Social Protest

The text is an analysis of the socio-political situation in Western Pomerania during the political crisis in the Polish People's Republic at the turn of 1971. Szczecin lay in the heart of the workers' protests, however, it was the events in Gdańsk that received the most spotlight at that time and later on. The article aims to gather and analyse information from primary sources on how the inhabitants of the country learned about social unrest in big cities, how they interpreted and commented on it, and how it all translated into social sentiments. Such an approach to the problem also provides an opportunity to carry out an analysis based on the dichotomy between the 'core' and 'peripheral' areas. This is possible due to the accessibility of appropriate primary sources, which in the examined cases are constituted mostly by the documentation gathered by the Security Service, so far used to a small extent. It should also be stressed that the documents on the events of December 1970 in the context of the country in Western Pomerania were rather scant. The analysis of the documentation demonstrates how important Szczecin and Gdańsk were for social sentiments in 1970 and 1971. The incidents in 'core' cities were closely observed, and the patterns of protesting were then copied by the country. The scale of those 'peripheral' protests was smaller, and they usually did not turn into street fights, but their impact was felt, heard and seen. The methods of protesting in the country involved distributing leaflets, making inscriptions, conversing on related topics and, above all, sharing a desire to bring about a socio-political change expressed by strikes and public protests. These occurrences showed how much the 'peripheral' areas were inspired by the 'core' ones. There is no doubt that December 1970 left a lasting mark on the memory of the inhabitants of the country in Western Pomerania.

The article investigates the visual dimension of popular protests in Habsburg Croatia at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, reconstructing the history of a precise pattern of popular protest, i.e. anti-Hungarian unrests. Furthermore, the article explores the relationships that peasant masses established with some key national symbols, namely the Hungarian and Croatian flag, showing the multiple and contested meaning assigned to them by the members of the elite and the peasants. Second, the article shows how popular reception of these visual symbols changed during the examined period. The main issues addressed are therefore the mass nationalization and politicization of rural population in these regions, raising some general questions related to the symbolic language of social conflict.

O Estado Democrático de Direito busca a efetiva participação dos indivíduos nas deliberações públicas. Nesse contexto, passeatas, protestos, marchas, caminhadas entre outros atos semelhantes adquirem especial relevo. Contudo, o exercício dessa garantia fundamental causa transtornos aos demais cidadãos que não estão participando do ato. Assim, a liberdade de reunião concorre com os direitos das demais pessoas, como, por exemplo, o direito de locomoção. Em virtude do conflito, faz-se necessário estudar os contornos do direito de reunião no Brasil. Ao se enveredar por essas trilhas, constata-se que as relativizações ao direito fundamental da Constituição da República não se restrigem às previstas literalmente na norma. Além dos limites previstos no inciso XVI, art. 5o da Constituição, temos também contingências em outras partes da Constituição, em normas infraconstitucionais e também limites implícitos. Outrossim, a imersão no tema ainda traz à tona a necessidade de uma lei regulamentadora, que disponha sobre questões não mencionadas no preceito constitucional. No presente trabalho, o foco do estudo foi o sistema jurídico vigente, por meio da Constituição, de leis infraconstitucionais, da doutrina e de jurisprudência. Além disso, a história do direito de reunião no Brasil e o estudo do direito comparado também contribuíram com a pesquisa.

This article discusses the transformation of the Moroccan state under contemporary neoliberal globalization, and considers what this transition means for the ways in which scholars view state-society interplay in Morocco and the Arab world more generally. Specifically, it examines the protest of unemployed graduates in Morocco, suggesting that public demonstrations are not only a means to communicate and mobilize demands, but also a technology to reclaim and reproduce a particular “truth” in public. This truth does not necessarily equate with the reality of the neoliberal state as a dispersed material force. As such, by looking at the case of Morocco, we hope to instigate further debate on the nature of the state and its specific relation to phenomena as globalization, society and social protest.

The presence of protests, sometimes during violent conflict and civil war, across the globe, seems to contradict the common view that civil war and protests are mutually exclusive episodes and do not belong to a continuum. Instead, peaceful – and less peaceful – protests can coincide with civil war and other forms of armed violence like civil war. This article reflects and questions the dominant understanding that violent conflict and protests are disconnected forms of conflict and contention. To achieve this aim, the chapter discusses how both phenomena have been explained and theorized.

