The political aesthetics of global protest : the Arab Spring and beyond

449 Pages·2015·8.34 MB·English

by  Werbner

The Political Aesthetics of
Global Protest
The Arab Spring and Beyond
Edited by Pnina Werbner,
Martin Webb and
Kathryn Spellman-Poots
in association with
THE AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY
(International) in the United Kingdom
Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations
The opinions expressed in this volume are those of
the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of
the Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of
Muslim Civilisations.
© editorial matter and organisation Pnina
Werbner, Martin Webb and Kathryn
Spellman-Poots, 2014
© the chapters, their several authors, 2014
First published in hardback in 2014 by
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
The Tun – Holyrood Road
12 (2f) Jackson’s Entry
Edinburgh eh8 8pj
www.euppublishing.com
Typeset in Goudy Oldstyle by
Koinonia, Manchester and
printed and bound in Spain by Novoprint
A CIP record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 9334 4 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 9335 1 (paperback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 9350 4 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 0 7486 9351 1 (epub)
The right of the contributors to be identified
as authors of this work has been asserted in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related
Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498).
Contents
List of Figures v
List of Acronyms x
Preface xi
Timeline of the Global Protests, 2010–13 xiii
1. Introduction 1
Pnina Werbner, Martin Webb and Kathryn Spellman-Poots
Part One: The Arab Spring Uprisings and their Aftermaths
2. Teargas, Flags and the Harlem Shake: Images of and for Revolution
in Tunisia and the Dialectics of the Local in the Global 31
Simon Hawkins
3. Singing the Revolt in Tahrir Square: Euphoria, Utopia and
Revolution 53
Dalia Wahdan
4. ‘I Dreamed of Being a People’: Egypt’s Revolution, the People and
Critical Imagination 67
Hanan Sabea
5. The Body of the Colonel: Caricature and Incarnation in the Libyan
Revolution 93
Igor Cherstich
6. Poetry of Protest: Tribes in Yemen’s ‘Change Revolution’ 121
Steven C. Caton, Hazim Al-Eryani and Rayman Aryani
The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest
Part Two: Beyond the Arab Spring – Asia and Africa
7. A Fractured Solidarity: Communitas and Structure in the Israeli
2011 Social Protest 147
Oren Livio and Tamar Katriel
8. Gandhi, Camera, Action! India’s ‘August Spring’ 177
Christopher Pinney
9. Short Circuits: The Aesthetics of Protest, Media and Martyrdom
in Indian Anti-corruption Activism 193
Martin Webb
10. ‘The Mother of all Strikes’: Popular Protest Culture and
Vernacular Cosmopolitanism in the Botswana Public Service
Unions’ Strike, 2011 222
Pnina Werbner
Part Three: Beyond the Arab Spring
– American and European Protests
11. Vernacular Culture and Grassroots Activism: Non-violent Protest
and Progressive Ethos at the 2011 Wisconsin Labour Rallies 263
Christine Garlough
12. Occupy Wall Street: Carnival Against Capital? Carnivalesque as
Protest Sensibility 291
Claire Tancons
13. Subversion through Performance: Performance Activism in London 320
Paula Serafini
14. Spain’s Indignados and the Mediated Aesthetics of Non-violence 341
John Postill
15 The Poetics of Indignation in Greece: Anti-austerity Protest and
Accountability 368
Dimitrios Theodossopoulos
About the Contributors 389
Web Sources for Figures 394
Index 396
— iv —
Figures
Sources are provided in the figure captions. Any relevant URLs can be found in
the Web Sources for Figures section at the back of the book. Every effort has been
made to trace copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the
publisher will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.
