Exploring some of the dynamics of contention in social movements class. Progress doesn’t always come from making nice. #protest
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC5jTWisIv9/?igshid=rexso91oil4f
#historyhasitseyesonyou #hamfam •
#Repost @walkwoke with @get_repost
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Speak up! Shout! And Vote! 🗳 Representatives: Fight for change or be voted out! 🚽 We are a nation of activists and we are holding you accountable!
#votethemout #vote #votingismysuperpower #ihaveadream #wewantchange #marchforourlives #enough #metoo #protest #resist #wecallbs #guncontrol #humanrights #equality #womensrights #equalpay #keepourkidssafe #nevergiveup #fightforchange #makeitright #accountability #activist #animalrights #marchforscience #freedom #justice #injustice
…I’d like to argue that evolution of Kony2012 has revealed how useless –and indeed harmful—the concept “slacktivism” has become to understanding networked symbolic action in the 21st century. I’d like to argue that people interested in social change need to step back and analyze the specifics of what is happening in its full complexity–without dismissing it, either due to their objections to the content or because they erroneously think it means nothing. (On the other hand, if you get your kicks from erudite snarks about how kids in this generation have unruly hair, no manners, and no respect for its elders; well, enjoy. There is a huge market for that—just as huge, if not bigger, than the one for superficial hyping of social media as traditional gatekeepers often love to complain about how the new generations don’t appreciate Little House in the Prairie.)
“My argument is this: the concept of slacktivism is not just naïve and condescending, it is misinformed and misleading. What is called commonly called slacktivism is not at all about “slacking activists”; rather it is about non-activists taking symbolic action—often in spheres traditionally engaged only by activists or professionals (governments, NGOs, international institutions.). Since these so-called “slacktivists” were never activists to begin with, they are not in dereliction of their activist duties. On the contrary, they are acting, symbolically and in a small way, in a sphere that has traditionally been closed off to ‘the masses’ in any meaningful fashion.
Slacktivism is not a thing.
Source: technosociology.org
“There can be no security in a world where there’s 3 degree Celsius warming,” warns author and activist Naomi Klein
Source: commondreams.org
Vintage on disability rights.
Don’t let the black and white trick you. The Capitol Crawl was in 1990. This is not ancient history.
(via arathesane)
Police often provoke protest violence, UC researchers find
The violence that turns a small-town protest into a fiery national spectacle like the one that has played out this month in Missouri is often unwittingly provoked by police, according to researchers at UC Berkeley. The research team, which studied clashes between police and activists during the Occupy movement three years ago, found that protests tend to turn violent when officers use aggressive tactics, such as approaching demonstrators in riot gear or lining up in military-like formations. For nearly two weeks, activists angered by a white police officer’s fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager have ratcheted up their protests when confronted by heavily armed police forces. The researchers sifted through thousands of news reports about the protests, which were sparked by concerns over economic inequality, and isolated patterns of violence and their apparent causes. In one October 2011 protest over the clearing of an Occupy encampment outside Oakland City Hall, officers fired tear gas and projectiles into crowds, injuring several activists. Oakland police later tried to address concerns about heavy-handed tactics, seeking to head off unruly protests with early crowd-control measures such as issuing tickets for jaywalking. […] last year, police were criticized for not doing enough when a restaurant employee was attacked by a person wielding a hammer at a protest over George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the fatal shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Adams’ team is still evaluating its findings and is incorporating other factors to determine whether they influence crowd behavior, including city rules for holding protests, an area’s political makeup and local demographics.
Last night I joined hundreds of UC Berkeley students in a peaceful protest over the recent acts of Police Brutality (Ferguson, Eric Garner…)#We stood in an interstection one block from campus, Telegraph and Channing, At first the police just stood in a straight line, maintaining order over the peaceful protest. Sadly as the night progressed things became scary. While walking to join the protest, I encountered tear gas right next to one of the Berkeley’s dorms. Students were screaming and running trying to shield their eyes. They rallied people inside dorm lobbies, most of them elderly, to protect them from the police.
Later when I met up with the official protest things were calm. But it only took about an hour for things to turn for the worst. The police began to march forward and push us back. They did so without force, just walked forward with an intimidating grasp on their batons. Later, when they decided to move forward, things weren’t so peaceful. The second time I was moved by the Oakland PD (I have pictures of names), and I told them I lived in a building they blocked off, but they disregarded this and told me to go around the block (which was impossible because they had cornered us). Then next thing you know they are pushing us, not with batons, but with their hands. I was filming an officer and at first he hit my phone so I couldn’t record, then he hit my stomach, and smacked my breast.
For about three minutes later things were calm. We stood and demanded answers from the police. Why were they moving us forward? What had we done? Then the scariest moment of my life occurred. The battle line of officers began marching forward and jabbing their batons at us. They swung and stepped forward, swung stepped forward…The awful part was that, due to the crowd, it was impossible to escape their blows. For a second they backed off, during that time I stepped closer to video tape some abuse happening to my left and to get names of officers. At that moment they started to run forward and hit me. I fell to the ground but luckily these kind men grabbed me and saved me from being badly injured. (THIS IS WHAT YOU SEE IN THE VIDEO)
What happened next is why I can’t sleep anymore. After I was standing I was recording the police or at least trying to while they hit me and kept hitting me and my peers. We screamed and they just hit. When I was about to record an officer beating up this man in a blue striped shirt, my phone was knocked out of my hand by a baton. I immediately lunged for my phone (there was good footage and I am a poor college student okay). The moment i reached for it many cops, i cant recall exact numbers but at least three, started hitting me. Then one grabbed me and pulled me across the police line while hitting me. A female officer joined and started beating me. During this time I saw my friends quickly being beaten away. I cried out and begged the officers who were beating me to let me live. I cried “dont kill me” more times than i can count. Before I know it my hands are forced into the ziptie handcuffs and they are still beating me.
After their temper cooled off they walked me, alone except for hundreds of police officers to a secluded corner. There the police officer tried going through my phone to delete my photos and videos. I immediately told him he was not allowed to do that and he stopped. Then he took my name, age, weight, address and said that I deserved jail. Luckily the bus the takes all the protestors to prison didn’t make it to that area so he let me go.
I just want this story to be told. When I was being beat, no new crews were there. NBC only showed videos of vandalism, but they didn’t show the cops beating up college students for a peaceful protest.
CultureHISTORY: #Ferguson #EricGarner Protests - Global
#BlackLivesMatter
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(via susurrations)