The document starts examining similarities and differences in the definition and understanding of civil war, on the one hand, and protests and protest campaigns (Chenoweth & Lewis, 2013) . Departing from the important work of T.R. Gurr (2011) and others (Skocpol, 1979; Tilly, 2006), on protest, rebellion and violent conflict in the process of state-building, this article research aims to reevaluate how protest campaings and civil war can relate to each other over time.

The document discusses under which conditions, processes such as protest campaigns escalate into a low intensity or high intensity civil war, and on the circumstances that define the de-escalation from civil wars protest campaigns. The article argues that in the aftermath of civil wars, protests are more likely to be observed in post-agreement scenarios. In addition, it argues that before civil wars, protests campaigns do take place, and where venues for negotiation with dissidents are closed and state capacity is weak and armed conflict is more likely.

The article proceeds to present a theoretical framework for understanding different possible ‘patterns’ of transition between protest campaigns and civil war, and from civil war to protest campaigns. The possibility that civil war and protest campaigns belong to a continuum is thus theorized through a series of trajectories. These trajectories are conditioned, by a series of factors that relate to the nature of the state where the contention is taking place.

Challenging Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia is one of the first substantial comparative studies of contemporary Indonesia and Malaysia, homes to the world's largest Muslim population. Following the collapse of New Order rule in Indonesia in 1998, this book provides an in-depth examination of anti-authoritarian forces in contemporary Indonesia and Malaysia, assessing their problems and prospects. The authors discuss the roles played by women, public intellectuals, arts workers, industrial workers as well as environmental and Islamic activists. They explore how different forms of authoritarianism in the two countries affect the prospects of democratization, and examine the impact and legacy of the diverse social and political protests in Indonesia and Malaysia in the late 1990s.

F*ck May 68, Fight Now: Exploring the Uses of the Radical Past from 1968 to Today

Session 1: History is a Weapon

June 8, 2018

Department of History, University of Liverpool

https://archive.discoversociety.org/2018/09/04/circumnavigating-the-past-foreclosing-the-future-commemoration-of-the-radical-past-in-the-amnesiac-present/

Attempts to understand the wider context of the Arab uprisings in Morocco mainly focus on the dynamic created by the 20 February Movement, while the long history of increasing socio-economic struggle tends to be underestimated. This article argues that the political and democratic protests of the last two years and the history of socio-economic protests cannot be viewed as unrelated phenomena but must be understood as part of the same process. The account focuses on different disturbances, such as the riots in the phosphate mining region of Khouribga, to show the particular dynamic between civil democratic and socio-economic struggles.

This study asks whether we are the same citizens as we were before the civil awakening that spilled over from tyrannical Arab states to core cities of the global economy and beyond. To address this question it offers an historical account of the role of New Social Movements, civil society, and deliberative and radical democracy as the three epistemic frameworks that have shaped the figure of the rights-bearing citizen, and which have conceived the neoliberal citizen as a choice driven individual. Taking the neoliberal shift in Israel of the 1980s as its point of departure, it then places the 2011 Tents’ Protest in the broader context of acts of resistance to the entrenchment of neoliberalism. This is followed by a thorough exploration of two post-2011 Israeli activist groups in Jewish and Arab-Palestinian societies respectively, allowing voices and new conceptions of citizenship that had arisen from the margins of the 2011 protest to come to the fore. In the final analysis, this exploration traces how the shift away from the conception of the citizen as a rights-bearing individual challenges neoliberal governmentality. It thus enables us to configure the image of a post-neoliberal citizen, one whose political subjectivity is grounded not in the discourse of rights, but rather in a new discourse of representation.

