JUST SAY NO!
Social Protest and the Politics of Resistance
Today we will
Introduce the sociology of resistance
Consider whether democracy remains an effective means of political participation
Examine the ‘new’ social movements
Discuss the role of digital media in protest, particularly in regards to the Occupy movement and the Arab Spring
Consider state responses to digital activism
Our Questions 1.
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Given the divides within society, why is there not more deviance, disobedience and resistance? Do existing political and social mechanisms allow for effective political participation and representation? What are the most effective means of contemporary political resistance?
The Agents of Resistance
Sociologist’s tend to focus on social structures: the ways in which human behaviour becomes patterned and ordered
Resistance seeks to break from these patterns, and thus assumes agency on part of the resistors (the capacity to act otherwise)
Thus resistance occurs whenever social norms, structures or institutions are rejected or disrupted (transformative action)
Forms of disobedience NO
Resistance as Deviance 
It is not the content of what you do that matters, but how it relates to those who you are resisting
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Sometimes sitting on the back of the bus is transformative, sometimes it is reproductive/normative
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Resistance always has to be resistance against something, the importance question is what happens when that something is resisted
Order in Disorder
Resistance may be an everyday element of life, from social disagreement to physical protests, but resistance doesn’t necessarily mean disorder
Resistance is embedded within effective means of power: our institutions and social norms often encourage and allow resistance, within certain boundaries
For resistance to create conflict and disrupt the established way of doing things, it needs to break the existing norms of resistance
But conflict and disorder are not always required for change to occur, as sometimes those in power can concede, and sometimes democratic mechanisms force them to
The politics of resistance involves evaluating which option(s) will be more effective for the cause
If you disagree with what I’m saying, or with what What would the most someone else is saying, or effective means of with the social norms in resistance be? the class, how do you resist?
Democratic Participation
Democracy is the political organisation in which members have an equal say in collective decisions
The are a large range of democratic mechanisms – in Western societies democracy tends to involve a designated group of people voting to choose someone to represent them
Democracy thus allows legitimate resistance: if you disagree, you have a voice and the mechanisms to express it, provided that you follow the rules and have sufficient support
The democratic ethos extends to participation in ‘civil society’, including freedom of speech, independent media, freedom of assembly (protest) and trade unions
Ultimately it is the state, through government control of violence, who decides what the rules are for legitimate resistance
Why disobey in a democracy?
Democracies open to resistance in that they do not demand obedience to a single way of being
Indeed, both capitalism and democracy thrive on counter-culture
Protest and resistance can be sanitised through ‘legitimate channels’ but, if those you are resisting allow you to resist, is there any point in protesting?
Union Resistance
Yesterday the University and College Union was on strike, including at Brunel
The principle of unions is that workers can have power over their employers if they act collectively – ‘collective bargaining’
In the UK, union members are permitted to take industrial action when negotiations with employers ‘break down’
In order for the strike to be lawful, union’s must ‘ballot’ their members and receive the support of the majority of voters
Striking Back
The purpose of a strike is to disrupt the regular operation of an employer
This disruption places pressure on the employer and changes the political conditions under which negotiations occur
Worker’s lose pay, but cannot be dismissed
Union’s were powerful advocates for working people until they were ‘broken’ during the 1970s and 1980s.
Regular strikes are being held, but their influence is mixed
Has your life at Brunel been disrupted by strikes ?
Consumer activism
The place of people-power has shifted from production to consumption
We have influence over corporations not by withdrawing work, but by withholding purchases
This has been seen recently in corporate tax avoidance cases
The shift from productive to consumptive activism has individualised protest and has placed more power in the hands of the wealthy
Which mode of resistance was most likely to have an impact?
Democracy: A discussion Do you vote? Do your politicians represent you?
Does democracy work for some more than others? Is democratic participation still a relevant form of political engagement?
New Social Movements
Social movements are organised collective activities that are designed to bring about lasting political change
The Civil Rights movement and Gay Rights movement are two of the most notable
Social movements lie outside of institutional mechanisms, particularly those ‘new social movements’ that emerged after World War II
These movements have been particularly effective in democratic societies, especially when demands can be incorporated within the existing system
Political Disobedience
In the reading, Harcourt distinguishes between civil and political disobedience in regards to the Occupy movement
Where civil disobedience seeks to right injustices within the system, such as by highlighting issues and ‘raising consciousness’
Political disobedience suggests that the system cannot be justly reformed by the mechanisms it provides and must seek alternative forms of resistance
Direct Action
Social movements are a broad category that can take in a number of means of resistance
Direct action is a form of resistance that produces immediate intervention into a socio-political issue
These actions can include non-violent actions like sit-ins and occupations or direct violence
Direct action was particularly effective in colonial India and in the Civil Rights movement in the United States, and is common in the contemporary Green movement
Occupy
The ‘Occupy’ movement begun when people ‘occupied’ Zuccotti Park beside Wall Street in New York on 17/11/2011
Occupy soon became an international movement, including Occupy London outside of St.Paul’s Cathedral
Occupy’s initial motivation was to protest corporate influence over democracy, beginning with the slogan ‘We are the 99%’
Occupying
Through direct action as part of a global movement, Occupy sought to evoke collective solidarity amongst the majority
The Occupy movement has been defined by its nonhierarchical organisation and a commitment to participatory democracy
The group has also refused to posit specific alternatives and demands, or go participate in traditional democratic mechanisms which has been the subject of significant criticism
Occupied 
The occupations produced strong reactions from authorities, who often arresting protestors and clearing sites of activists
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Whilst the momentum of the movement has slowed considerably, at the time it tapped into popular dissent over economic conditions and bankers
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The movement was also one of the first in the Western world to utilise the potential of social media
Should all protest be agreed to by government authorities?
