Political Mobilisation

Cosa significa protestare per le strade, perché occupare uno spazio nella città? Veniamo da un recente risveglio, da anni che hanno riportato la politica nelle piazze e nelle strade. In tutto il mondo uomini e donne sono scesi in piazza manifestando un'urgenza condivisa di resistenza, di riappropriazione degli spazi e della capacità di agire e fare politica a partire dalle vite. Come comprendere la specificità di queste esperienze? Perché chiamarle rivolte urbane e non rivoluzioni? Quali sono gli strumenti per leggere una rivolta senza astrarre, generalizzare, neutralizzare? Stare per le strade è la pratica di 'stasis' che crea lo spazio per la rivolta e contemporaneamente dispone un modo affettivo di vivere lo spazio urbano. Durante una protesta, la corporeità è esposta in tutta la sua intensità appassionata e vulnerabile. Il corpo al centro permette di cogliere la relazione che questi eventi intessono con gli spazi urbani, il nuovo senso della politica che propongono e i rapporti tra uomini e donne nel momento della protesta.

In this article I suggest analysing the formation of diaspora communities as an instance of mobilization processes thereby countering essentialist concepts of dias-pora that reify notions of belonging and the 'roots' of migrants in places of origin. Taking the imagination of a transnational community and a shared identity as defining characteristics of diaspora and drawing on constructivist concepts of identity, I argue that the formation of diaspora is not a 'natural' consequence of migration but that specific processes of mobilization have to take place for a diaspora to emerge.

This paper deals with the Movimiento Canarias Libre, the first nationalist organization in the Canary Islands, which had an important role in both the resurgence of Canarian nationalism and the opposition to Franco within the archipelago. Through the use of unpublished documents we have been able to analyze in depth the ideology and praxis of that organization, which up to now had been studied only through oral sources. At the same time, we try to measure its social and political impact, as well as its influence in the agenda of the successive Francoist governments.

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El presente artículo se ocupa de analizar la trayectoria del Movimiento Canarias Libre, primera organización nacionalista surgida en el interior del Archipiélago Canario, que tuvo un papel destacado en el resurgimiento tanto del nacionalismo canario como de la oposición al franquismo en las Islas. Para ello, se emplea documentación inédita que ha permitido profundizar en el ideario y praxis política de esta incipiente organización, que se había abordado hasta este momento a través del uso exclusivo de las fuentes orales. Al mismo tiempo, se calibra el impacto social y político que tuvo, así como su acceso a la agenda del gobierno del régimen franquista.

Cet article offre une lecture de la crise identitaire de la vallée du Ferghana par le prisme de ses minorités. Si les migrations précoloniales ont donné naissance à une riche civilisation ferghanaise, dont le métissage culturel était symbolisé par sa population autochtone turko-persane, l'arrivée des colons puis l'instauration du régime soviétique ont bouleversé la composition ethnique et démographique du Ferghana. En encourageant la création de trois nations soviétiques dans la vallée, Staline a introduit une différence conceptuelle entre ces nations, titulaires d'un territoire et d'une langue propres, et les autres groupes, que les Etats-nations nouvellement souverains réduiront à l'état de minorités. Nous tenterons d'établir une grille de lecture de ces minorités en tenant compte des spécificités historiques, socioculturelles et politiques de la région.