Recent years have witnessed an increasing internationalization of claims as well as claimants with respect to social protest as a result of various notions of globalization and the spread of information and communication technologies (ICT) (Tilly and Wood, 2009). In this contribution, we will show how the rise of ICT goes along with a shift from a society of discipline to a society of control (Deleuze, 1992), or, more precisely, a superimposition of these two modes of power (cf. Savat, 2009b) and how this calls for a re-conception of space as an apparatus of control (cf. Agamben, 2001). We take a theoretically novel and critical stand by conceptually elaborating Tilly’s work on social movements (Tilly, 1999; 2003; Tilly and Wood, 2009) with DeLanda’s assemblage theory (2006) as well as taking the spatiality and technicity of social movements into consideration. We have chosen the transversality of protest assemblages as our entry point and discuss their shifting performances both with regard to their effectiveness to organize across space-time and their uses and production, of urban space. We illustrate our arguments with recent social protest events.

Desde una perspectiva discursiva, en esta tesis se analiza la representación de la protesta social en la prensa. El estudio se delimita a mostrar el modo en que La Jornada, un periódico de izquierda mexicano, realizó la cobertura periodística del caso Atenco, un conflicto social entre el movimiento de Atenco, liderado por el Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra (FPDT), y el gobierno mexicano.
Con base en el análisis de las principales estructuras y estrategias discursivas empleadas por La Jornada en la cobertura del caso Atenco, se muestra que, a diferencia de otros medios de comunicación masiva que se centraron en aspectos violentos del movimiento de Atenco, La Jornada se focalizó en evidenciar y criticar las acciones negativas que el gobierno mexicano realizó en el caso Atenco, principalmente, el uso de la violencia policial, la judicialización injusta de detenidos y la impunidad gubernamental.

This research papers examines the intersections of corruption, consolidation of power and cross-sector organizational culture in regards to the 2018 protests in Nicaragua. Due to the rampant corruption that exists in Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and the FSLN were able to achieve active internal militarization without the assistance of the National Army of Nicaragua in order to subdue dissent. Using the funds that were supposed to be allocated to social programs and defense, Daniel Ortega has organized para-militarizes to stop opposition.

Resumen: Este artículo analiza la tensión producida por el encuentro entre constitucionalismo y protesta social y cómo esta tensión se manifiesta al problematizar la reciente doctrina del derecho a la protesta social. Los autores sostienen que existe una distancia irreductible entre estos fenómenos, pues dado que la protesta opera fuera del ámbito de la normatividad, el Derecho parece insuficiente para procesar la protesta social como fenómeno socio-político. Para ilustrar lo anterior, expondrá la insuficiencia de la libertad de expresión como piedra angular de la protesta social y se examinarán las tensiones entre lo individual y colectivo que implican los actos de protesta social. Palabras clave: constitucionalismo, protesta social, libertad de expresión, conflicto social. Abstract: This paper analyses the tension produced by the encounter between constitutionalism and social protest, and how this tension appears upon problematizing the recent doctrine of social protest. Authors acknowledge an irreducible distance between these two phenomenons, due to the fact that social protest exists outside of the borders of legal normativity, hence, the legal system appears insufficient to process social protest as a socio-political phenomenon. In order to illustrate this main argument, it will expose the frailty of free speech clause as a cornerstone for social protest, as well as the tensions between both the individual and collective elements that constitute acts of social protest.

When economic crisis emerges and at the same time the refugee problem takes great dimensions, society is prone to unrest and people that cannot reach the mainstream media turn to easy and practical ways to communicate their protest. As Greek economy struggles to recover, civil disturbance can be detected even in brief political statements written on the walls. In any case, Metropolitan walls were always convenient grounds for the ‘public sphere'. Wall graffiti and slogans consist alternative media that communicate the social bitterness and discontent. By occupying public space these unconventional forms of political activism are considered by the authorities as acts of civil disobedience that belong to the sphere of contentious politics. Investigating the centre of Athens this paper explores the ways in which these genuine expressions represent the people’s resistance against the crisis on the symbolic level. A wide range of opinions can be detected through these channels, illustrating the diversity and the variety of reactions to social tension. Using simple semiotic approach we attempt to decode the texts and clarify the political reasoning of the performers.

A small part of this study has been presented in the 13th Conference of the European Sociological Association in Athens and has been supported by the University of Piraeus Research Center.