1.1 R4BIA Four Finger Salute 22
2.1 Tunisian protesters confront police 35
2.2 Tunisian flag projected on child’s face 39
2.3 Protesters spelling out ‘Tunisia is free’ 42
2.4 Facebook profile picture of blood-spattered Tunisian flag 42
2.5 The final day of protests and the famous ‘Game Over’ sign 44
2.6 A sign for the foreign audience, from the final days of protest 45
2.7 A screen capture from the first Tunisian Harlem Shake 48
3.1 Prayer in Tahrir Square 54
3.2 Sheikh Imam with Ahmed Fouad Negm 57
3.3 ‘We are all Khaled Saeed’ 59
3.4 Mask of Freedom 62
4.1 Bodies of Morsi supporters killed in clashes with security forces 68
4.2 Eighteen short days 73
4.3 Walls erected by the security forces around Tahrir Square 81
5.1 Image of Che Guevara versus Gaddafi 105
5.2 Image of Bob Marley versus Gaddafi 105
5.3 Martyrs of the revolution and caricature of Gaddafi 106
5.4 The municipal court 107
5.5 Effeminising and corporalising Gaddafi 108
5.6 Martyr of the revolution and Gaddafi the rat 109
5.7 Gaddafi no more 110
The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest
5.8 Gaddafi the devil 110
5.9 Gaddafi the devil, with swastika 111
5.10 Gaddafi the devil, the Mossad agent 111
5.11 Gaddafi with a scar and with stitches 112
5.12 Graffiti of Gaddafi, with exaggerated facial traits 112
5.13 Graffiti of Gaddafi 113
5.14 Further graffiti of Gaddafi 113
6.1 Protesters in Change Square 122
6.2 Yemeni woman in traditional dress in Change Square 123
6.3 Yemeni woman drawing the Yemeni and Syrian flags 124
6.4 Thousands of women protesting against the regime 125
6.5 Protesters including tribesmen ask Saleh to ‘leave’ 126
6.6 Poet performing inside a tent in Change Square 135
6.7 Protesters listen to poet performing a poem 136
6.8 Majli Al-Qubaisi performing a zamil 138
6.9 Murad tribe entering Change Square 141
6.10 Members of the Bani Jabr tribe performing a zamil 142
6.11 Protesters marching down one of Sana’a’s main streets 142
7.1 The Rothschild kitchen facilities 150
7.2 A ‘free market’ for the exchange of books and clothes 151
7.3 Domestic ‘living rooms’ on Rothschild Boulevard 152
7.4 Public lectures on Rothschild Boulevard 152
7.5 Re-reading Israel’s Declaration of Independence 154
7.6 A reworked street sign 154
7.7 ‘We are the creative class’ 158
7.8 The staging of Dira Lehaskir 160
7.9 Transformation of the popular song The Winter of ’73 160
7.10 ‘Bet ze ohel’ 163
7.11 An impenetrable ‘house’ on Rothschild Boulevard 163
7.12 The ‘Tower and Stockade’ construction on Rothschild Boulevard 164
7.13 ‘I have fun protesting here’ 164
7.14 A tent expressing solidarity inside a real home 165
7.15 Theodor Herzl on a balcony 165
7.16 ‘Fighting for home’ on the Israeli flag 166
7.17 A reworking of the national emblem of Israel 167
7.18 ‘All Israel are tents to one another’ 168
8.1 A Hazare supporter adds his signature to a banner 179
8.2 Aj ke Dhritarashtra (Today’s Dhritarashtra) 180
8.3 Ye hai hamari andhi sarkar (This is our blind government) 181
8.4 A painted banner displayed at India Gate 182
8.5 A Hazare supporter displays images 183
— vi —
Figures
8.6 Kale Angrezo Bharat Choro (Black Englishmen Quit India) 186
8.7 Kailash leaves Nadga Jn 188
8.8 Main anna nahin hun (I am not Anna) 189
9.1 The Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade protest in 2007 200
9.2 ‘Condemn Corruption: Bring Lokpal’ 201
9.3 The Delhi Drive Against Bribe camp 206
9.4 Drive Against Bribe banner, Delhi, 2006 206
9.5 Janyuddh Bhrashtachar ke virodh – People’s War Against Corruption 207
9.6 The India Against Corruption campaign logo 208
9.7 Protesters in Pune, Maharashtra 209
9.8 Protesters in Israel with IAC branding images 209
9.9 Hawkers with Anna T-shirts and caps 211