Resumen:
Este artículo quiere investigar la relación entre la teoría gramsciana de la hegemonía ‒ como teoría del poder político moderno ‒ y la polisemia peculiar de la noción de “pueblo”. De hecho, como se verá, la hegemonía como modalidad específica de gobierno nace como una respuesta a la aparición de la moderna socieda de clases, o sea de una sociedad en la que el destino individual no depende necesariamente del nacimiento. Por consiguiente, la política en una sociedad de clases se caracteriza siempre por la necesidad de despertar el entusiasmo y el compromiso y, al mismo tiempo, de controlar y manipular los afectos y la imaginación de las masas populares. Según la teoría dominante, el totalitarismo del siglo XX es un subproducto de esta tendencia a la democratización, con la reducción del “pueblo” a una “masa gris” atomizada y caracterizada esencialmente por su pasividad y despolitización. Por el contrario, la teoría gramsciana de la hegemonía nos permite reinterpretar toda esta serie de fenómenos de una manera completamente distinta: como un proceso ambivalente de democratización, que abarca toda la Edad Moderna. En este sentido, el fascismo puede ser descrito como un intento de anular la separación burguesa entre Estado y sociedad civil a través de un proceso de movilización popular, oséa utilizando la “guerra de movimiento” en contra de la “guerra de posición”. Las dificultades surgen, cuando se hace necesario pasar de la insurgencia al gobierno, o, en otras palabras, cuando un régimen revolucionario se enfrenta a la necesidad de estabilizar la revolución misma. Está aquí ‒ en la manera de articular la guerra de posición dentro de la guerra de movimiento ‒ el punto en el que la estrategia del “moderno príncipe” de Gramsci y el fascismo divergen por completo.
Palabras clave:
Gramsci, Antonio / Teoría de la hegemonía / Guerra de posición / Movilización popular / Populismo / Comunismo / Fascismo / Democracia.

“People” and “war of position” as keywords for populism. An interpretation of Antonio Gramsci’s “Prison Notebooks”
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to highlight the relationship between Gramsci’s theory of hegemony ‒ as a theory of modern political power ‒ and the peculiar polysemy of the notion of “people”. In fact, as it will be shown, hegemony appears as a specific modality of government as a response to the emergence of a modern class society, that is, a society where the personal destiny does not necessarily depend on birth. As a consequence, politics in a class society is always characterized by the need to arouse enthusiasm and commitment, and, at the same time, to control and manipulate popular affects and imagination. According to mainstream theory, 20th century totalitarianism is a by-product of this trend of democratisation, with the reduction of the “people” to an atomised “grey mass” characterized essentially by passivity and depoliticisation. On the contrary, Gramsci’s theory of hegemony allows us to re-read this whole series of phenomena in a completely different way: as an ambivalent process of democratisation, which covers the Modern Age in its entirety. In this light, Fascism can be described as an attempt to overturn the bourgeois separation between State and civil society through a process of popular mobilisation. The “war of movement” is played against the “war of position”. Difficulties arise, when it becomes necessary to switch from insurgence to government, or, in other words, when a revolutionary regime is faced with the task of stabilising the revolution itself. Here ‒ that is, in the way of articulating the war of position within the war of movement ‒ is the point where the strategy of Gramsci’s “modern Prince” and Fascism completely diverge.
Keywords:
Gramsci, Antonio / Theory of hegemony / War of position / Political mobilisation / Populism / Communism / Fascism / Democracy.

En novembre 2018, dans toute la France, des femmes et des hommes se sont mobilisés pour lancer un mouvement unique dans l’Histoire du pays : celui des « gilets jaunes ». Au fil des semaines et des manifestations, ils se sont appropriés les ronds-points des zones péri-urbaines pour en faire des lieux de vie, des places publiques, de nouveaux medias et des ateliers d’éducation populaire. Ensemble, ils ont participé à la fabrique d’une utopie concrète où il est souvent question de fraternité et de fierté retrouvée. Au fi l des semaines, ils ont étoffé leurs revendications et expérimenté la démocratie directe. C’est la vie quotidienne de l’un de ces ronds-points de l’Isère, les parcours des femmes et des hommes qui l’occupent depuis cinq mois, leurs histoires, leurs productions, leurs espoirs et leurs doutes qui sont racontés ici. Témoignages et réflexions rendent compte de l’énergie, des aspirations et des réalisations de celles et ceux qui, un jour, ont décidé de dire non. Ensemble, ils ont réussi à rendre visibles les difficultés d’une partie de la population, à imposer certains sujets sur l’agenda politique et à habiter des lieux aussi inhospitaliers en contribuant à un nouveau « design démocratique ». Ici et maintenant, ils sont engagés en politique tout en se défendant d’en faire.