Resumen Este trabajo realiza una comparación diacrónica entre las protestas universitarias de 1971 y 2011 en Colombia, para responder ¿por qué, pese a las similitudes en las organizaciones que las promovieron, existen marcadas diferencias en sus repertorios y marcos de acción colectiva? En la primera parte se reconstruyen las contiendas políticas que dieron origen a las movilizaciones. Seguidamente, se analizan las similitudes que ambas coyunturas presentan en las estructuras de movilización que sustentaron las protestas. En la tercera parte, se analizan las diferencias en los marcos de acción colectiva y los repertorios de acción que caracterizaron las movilizaciones. Finalmente, se comparan los contextos sociopolíticos en que se desenvuelven los dos ciclos de protesta.
Abstract This paper makes a diachronic comparison between the university protests of 1971 and 2011 in Colombia. Try to answer: why, despite the similarities in the organizations that promoted, there are marked differences in their repertoires and collective action frames? In the first part the political contention that led to the movilizations are rebuilt. Then, the similarities that both situations occur in mobilizing structures that supported the protests are analyzed. In the third part, differences in the frames of collective action and repertories of action that characterized the protest are analyzed. Finally, we compare the social and political contexts in which the two cycles of protest develop.

The Greek fiscal crisis kicked off many structural changes within the Greek society. Among these the uprising of a new form of protest, the movement of “indignados”(Spanish word meaning indignants in English, aganaktismeni in Greek). The paper surveys the ways in which the specific movement was presented to the public by the domestic TV news bulletins. The proposed research relies theoretically on the framing analysis approach, aiming to elaborate on the Media point of view regarding the specific social movement. ...

La investigación analiza de qué modo participaron los diarios conservadores ABC y La Razón en el debate social generado en torno a la aprobación e implantación de la asignatura Educación para la Ciudadanía en España entre los años 2004 y 2008. El conflicto levantado en torno a la puesta en marcha de la materia contó con la participación de actores de la comunidad educativa, de la política, de la religión y de la justicia. La importancia del fenómeno justifica el interés por examinar la cobertura que los periódicos señalados ofrecieron sobre el mismo, estudiando con precisión sus discursos y valorando cuál fue su contribución social.
El objetivo del trabajo fue examinar la manera en que las cabeceras seleccionadas intervinieron en la controversia, determinando el tipo de mediación impulsada y señalando si su aportación periodística guarda similitudes con la retórica desplegada por los diarios católicos durante la II República, especialmente a lo largo del llamado Primer Bienio (1931-1933), cuando fueron numerosas las protestas contra las medidas adoptadas en el campo de la enseñanza. Las hipótesis de partida señalan que ABC y La Razón contribuyeron a la agitación del conflicto en torno a la materia aproximando su acción a la desarrollada por los colectivos que encabezaron la protesta y mediante una propuesta discursiva que, caracterizada por la aproximación emotiva, compartiría rasgos con la mostrada por la politizada prensa católica republicana.
Una amplia revisión sobre el papel del periódico como constructor, intérprete y mediador de la realidad social, de la importancia que tiene la comunicación en la generación y el desarrollo de las acciones colectivas y de las relaciones que se establecen entre las movilizaciones reaccionarias ante cuestiones educativas y el sistema mediático, nos posibilitó sentar las bases conceptuales para afrontar el análisis del corpus, compuesto por más de 1.200 unidades extraídas, en su mayor parte, de la prensa contemporánea, aunque también incluye materiales propagandísticos de las organizaciones sociales que protagonizaron la oposición contra la asignatura y piezas periodísticas obtenidas de las cabeceras republicanas ABC y El Debate. Estos ítems fueron sometidos a análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos que nos permitieron conseguir datos sobre el tipo de tratamiento otorgado al conflicto, el encuadre dominante a lo largo de los años examinados y las estrategias retóricas puestas en marcha en esa cobertura.
Los resultados confirman en gran medida las hipótesis iniciales, demostrando que los periódicos investigados no actuaron tanto como mediadores sino como agitadores del conflicto, otorgando visibilidad y trato favorable al movimiento opositor a la asignatura, llegando incluso a abanderar reivindicaciones que se encontraban fuera del ordenamiento legal, como la objeción de conciencia. Alentar el enfrentamiento dificultó la resolución de la controversia y favoreció su intensificación. La cobertura de estas dos cabeceras respondió, así, al llamado periodismo sin información, journalism of affirmation o periodismo especulativo. El discurso mediático conservador en torno a la introducción de Educación para la Ciudadanía se confundió, en definitiva, con el marco de acción colectiva promovido por las organizaciones que encabezaron las protestas y compartió numerosas estrategias retóricas con el mensaje consolidado por la activista prensa católica republicana durante la problemática en torno a la enseñanza de los años 30.

