Out of Order the Social Control of Global Dissent
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OUT OF ORDER THE SOCIAL CONTROL OF GLOBAL DISSENT © Amory Starr Luis Fernandez Northern Arizona University Christian Scholl University of Amsterdam 2010 Blurb for back of the book This book is about the social control of dissent in the era of alterglobalization. It documents in detail how social control forecloses and destroys the social spaces through which social movements nurture the development of dissent and the public spaces through which they effect disruptive challenges. This global, preemptive control relegates dissent to the realm of criminality. The charge is insurrection, but the accused have no weapons. Protesters are not the ones who are “out of order”. The book compellingly concludes that much of normalized policing of protest must be reconceptualized as political violence against democracy. If we recognize that meaningful dissent relies on political associations, the emergence and sustenance of which in turn relies on the ideas, organizations, networks, and culture of social movements, which are themselves ambiguous, borderless, and highly unpredictable –what then, exactly, must a democratic society protect? Dedication To our wounds, and the creativity and courage it took to get them To our healing, and those who protect the space for it To the silence of fear, in compassion and combustion To the global we have made To the dream we demand with our eyes open To another security To affinity and trust and affection To difference and dialogue, late into the night, and enough time for it To the abundance that is ours. SHORT bios Amory Starr is the author of Naming the Enemy: Anti-Corporate Movements Confront Globalization (2000) and Global Revolt: A Guide to Alterglobalization (2005). She holds a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Luis A. Fernandez is author of Policing Dissent: Social Control and the Anti-Globalization Movement (2008) and teaches at Northern Arizona University. He holds a PhD from Arizona State University. Christian Scholl is lecturer of political science at the University of Amsterdam and holds a PhD from the same university. LONG bios The manuscript of Amory Starr's Naming the Enemy: Anti-Corporate Movements Confront Globalization was completed in 1998, more than a year before the Seattle WTO protests. Later published by Zed Books, it is the first systematic survey of the movements which would shortly converge into the anti-globalization movement. Her second book, Global Revolt: A Guide to Alterglobalization, is an introductory text, reviewing points of consensus, disagreements, and some of the tactics from the global struggle. (Zed Books, 2005) She also wrote and directed This is What Free Trade Looks Like, a 2004 documentary which examines México's experience with NAFTA as a basis for understanding the WTO. Her articles appear in Cultural Studies, Agriculture and Human Values, Journal of Social Movement Studies, Qualitative Sociology, Journal of World Systems Research, New Political Science, Latin American Perspectives, Social Justice, Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, Socialist Register, and Journal of Developing Societies. Currently, her activism focuses on the political economy of food. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Luis A. Fernandez is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University. He has worked for several research institutions, including the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. His work appears in various journals, including Qualitative Sociology and Social Justice. He is also the author of Policing Dissent: Social Control and the Anti-Globalization Movement, (Rutgers, 2008) and the co-editor of Contemporary Anarchist Studies (Routledge, 2009). He holds an M.A. in Political Science and a Ph.D. in Justice Studies from Arizona State University. Christian Scholl is lecturer of political science and gender studies at the University of Amsterdam. His research expertise is focused on global political economy, the history of transnational social movements, social control and security cooperation. His dissertation documented the interactions between protestors and police during summit protest in Europe. He is the author of several academic articles published a.o. in Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies and Mobilization. He holds an M.A. in Gender studies and a Ph.D. in social sciences from the University of Amsterdam. Table of Contents Chapter 1: What is going on?.............................................................................1 Understanding social control..........................................................................3 Understanding dissent....................................................................................11 Dissent in the era of alterglobalization.........................................................17 Methods...........................................................................................................22 Toward a new framework for studying the social control of dissent........23 Chapter 2: The Geography of global governance.......................................35 Space, legitimacy, and the contestation of global governance............37 Selecting a location.......................................................................................42 Dividing space................................................................................................48 Controlling individuals’ movement...............................................................56 Militarization.....................................................................................................59 Channeling Dissent.........................................................................................63 Chapter 3: Political economy of the social control of dissent......................68 What does it cost?..........................................................................................69 Security.........................................................................................................71 Operations of a Secure Summit................................................................73 Collateral costs to the locality...................................................................75 Tensions............................................................................................................78 Political Economy of Social Control.............................................................81 Chapter 4: Policing of Alterglobalization Dissent...........................................86 Regulatory and Legislative Dimensions of Policing....................................92 Intelligence......................................................................................................96 Event Policing................................................................................................104 Prosecution....................................................................................................112 Transnationalization of protest policing.....................................................116 Chapter 5: A taxonomy of political violence...............................................125 Marginalization..............................................................................................128 Preemption....................................................................................................131 Permeation and accumulation..................................................................134 Political consciousness & terror...................................................................137 Collectivity.....................................................................................................141 Space and discourse...................................................................................146 Feeling Culture..............................................................................................149 Political violence...........................................................................................154 Chapter 6: Anti-Repression: resisting the social control of dissent.............163 Resisting spatial control................................................................................163 Breaching the zones, blockading back.................................................163 Marching tactics and organizing crowds..............................................165 Affinity groups............................................................................................166 Counter-observation................................................................................166 Pirate communication..............................................................................168 The political economy of solidarity.............................................................169 Legal Teams...............................................................................................170 Street legal.................................................................................................173 Political litigation........................................................................................174 Surviving political violence..........................................................................180 Know your rights, know our past, know your enemy............................180 Solidarity.....................................................................................................181