The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong is a critical milestone of pro-democracy campaigning in this postcolonial society. Differing from the previous movement mobilisation, the Umbrella Movement is neither planned nor led by any leader. Instead, the movement is a result...
Category: The Blog
A ‘Revolution’ under Attack – the Alternative in midst the War in Syria
The most recent pictures of thousands of refugees fleeing from heavy attacks of ISIS and making their way from Syria across the border to Turkey, come from the area of Kobani – one of three cantons of the self- proclaimed Autonomy Region Rojava in Northern Syria. This...
Staging protest’s relics: a visit to Disobedient Objects at the V&A
‘How might an object be disobedient?’ The question occurred to me throughout the morning before my visit to the V&A. The exhibition’s title on the one hand seemed to allude to the truth that items and materials are part of our networks of contention, but it seemed...
Discipline and Dissent on the University Campus
On July 21st 2014, the University of Birmingham disciplined three students for their role in a Defend Education Birmingham occupation of the University Senate Chamber in November 2013. Two students were suspended for nine months, while the third was given a formal...
New Book on European Identity and Social Movements
The elections to the European Parliament in May have brought the question of European unity back into the foreground. Right-wing Eurosceptics gained large followings but some advances were also made by progressive parties. I would argue that social movements are the...
Emotional Contagion, Big Data and Research Ethics
The results of a recent psychology experiment on ‘emotional contagion’ last week were heavily reported in the mainstream media and, rather unusually, the discussion was focused on methodology and research ethics. The experiment involved manipulation of the ‘News Feed’...
Gezi Protests Revisted
Once again thousands of protesters in Turkey took to the streets in mid-March in order to commemorate the youngest and most recent victim of police violence during the Gezi Protests of last year. The 14 year-old Berkin Elvan was hit by a tear gas canister and had been...
Pussy Riot split confusion: cultural action always has blurred lines
Reblog: this post was first published by Susan O'Shea at the Feminist Times. See the original here. Pussy Riot sang in their Punk Prayer, two years ago today: “become a feminist, become a feminist” – a rallying call to action. From Sochi to Kiev, Caracas to our own...
One-Dimensional Man turns 50
Herbert Marcuse’s (1898-1979) best-known book One-Dimensional Man was first published 50 years ago in 1964 by Beacon Press. If we are to follow Douglas Kellner’s assertion in his Introduction to the Second Edition from 1991, it was ‘one of the most important books of...
New article on Prefigurative Politics in Social Movement Studies
Power relations within social movements are an enormous source of dispute and argument in contemporary activism, and so are questions about the strategic significance of alternative practical projects such as occupations, alternative media, communes, ‘zines, radical...
Contact Us
+44 (0) 161 306 6000
Recent Comments