9.10 Looking down Jantar Mantar Road at the 25 March 2012 protest 212
9.11 An ‘Anna Card’ bought at the 25 March 2012 event in Delhi 213
9.12 Anna Hazare taking the stage at Jantar Mantar, 25 March 2012 214
9.13 How many more martyrs in the war against corruption? 214
9.14 ‘Imandar IPS afsar shahid Narendra Kumar amar rahe’ (‘Upright/
correct IPS officer martyr Narendra Kumar, immortal/undying’) 215
10.1 Under the Morula tree 227
10.2 Johnson under the Morula tree 228
10.3 Carrying branches from the GSS grounds 228
10.4 Sausages 230
10.5 Parasols 231
10.6 Rangers choir 232
10.7 Confrontation between Mma Bakwena and BOFEPUSU 232
10.8 Bruising battle 234
10.9 Khama smashes car 235
10.10 Khama: ‘I’m gonna squeeze ’em’ 235
10.11 Khama tied to a tree 236
10.12 Masisi 237
10.13 Dancing outside the mall 239
10.14 Government news blackout 240
10.15 State-owned media poodles of government 241
10.16 Khama at a village campfire 241
10.17 Advocate Chilisa at the Industrial Court 242
10.18 Unionists at the Industrial Court 242
10.19 Industrial Court orders workers back to work 243
10.20 Doctor bins court order 244
10.21 ‘Nurse, you’re fired!’ 245
10.22 When Disaster ‘strikes!’ 246
10.23 Workers’ cars at the strike grounds 249
— vii —
The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest
10.24 Thin and fat men before and after the strike 249
10.25 Ministerial flight 250
10.26 Peace meeting 251
10.27 Facing the police 253
10.28 Police in riot gear 253
10.29 Regime change: Ian must go 254
10.30 Police banner 254
11.1 Protesters at the Wisconsin Capitol 267
11.2 Advocating peaceful solutions 267
11.3 Keep the movement alive 268
11.4 Bob La Follette 268
11.5 Chicago labour supports Wisconsin labour 270
11.6 Krampus knocking for Governor Walker at Capitol entrance 274
11.7 Shame 275
11.8 Imperial Walker 276
11.9 The Koch brothers – Walker’s puppeteers 277
11.10 Welcome to Wis‘koch’sin 278
11.11 Wis‘koch’sin is open for business 278
11.12 What would Bob La Follette do? 280
11.13 Scott, who pulls your strings? 281
11.14 Only sheep blindly follow 281
11.15 Unwanted 284
12.1 Woman wearing scarf with police officer, Occupy Wall Street 292
12.2 Corporate Zombies walk, Occupy Wall Street 292
12.3 Millionaires March, Occupy Wall Street 293
12.4 ‘Unemployed Superhero, Master of Degrees, Shackled with
Debts’, Occupy Wall Street 293
12.5 Occupy Halloween: The Language Experiment, New York 295
12.6 Marcelo Expósito, Radical Imagination (Carnivals of Resistance) 296
12.7 Portrayal of Dr Eric Williams at Carnival in Trinidad 299
12.8 Cat in Bag Productions, Cobo Town, 2010 300
12.9 Peter Minshall, Rat Race, Port of Spain 301
12.10 West Indian Day Parade, Harlem, 6 September 1948 303
12.11 Laura Anderson Barbata in collaboration with the Brooklyn
Jumbies 304
12.12 Not An Alternative, Mili-tents, New York 306
12.13 Dragon Float in the Mistick Krewe of Comus parade on Mardi
Gras evening 308
12.14 Myrtle Van Damitz III, Night Walk 309
12.15 Black Men of Labor Social Aid & Pleasure Club Second Line,
New Orleans, 29 October 2011 310
— viii —
Figures
12.16 ‘One Day the Poor Will Have Nothing Left to Eat But the Rich’ 312
12.17 NYU4OWS, Wally, 17 November 2011 313
12.18 NYU4OWS, Wall Street Campus Cash 313
13.1 UK Uncut, Upper Street: ‘Save the NHS’ 328
13.2 UK Uncut, Upper Street: ‘Don’t break our NHS’ 328
13.3 Art Against Cuts 329
13.4 Occupy LSX Camp at St Paul’s 330
14.1 Poster announcing a non-violence workshop organised by two
indignados platforms in Burgos 347
14.2 An ‘analogue Twitter’ created by occupiers and visitors of Plaça
de Catalunya 358
15.1 View of the protesters’ encampment, Syntagma Square 375
15.2 Indignant protesters in front of the Greek parliament 376
— ix —