: social movements, Ireland, alter-globalisation, anti-capitalism, strategy, utopia Introduction: alter-globalisation and Ireland In 2010, the worldwide alter-globalisation movement is fifteen years old, dating from the first Zapatista-sponsored Encuentros, which in turn gave rise to the People’s Global Action alliance that shut down the World Trade Organisation in Seattle in 1999 – since which point it has been unable to conclude a single trade round. Irish participants were first involved in the 2000 and 2001 protests in Prague and Genoa respectively, while 2002 saw the police discover that the media and other elites did not accept the licence they believed they had to attack participants of a Reclaim the Streets party in Dublin (Ní Dhorchaigh and Cox 2009).
    [Show full text]
  • International Medical Corps Afghanistan
    Heading Folder Afghanistan Afghanistan - Afghan Information Centre Afghanistan - International Medical Corps Afghanistan - Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) Agorist Institute Albee, Edward Alianza Federal de Pueblos Libres American Economic Association American Economic Society American Fund for Public Service, Inc. American Independent Party American Party (1897) American Political Science Association (APSA) American Social History Project American Spectator American Writer's Congress, New York City, October 9-12, 1981 Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action - Students for Democractic Action Anarchism Anarchism - A Distribution Anarchism - Abad De Santillan, Diego Anarchism - Abbey, Edward Anarchism - Abolafia, Louis Anarchism - ABRUPT Anarchism - Acharya, M. P. T. Anarchism - ACRATA Anarchism - Action Resource Guide (ARG) Anarchism - Addresses Anarchism - Affinity Group of Evolutionary Anarchists Anarchism - Africa Anarchism - Aftershock Alliance Anarchism - Against Sleep and Nightmare Anarchism - Agitazione, Ancona, Italy Anarchism - AK Press Anarchism - Albertini, Henry (Enrico) Anarchism - Aldred, Guy Anarchism - Alliance for Anarchist Determination, The (TAFAD) Anarchism - Alliance Ouvriere Anarchiste Anarchism - Altgeld Centenary Committee of Illinois Anarchism - Altgeld, John P. Anarchism - Amateur Press Association Anarchism - American Anarchist Federated Commune Soviets Anarchism - American Federation of Anarchists Anarchism - American Freethought Tract Society Anarchism - Anarchist
    [Show full text]
  • Squatting, Trespass, and Direct Housing Action: a Report on ‘Making Space’
    Radical Housing Journal, April 2019 Vol 1(1): 227-232 Section: Updates Squatting, trespass, and direct housing action: A report on ‘Making Space’ Samuel Burgum University of Sheffield Abstract Sam is a Leverhulme Early A report from ‘Making Space’ – an exhibition of squatting, trespass, and Career Fellow conducting direct housing action which took place in Sheffield as part of the ESRC research into squatting and the Festival of Social Sciences, 5-10 November 2018. This Radical Housing housing crisis in London. Journal ‘update’ reflects on the political role of archiving and exhibitions, Contact: whilst highlighting the main aim of ‘Making Space’ in unsettling the way [email protected] in which we have become accustomed to think about property, @sjburgum ownership, and entitlement. In addition to plans for future online samuelburgum.uk publications, ‘Making Space’ is also available to travel, so please get in contact if you are interested in hosting the exhibition. Keywords squatting, trespass, housing, protest, exhibition Squatting and trespass embody the limits of how housing and property are distributed, built upon millennia of enclosures. As such, ‘Making Space’ (an exhibition of squatting, trespass, and direct housing action) began with the Magna Carta, the foundations of Anglo- Liberal property law, and their translation into domestic and colonial rule. Open for one week at the Union St Co-op Café in Sheffield, as part of the ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council) Festival of Social Sciences 2018, ‘Making Space’ saw hundreds of people learn about and discuss such a inheritance, whilst networking with different campaign groups (including tenants’ union ‘Acorn’, Assist asylum seeker support, and the Sheffield Tree campaign) as well as Reclaim the Power (a UK-based direct action network fighting for social, environmental and economic justice who happened to have a national convergence over that weekend).