This article examines the mobilizing and legitimizing function of educational and cultural activities in the Spanish Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. Education and cultural participation played a crucial role in the Republican government’s attempts to co-opt left-wing revolutionary forces emboldened by the war and unite antagonistic constituencies in an inclusive, government-led war effort. Such attempts converged on the construction of a new conscript army, where investment in education was not solely a matter of military expediency but also a means to implement, in the crucible of war, important aspects of a reform programme initiated with the proclamation of the Spanish Second Republic in 1931. Consequently, the Republican Army did not only serve as the Republic’s armed defence force but also as a laboratory of political education in which both civil and military authorities could negotiate, articulate and disseminate new notions of Republican citizenship.

Drawing primarily on army records and trench journals from the Army of the Centre, the article shows how Republican educators and cultural workers employed a diverse range of techniques to deliver a reform programme designed to profoundly change Spanish politics and society. It also examines largely neglected questions of reception. Where soldiers’ engagement was forthcoming, educational activities could equip individuals with experiences and skills that were – and were understood to be – empowering. Yet in quantitative terms, rank-and-file engagement with educational activities was uneven and often quite limited. Contextual factors on all levels – international, national and local – impacted in various ways on soldiers’ educational and cultural participation, but ultimately it was the impending defeat of the Republic that undermined most soldiers’ willingness to engage. As a positive progressive vision of a future Republic faded among the debris of destroyed buildings, enthusiasm for a Republican educational programme inevitably faded too.

By depriving the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) of its leading strategist, the assassination of Abu Mahdi Muhandis, the chief of staff of the PMF, delivered a significant blow to what U.S. officials regard en masse as Iran’s Trojan Horse in Iraq. Building on interviews with PMF commanders and Iraqi officials, this chapter seeks to identify the imminent organizational hazards that arise for the still-amorphous paramilitary structure. Furthermore, the author explores the long-term opportunities for an incremental security sector reform tailored to the specificities of the Iraqi context. For that purpose, the author illustrates the instrumental role of the so-called resistance factions in the formative stages of the PMF, elaborating on the vision of Muhandis for institutional consolidation and concentration of systemic capabilities. In the aftermath of the assassination and subsequent leadership vacuum, the PMF’s main shareholders must act in concert to safeguard the group’s systemic gains. The different centers of gravity had to identify—and most importantly impose—a unifying figure with the authority and credibility to manage the inherited patronage networks. The intra-organizational diversity of opinions along with the factions’ often contradictory agendas would require the newly appointed successor to appease those that are less well-connected and eager to renegotiate their hand within the contested PMF Commission.

For nearly four years from mid 2008 to early 2012, a high profile and highly controversial mass red song campaign was powerfully mobilised in Chongqing by then Party chief of Chongqing Bo Xilai. In spite of its significance as a complex political-cultural discourse and immense media and public interest in it, there has been little critical academic research into case from a political communication perspective. The purpose of this study is to attempt to bridge this research gap.

L’analyse de la vie politique d’un grand nombre de pays d’Afrique est incomplète si l’on ne tient pas compte des revendications autour de la question épineuse de l’esclavage et de ses héritages. Avec l’émergence récente de mouvements d’émancipation, de partis politiques et de nouvelles organisations de groupes d’origine servile, la lutte contre l’esclavage et ses conséquences connaît actuellement une politisation aiguë et virulente tant au niveau local que national ou international, accompagnée parfois d’une forte médiatisation. (..)