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The research examines how the conservative newspapers ABC and La Razón participated in the social debate generated around the adoption and implementation of the subject Education for Citizenship in Spain between 2004 and 2008. The conflict that was raised regarding the introduction of the subject relied on the participation of stakeholders in the education community, politics, religion and justice. The importance of the phenomenon justifies the interest to examine the coverage that aforementioned newspapers gave to it, thoroughly studying their discourses and assessing what their social contribution was.
The objective was to examine the manner in which the selected newspapers intervened in the dispute, determining the type of developed mediation and noting if their journalistic contribution presented similarities with the rhetoric deployed by catholic newspapers during the Second Republic, especially during the so-called First Biennium (1931-1933), when there were numerous protests against the measures taken in the field of education. The hypothesis point out that ABC and La Razón contributed to the agitation of the conflict about the subject, by acting in a similar way to that taken by the groups that led the protest and using a rambling pitch that, characterized by an emotional approach, shared traits with the one spread by the politicized republican catholic press.
A comprehensive review of the role of the newspaper as a constructor, interpreter and mediator of social reality, the importance of communication in the generation and development of collective actions and the relationships established between the reactionary protests against educational issues and the media system, made it possible for us to establish the conceptual basis to tackle the analysis of corpus, composed of over 1,200 units extracted, for the most part, from the contemporary press, but this also includes propaganda materials of social organizations that were responsible for the opposition to the subject and journalistic pieces obtained from the republican newspapers ABC and El Debate. These items were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis that let us comprehend the type of treatment given to the conflict, the dominant frame over the years examined and the rhetorical strategies implemented in that coverage.
The results largely confirm the initial hypothesis, showing that both newspapers analyzed did not act as mediators but as agitators of the conflict, providing visibility and favorable treatment to the opposition movement to the subject, even leading claims that were outside the legal system such as conscientious objection. Encouraging the clash hampered the resolution of the dispute and favored its intensification. The coverage of these two newspapers responded well to the so-called journalism without information, journalism of affirmation or speculative journalism. The conservative media discourse about the introduction of Education for Citizenship was affected, ultimately, by the collective action frame promoted by the organizations that spearheaded the protests and shared many rhetorical strategies with the message consolidated by the activist republican catholic press during the problems surrounding the education of the 30s.

Protest rhetoric has always provided a prime example of how communication can work to change the human condition, but strategies of protest have evolved as the United States has transformed into an information economy. Although protest remains “on the streets,” it has also moved into the digital realm. This essay builds on the work of Franklyn Haiman by considering the ethical and rhetorical dimensions of hacktivism (politically motivated computer hacking). After briefly tracing the historical development of hacktivism, I discuss several recent politically motivated website defacements and denial of service attacks, concluding that Haiman’s argument that the rhetoric of the streets should be held to different rhetorical and ethical standards still holds true in the online world.

This essay argues that experts are capable of accessing public debates if they construct arguments that have an argument purpose relevant to public problems. Taking a rhetorical approach to design theory, I argue that experts can redesign spaces for deliberative argument by contesting infrastructural discourse to open up new contours for deliberative engagement. In the case of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE), expertise is used as a public resource for penetrating layers of infrastructure that have excluded values of health from industrial visions. The discourse of health has rhetorical mobility because it is capable of transcending limitations of deliberative debates, inviting public participants to see public problems through a new lens.