    [Show full text]
  • Mobilising Red, Black and Green? Contouring the Place of the Riot in Contemporary Environmentalism
    Kurunczi: Mobilising Red, Black and Green? 88 Mobilising Red, Black and Green? Contouring the Place of the Riot in Contemporary Environmentalism ALEXANDER KURUNCZI Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany Introduction: Fractured Reputation? Riots and the Progressive Struggle Today Riots prove elusive, their contemporary noisy ubiquity notwithstanding. One peculiar mode of protest in social movements’ diverse repertoire of strategies, they are as prone to its undulations, where certain actions are privileged as effective, while others are dis- qualified as too blunt an instrument in the struggle for justice and equality. Puzzlingly, it hardly matters that the last two decades were characterised by forms of protest that in- sisted on civil society as the privileged site of resistance – riots remain a phenomenon ostensibly positioned on the edges of the political sphere. This elusiveness has not en- hanced their reputation. Not unlike the riot itself, it remains fractured. Riots are fre- quently frowned upon, even demonised. Commonly associated with violence, devastating destruction, and the egoistic greed of looters, they become, it seems, maladies of the mob rather than (legitimate) protests of the people. Things are more complicated, of course. Riots position themselves inside and outside of a theoretical enchainment with democracy, depending on who exactly the riots’ subject is understood to be: Is it a class, as socialists have hoped? A suggestible mob, as conserva- tives have feared? A multitude, a mass, the people even? In this debate, there is a chance for rehabilitating the riot, but – mind you – this is merely a chance, far from being a fore- gone conclusion. Puzzlements abound, as the riot‘s temporality does not offer much to simplify things: its causes remain vague, its demands and aims enigmatic.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Flag Mapping: Emerging Themes in Anarchist Geography
    Black flag mapping: emerging themes in anarchist geography Anthony Ince Kulturgeografiska Institutionen Stockholms Universitet Forthcoming (2014) in Levy C and Newman S (eds.) The Anarchist Imagination: Anarchism Encounters the Humanities and Social Sciences. London: Routledge. I first realised that I wanted to become a geographer when I read Tearing Down the Streets, by the anarchist Jeff Ferrell (2001). Overlooking the fact that he was a criminologist, not a geographer, the powerful message of the book orbited the contestation of public space and the politics of creating truly public and egalitarian spaces for social change. Using a critique (anarchism) and subject matter (public space) that I had never experienced before, Ferrell interrogated the ways in which the urban environment is shaped by, and constitutive of, all manner of political, social, cultural and economic forces. What gripped me was the way that space is ethereal and elusive – we can‟t hold a piece of space in our hand, or interview it, or run it through a machine for analysis – but it is also necessarily material and grounded, locked deeply into the core of everyday struggles for survival, expression, wellbeing and social justice. As a disillusioned political science undergraduate who had been taught that the study of politics chiefly involved learning by rote the technocratic systems of Western government, this was an epiphany of considerable magnitude. It quickly became clear that anarchism and geography could be very happy bedfellows, both offering a view of the world that is holistic, nuanced, insightful and potentially transformative. The powerful tension that inhabits the anarchist critique is that it incorporates a fundamental and unrelenting questioning of the very basis of society as we know it, and yet, identifies situated practices and relationships that take place every day as potentially embodying future emancipatory worlds.
    [Show full text]
  • Tactics: Conceptions of Social Change, Revolution, and Anarchist Organisation
    CHAPTER 6 Tactics: Conceptions of Social Change, Revolution, and Anarchist Organisation Dana M. Williams INTRODUCTiON Social movement tactics are all the things that movement participants do to achieve larger goals. In the day-to-day pursuit of goals, tactics fit into the gen- eral framework of a movement’s strategy. If strategy is the broad organising plans for accomplishing goals, then tactics are the specific actions or techniques through which strategies are implemented.1 Considered together, multiple tac- tics compose a protest repertoire2: the temporal, spatial, and cultural patterning of protest tactics into a toolkit of established approaches that movement partici- pants use. Repertoires enable and often limit what people can do, although they do not guarantee any kind of action. Thus, repertoires are probabilistic, not deterministic. All the tactics within anarchist movement repertoires dis- cussed below presumably contribute to the acquisition of anarchist goals and a more anarchistic future. However, anarchist movement tactics do no need to be deployed only by self-conscious anarchists; others can utilise ‘anarchistic’ tactics which sharply mirror those wielded by anarchists themselves. Anarchist tactics aim to accomplish two things simultaneously. First, they oppose things that anarchists considered to be bad, such as hierarchy, repres- sion, and inequality. In this respect, tactics serve a diagnostic function that negatively frames societal characteristics with an anarchist analysis. Second, anarchist tactics promote things that anarchists consider to be good, like hori- zontal relationships, liberation, and egalitarianism. Thus, tactics are also prog- nostic frames that suggest better, more positive forms of social organisation. D. M. Williams (*) Department of Sociology, California State University, Chico, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2019 107 C.
    [Show full text]