Suchergebnisse

In Brazil, music and citizenship have long gone hand in hand. Based upon fieldwork in Salvador, Bahia, this article seeks to answer the following question: What is the relationship between Afro-Brazilian percussion, black identity, and youth activism? To address this question, I argue that black-identified music is a unifying tool used by citizens to assert their claims to rights and that in Brazil the demands for said rights cannot be separated from racial and socio-economic dynamics. To support my argument, I present a case study centered on the use of Afro-Brazilian percussion in the Confederations Cup protests of 2013 to illustrate how music is being used in the fight for rights today. I outline the circumstances that gave rise to nationwide demonstrations and provide thick description of two instances of protest I witnessed in Salvador. Next, I dissect a widely dispersed protest song from 2013 within the context of Brazil's history of protest music. Lastly, I look at the importance of social media in the breadth and scope of this social movement and government response.

"Am 20. April wurde Staatspräsident Lucio Gutiérrez als Konsequenz einer sich seit Ende 2004 zuspitzenden Staatskrise des Amtes enthoben. Damit beendete der dritte Präsident in Folge seine Amtszeit vor deren regulärem Ablauf. Die direkten Ursachen für den Fall des Präsidenten lagen vornehmlich in einer Kombination aus verfassungswidriger und klientelistischer Politik sowie in der Unfähigkeit der Regierung, tragfähige Koalitionen zu schmieden. Die strukturellen Hintergründe für die anhaltende Instabilität auf nationaler Ebene liegen in der Unfähigkeit des hochgradig fragmentierten Partei-
ensystems, die drängenden ethnischen, regionalen und sozioökonomischen Herausforderungen des
Landes zu bewältigen. Die Proteste im Vorfeld der Amtsenthebung haben sich jedoch inhaltlich wie
organisatorisch deutlich von denen der Vorjahre unterschieden. Sie waren nicht ethnisch und kaum
wirtschaftspolitisch begründet, sondern wurden vornehmlich von lediglich rudimentär organisierten Mitgliedern der Mittelschichten Quitos getragen, die ihren Unmut über die dominierenden Praktiken der Regierung und der politischen Elite insgesamt zum Ausdruck brachten. Die These, dass diese Proteste Ausdruck einer reiferen Zivilgesellschaft sind, die eine Reform des Parteiensystems nach sich ziehen werde, muss jedoch noch mit Vorsicht bewertet werden. (Autorenreferat)

In this paper author explores resemblances between protests of winter 2011-2012 in Russia and student movements. Given the fact that Russian protest is considered to be values-oriented event rather than political movement, discursive practices of its participants should be explored. The conclusion is that protesters used practices of 'carnevalesque' not to undermine political essence of the movement, but as a tool of middle class self-identification.

In recent years, schools have borne the brunt of protesters' frustrations with the lack of access to services in South Africa. A 2016 investigative hearing by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) explored the causes of the protests and examined the failure to prevent the destruction of school property. It found that no one was held accountable for the protest-related damage. This article explores the competing constitutionally protected rights of protest and education. Although the right to protest is central in a democracy, it must be exercised peacefully with minimal disruptions to the right to education. Protest action that causes destruction should be criminally sanctioned; however, action that impedes access to education through threats and intimidation is difficult to deal with in the criminal justice system. This article questions the applicability of section 3(6) of the South African Schools Act, which makes it an offence to stop children attending school, and considers the proposed amendments to the Act in light of these critiques. The article explores possible prosecution relying on the Intimidation Act, and finds that the Act is under constitutional challenge. The article concludes that the focus on prevention as contained in the SAHRC report is not misplaced, given the challenges in holding protesters accountable under criminal law.

Media attention is a crucial resource for demonstrators seeking to influence policy. This article assesses the determinants of television coverage for protest events. Police archive data for the city of Brussels is compared to newscast data of the biggest public and commercial station in Belgium (2003-2010). Results show that few demonstrations pass the television gates (11%). Above all, protest size accounts for newsworthiness. Disruptive and symbolic actions also attract the media spotlight, confirming drama and visuals as critical television news values. Whereas symbolism matters for media presence, it does not hold for headline (prominence) or length of coverage (volume). New social movements are especially likely to stage symbolic actions. As a consequence, their presence on the screen is less a function of their numeric weight in the street. Distinctive selection mechanisms are at work on the commercial and public broadcaster, suggesting that media ownership matters for news selection. Adapted from the source document.

This article analyzes the Hong Kong's 2019 anti-extradition movement and how it learned from the unsuccessful lessons of the 2014 umbrella movement. Existing theories, such as protest cycles, spillover, and abeyance provide inadequate explanations of the linkage between these two movements. This article contends that collective learning from the previous setbacks enabled Hong Kong's protesters to launch a more challenging protest five years later. Such learning was made possible because (1) the occupation zones of the umbrella movement served as an incubator for new and experimental tactics that were later deployed, (2) post-occupy organizations sustained a network of participants scattered across different professions that emerged as the mobilizing infrastructure, and (3) in order to avoid the same mistakes, participants recognized the need for more decentralized decision making and tolerance for radical protests.

The mass student protest for road safety in Bangladesh started in the capital city Dhaka after the death of two students by a road accident. Focusing on the event during 2018, this paper analyses the comments and memes of selected Facebook pages to find out the reactions by netizens towards the protest. Although there are several studies based on protest and social media in different nations, in Bangladesh it remains an under-researched field. Data were collected from four selected public Facebook pages using the thematic analysis method. Through the analysis of the data, it became clear that netizens wanted to express their feelings and thoughts freely in this open space as new media offers them an almost censor-free platform. The findings contribute to understanding how social media plays a role in providing an open platform of freedom of expression.

Research on social movements has paid little attention to the dynamics of clandestine mobilization as an integral element of protest cycles. Studies of sixteen New Left clandestine groups in Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States demonstrate strong commonalities in the processes of going underground and staying underground. Activists move from the public to the clandestine realm as a result of increased repression at the protest cycle's peak, commitment to specific ideological frames, and personal ties. Identity conflicts specific to underground roles and other aspects of underground life influence the nature of clandestine violence, further affecting the protest cycle's course. (Mobilization / FUB)