H μελέτη αυτή επιχειρεί να εξετάσει τη δομή της καπνεργατικής διαμαρτυρίας στο μεσοπόλεμο. Ωστόσο η επιχειρηματολογία διευρύνεται, καθόσον επιχειρείται να διερευνηθεί πότε και για ποιους λόγους κοινωνικά στρώματα όμοια με τους καπνεργάτες συμπεριφέρονται συμβατά η απορριπτικά απέναντι στην κοινωνική τάξη πραγμάτων. Mε βάση το πλαίσιο που διαμορφώνεται, και το οποίο επέχει θέση τυπολογίας, γίνεται μια πρώτη σύγκριση μεταξύ της καπνεργατικής διαμαρτυρίας και των κινητοποιήσεων των κατοίκων της Θεσπρωτίας το Φθινόπωρο του 1988 (εναντίωση στη μόλυνση του ποταμού Kαλαμά), για να αποδειχθεί τόσο η κοινότητα των κινήτρων που εντοπίζονται κυρίως στη σφαίρα του ηθικού, όσο και η ομοιότητα  των τρόπων αντιπαράθεσης, η οποία φαίνεται να αυτονομείται από ορθολογικές μορφές διαμαρτυρίας. Παρόλα αυτά, οι λόγοι που ωθούν τους καπνεργάτες και τούς Θεσπρωτούς στη διαμαρτυρία έχουν μια λογική που εγγράφεται στα κοινωνικό-ιστορικά συμφραζόμενα (καταπάτηση εθιμικών δικαιωμάτων στην περίπτωση των καπνεργατών, περιφρόνηση της αντίληψης περί δικαίου στην περίπτωση των Θεσπρωτών κ.ο.κ.). Σύμφωνα με την τυπολογία που αναπτύξαμε, αυτή η μορφή της διαμαρτυρίας εμφανίζεται σε κοινωνίες που βρίσκονται σε μεταβατική φάση και οι οποίες δέχονται χωροχρονικές εμβολές από την οικονομική ανάπτυξη, η οποία συνήθως έχει εξωγενή χαρακτήρα.
Eξετάζοντας την περίπτωση των καπνεργατών και αφού επεξεργαστήκαμε την πιο πρόσφατη βιβλιογραφία, διαπιστώσαμε πως η συνοχή της καπνεργατικής κοινότητας οφείλεται στην οργανική φύσεως σύνθεσή της, καθόσον γυναίκες, αδέρφια και αδερφές των ντεκτσήδων (ειδικευμένοι καπνεργάτες) απασχολούνταν στην ίδια καπνεπιχείρηση, ενώ η καπνεργατική διαμαρτυρία τροφοδοτούνταν σε μεγάλο βαθμό κι' απο τις συγκρούσεις ρόλων που οι αλλαγές στην εργασιακή διαδικασία (αποειδίκευση των ντεκτσήδων, είσοδος των γυναικών στην τόγκα: στάδιο τελικής επιλογής του καπνού) προκαλούσαν.  Kεντρικό συμπέρασμα αυτής μας της μελέτης είναι πως πέρα από καθαρά οικονομικά αίτια που οδηγούν στην κοινωνική αντιπαράθεση θα πρέπει να λαμβάνονται υπόψη και μια σειρά κοινωνικές συνιστώσες όπως η ηθική αντίληψη για την οικονομία (Moral Economy) και το δίκαιο, που αν και στις διάφορες εκφάνσεις της εμφανίζεται να είναι σε διάσταση μα την περιρρέουσα πραγματικότητα, παραμένει παρόλα αυτά η υποκειμενική "αντικειμενικότητα" όπως αυτή βιωματικά εγχαράσσεται στα κοινωνικά υποκείμενα, (στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση στους καπνεργάτες), τα οποία κάτω από συγκεκριμένες  εγκαλούνται να δράσουν.

The policing of radical social movements is routinely conducted through State infiltration relying on misrepresentation, manipulation and coercion.  Throughout the past two decades, such infiltrations have shifted the discourse from that of policing to that of national security—a trend that accelerated in the post-9/11 era.  During these periods, police forces have set their sights on the infiltration and disruption of revolutionary leftist, animal liberation, and environmental activists.  Following a series of British news stories in 2011, it was revealed that a host of police spies had not only infiltrated non-violent social movements, but that these clandestine security forces were earning activists’ trust through sexual manipulation.  In a host of cases police were shown to have dated, had sexual relations with, and fathered children with subjects under surveillance and members of their social networks.  In some cases, police even married activists while living their dual identities as activists.  In the private sphere of the home, within the confines of the bonds of marital trust, an individual must assume to be outside of the gaze of the State, but by exposing informants from within one’s own family, the State accomplishes a variety of goals from the collection of intelligence, the spreading of insecurity amongst the exposed subjects’ community, and the display of a totalizing disciplinary power targeting the social movement under observation. This inquiry adopts a Foucaultian analysis to examine the disruption of social movements through sexualized violence, and seeks to expose neoliberal, terrorism/securitization Statecraft for the violence it perpetuates.

