Week 1 – Theory and Activism
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Everyday activism and transitions towards post-capitalist worlds
” ‘Anarchy doesn’t work unless you think about it’ intellectual interpretation and DIY culture”
Week 2 – Common Cause
After some discussion, we’ve decided to spend this week looking at campaigning/activism from a more mainstream NGO perspective to see if there are lessons to be learnt. Here is the common cause report commissioned by WWF – we’ll be basing discussion on the executive summary (pages8-17) – though if you do fancy reading all 100 pages, feel free.
As an introduction to some of the debate that this report caused, it would be helpful if you had a look at these blogs:
http://keepfakingit.com/tag/wwf/
http://valuesandframes.org/solitaires-skin-crawls-at-identity-campaigning/ (mainly the comments – as the blog post itself is based on another blogpost that doesn’t seem to be available any longer)
http://www.brooklyndhurst.co.uk/blog/?p=829
Week 3 – Activism and Narratives
It was like a fever – Francesca Polletta
Comment is Free – Activists must challenge revisionist narratives of protest
Past Tents: A Brief History of Protest Camping
Further reading
What Do We Do with Meanings? – James M. Jasper
Week 4 & Week 5 – Online Activism
Facebook Resistance? Understanding the role of the Internet in the Arab Revolutions
Notes on the Political Condition of Cyberfeminism
Week 6 – State Surveillance and Activism?
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The Impacts of State Surveillance on Political Assembly and Association: A Socio-Legal Analysis by Amory Starr, Luis A. Fernandez, Randall Amster, Lesley J. Wood and Manuel J. Caro, From the issue entitled “Special Issue: Political Violence; Guest Editors: Patricia Steinhoff and Gilda Zwerman” in Qualitative Sociology, Volume 31, Number 3, 251-270
Although it’s written about the states, and so has a lot about Seattle – hopefully its analysis and conclusions can lead to interesting discussion about how we feel about this issue in relation to our own activities and groups.
It might be worth casting an eye over the following websites to give some further background:
http://www.fitwatch.org.uk/
http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/europe/2337-the-political-policing-of-dissent-in-the-uk
Week 6 – Week Off
No reading.
Week 7 – Social Centres
“Autonomy in the city? Reflections on the social centres movement in the UK” by Stuart Hodkinson and Paul Chatterton
Week 8 – Autonomousnous
Primary Reading
Notes towards autonomous geographies: creation, resistance and self-management as survival tactics
Secondary Reading
The politics of autonomous space
Week 9 – Easter Break
Week 10 – Labour & Autonomist Politics
Meeting on Thursday 12 April at 7.30pm
“Cracks and the Crisis of Abstract Labour” by John Holloway
“The key to understanding autonomies is the revolt of one form of activity against another. I relate this revolt to Marx’s concept of the dual character of labour, and suggest that the rise of autonomist politics should be understood as an expression of the crisis of abstract labour.”