Social Media and Protests
Social/digital/new media has changed the nature of protest and resistance
Social media vastly increases the speed at which protests can be communicated
Because of the speed of communication, social media has the potential to ‘outwit’ the state – the use of BBM messaging in the London riots being a strong example
This is vital in repressive states in which activists could possibly be arrested before arriving at the protests
Advantages and Challenges
Social media also allows groups to circumvent traditional means of communication, particularly the mass media, in order to get its message across to a diverse audience
Through mechanisms like Twitter #hashtags, a greater sense of connectedness can be developed as individual concerns become more identifiably common
However, although social media protests can be highly decentralised and participatory, without leadership they can struggle to produce demands or negotiate with those in power – as seen in the Arab Spring
Arab Spring
The ‘Arab Spring’ is a series of political uprisings in the Arab world
These begun in Tunisia with the death of a street trader and most notably spread to Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen
These movements have included mass demonstrations, occupations and direct action, as well as the use of social media
Springing Social
Social media was particularly vital in establishing the Arab Spring
Government censorship in the Middle East had made control of information one of the most powerful weapons
Protestors were able to communicate with each other outside of the state and gain a wider audience through collective solidarity, but also act as ‘citizen journalists’ for the rest of the world
Nonetheless, most of the gains made can be attributed to the physical presence of protestors in the face of government violence
Social Limitations
Alex Choudhary argues social media was a powerful device for establishing emotional connections amongst demonstrations by sharing stories
Nonetheless, social media usage is particularly low [.26% in Egypt] in Arab countries, as with other poorer nations, leading to the possibility of a ‘Dissident Elite’
The problems of elite resistance, along with the difficulty in positing positive demands, were very evident in the Arab Spring
Clicktivism
The internet is often said to bring in a whole new means of social resistance and political participation
The other side of digital activism is ‘clicktivism’ in which internet users can engage in passive resistance (slacktivism) by ‘liking’ pages or ‘signing petitions’
This form of engagement makes us feel like we are participating and resisting without actually having to do anything
If you were working for the NUS campaign to reduce fees, what methods would you use?
Wiki Leaking to you
Part of the resistance to state surveillance and control has been the emergence of ‘hacking’ organisations like Wikileaks and Anonymous
These groups are part of a wider technologically enhanced libertarian movement that includes digital currency, the ‘deep net’ and 3-D printing
Punishments against these groups that support freedom of information over censorship in the name of security have been severe
The NSA and You
Governments worldwide are aware of the threat the internet plays to domestic and global order, and have established an unprecedented surveillance programme
The National Security Agency (NSA) scandal broke in June 2013 when a massive domestic and foreign spying surveillance programme was revealed
This programme had long been rumoured, but the scale and specific details still stood as a shock to the establishment and to the public
Not only was the US government spying on foreign governments, but it was revealed that access to personal social network accounts was also possible
Democratic Surveillance
The explicit defence of these programmes, one passionately argued by many, is that total surveillance is required to stop terrorist activity
Conversely, this surveillance culture has entered into non-violent dissident groups, including student and environmental protest groups
For many, government infiltration into resistance movements is an extreme threat to democratic participation
That is, if governments have direct access to all information, do they have the total power to prevent anti-government resistance?
Security vs. Freedom 
These surveillance measures evoke the new form of political struggle between liberty and security that will define your generation
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If the state serves to protect citizens, at what point does this protection become repressive?
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Do we still have the capacity to resist the existing order, or does all resistance have to be supported by the state?
If you are doing nothing wrong, do you have nothing to fear?
Chaotic Conclusions
Whilst resistance is an everyday occurrence, some forms have more capacity to disrupt power
Resistance through participation is embedded within democratic systems
Digital protest has changed the dimensions of resistance
Remember to ask for feedback if you would like it!
Next Week DIVIDING THE FUTURE: INFORMATION, ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT + COURSE REVIEW (1HR) READING
http://www.stanford.edu/group/scspi/issue_future_inequality.html Payne, G. (2006) Social Divisions as a Sociological Perspective. In G. Payne (Ed.) Social Divisions (second edition), Basingstoke: Macmillan.