Final paper available at:

https://www.academia.edu/5401087/_2014_When_Cops_Go_Native_Policing_Revolution_Through_Sexual_Infiltration_and_Panopticonism

Conceptions of critical thinking (CT) are influenced by cultural and sociopolitical factors that give rise to a variety of views of CT across contexts. Rethinking conceptions of CT according to context is thus important in order to design teaching models that respond to sociocultural particularities and needs as well as to global demands. Existing conceptualizations of CT include cognitive, metacognitive, emotional, attitudinal, ethical, and sociopolitical dimensions that have shaped various approaches adopted in the curriculum. The skills–dispositions perspective to CT is dominant across contexts, but emerging perspectives and approaches include less recognized dimensions, such as civic, ethical, and cultural ones. Neglecting these leads to negative consequences in the fight for social justice since a comprehensive view of CT entails ethical reasoning, social awareness, and a deep concern for the public good leading to action. A comprehensive, culturally sensitive model of CT should include, at least, intellectual skills, dispositions, and ethical and civic dimensions.

How can we conceive of these times, after the Arab Spring and the protests that engulfed the world since 2011? The answer, I propose here, should be sought not in ‘the search for an essence hidden behind human activities’, but rather ‘the surface aspects that give them meaning and significance’ (Tully 1999: 163). In other words, the meaning of the Social Protest – encompassing the events of the ‘Arab Spring’, the encampments of 15M in Spain and the Tents Protest in Israel, and the Occupy Movements in democratic capitalistic regimes – needs to be construed not from explanatory frameworks that left us misinformed on the possibility of a protest of this magnitude until the very moment of its eruption. Instead, it is perhaps timely to focus on the actors themselves, to explore their vocabulary and to listen to the words they weave into their actions (Emmerich 2011).

In the liberal concept of a ‘democratic civil peace’, an idealistic understanding of democratic stabilization and pacification prevails: Democracy is seen to guarantee political stability and social peace by offering comprehensive representation and participation in political decisions while producing outcomes broadly in accordance with the common interest of society. This contrasts with the procedural quality and the material achievements of most, if not all, really existing democracies. South America is paradigmatic: Here, the legitimation of liberal democracy through both procedure and performance is weak and yet ‘third wave democracies’ have managed to survive even harsh economic and political crises. The article presents a conceptual framework to analyse historically specific patterns of democratic stabilization and pacification. Analyses of the processes of socio-political de- and re-stabilization in Argentina and Ecuador since the late 1990s show how a ‘de-idealized’ perspective on the democratic civil peace helps explain the viability of democratic regimes that systematically deviate from the ideal-type conditions for democratic survival that have been proposed in the literature.

Purpose
This paper explores the consequences of researching temporary protest organizations through embodied ethnography, paying attention to how, when and why a researcher takes sides.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed embodied walking ethnography to study Lyra's Walk, a three-day, 68-mile protest walk held in May 2019 to advocate for peace in Northern Ireland. Data were primarily ethnographic, complemented by an analysis of social media, photos, videos and media coverage.

Findings
First the authors argue that embodied walking ethnography can provide an inhabited understanding of organizing. The social, physical and emotional experiences of walking encourage researchers to identify more closely with participants and obtain a greater understanding of the phenomena studied. Second, the authors identify that methodological choice can have a greater impact on side-taking than either the conflict setting or organization researched.

Research limitations/implications
This paper demonstrates the promise and consequences of using embodied walking ethnography to study a mobile organization. It further illustrates the nuances and challenges of conducting ethnography in a temporary protest organization.

Originality/value
The paper makes two contributions. The novel use of embodied walking ethnography to study temporary protest organizations can lead the research to become intertwined with the temporary organization during its process of organizational becoming. With the researcher's body acting as a research tool, their sensations and emotions impact data collection, interpretation and findings.