The study of mobile phones has boomed over the past ten years. Today it is doubtless one of the more vibrant research areas across the whole of media and communication studies. But this is also an undertheorised field, as a number of authors have pointed out. In this paper I heed the call for further theoretical work by addressing a blind spot in our field of vision, namely the elusive relationship between mobiles and sociocultural change. I suggest that we think about change not in the present continuous as we usually do (how things are chang-ing at present) but in the recent past, revisiting the empirical examples we have to date on actual changes that have already taken place, and then try and work out what part, if any, mobile phones played in those changes. I explore this approach through examples drawn from three strands of the bourgeoning mobile telephony literature, including some of my own primary research, namely political mobilisation, mobiles and markets, and everyday mobile sociality.

« Une république des sentiments blessés » ? Censure(s), communautés vulnérables et guerre culturelles en Inde. Qu’est-ce que cela signifie, dans le contexte indien, de dire que des mots ou des oeuvres blessent ou
« font mal » ? Cet article étudie l’enchevêtrement spécifique entre rhétorique de la censure, d’une part, et langage et performance des émotions de l’autre. À travers le cas du peintre M. F. Husain et de la mobilisation du collectif d’artistes Sahmat, il s’agit de comprendre la manière dont la blessure ou la douleur sont utilisées et distribuées dans le champ des discours et des mobilisations en faveur des pratiques de régulation artistique et culturelle, donc de la censure, mais aussi dans le champ des mobilisations et des discours de résistance à celle-ci.

The professional group of Tunisian lawyers does not constitute a homogeneous block. It is subject, as in other latitudes, to contradictions and to the vagaries of the historical dynamics that run through the State and society. The recent history of the legal profession is symptomatic of the repeated attempts, and also of the difficulties, of the President's power to control a liberal profession whose action, if we take up the discourse of its representatives, must contribute to guaranteeing respect for the rule of law, the rights of the defence and the right to a fair trial for those subject to trial. In this respect, this profession is perceived by those in power as potentially dangerous and eminently political for the authoritarian order. Consequently, it is out of the question for the public authorities to guarantee its governing bodies restrictive control over access to the profession and to allow lawyers to accumulate too many economic and political resources. Only those who have pledged allegiance to presidential power are destined to become rich. In exchange, these lawyers work to bring the profession under supervision. For them, adherence to the Ben Ali regime implies a renunciation of the supposedly intangible values of the lawyer. They are led to use their legal resources and professional know-how to position themselves as supporters of the established order, even if this violates the humanist and individualist values endorsed by the Bar.

La Place de la République accueille sur ses dalles des actions collectives politiques. D'abord comme un lieu de mémoire avec les différents hommages rendus, puis par des discours politiques dont en 1958 du Général de Gaulle pour la Constitution de la Vème République et puis Jacques Chirac en 2002 lors de son élection face à l'extrême droite. Enfin par des manifestations d'une partie de la société civile, cette place à l'allure symbolique démocratique et républicaine porte en son sein un répertoire d'actions collectives.

The analysis of political life in a large number of African countries is incomplete if we do not take into account the claims made about the thorny question of slavery and its legacies. With the emergence of recent emancipation movements, political parties, and organisations initiated by groups with slave status, the fight against slavery and its consequences is currently politicised on local, national, and even international levels. This sometimes also goes hand in hand with increased mediatisation. Using different discourses and collective forms of action according to different contexts and regions, the fight for the recognition and the identity (re-)construction of groups with slave origins can no longer be ignored. (..)

Au Mali, l’utilisation du théâtre par les migrants expulsés organisés en associations ne se limite pas à un artifice formel. Elle est solidaire du fond des revendications sociales et politiques que ceux-ci souhaitent porter : apparaître et être reconnus comme des acteurs à part entière sur la scène publique, acquérir cette autonomie que leur dénient les instances politiques ou les formes traditionnelles de l’humanitaire, alerter l’opinion publique sur l’expulsion et sur les situations de précarité vécues après l’expulsion.  Cette tentative des expulsés de produire une parole propre se heurte à d’autres usages du théâtre ; un théâtre promu par le gouvernement, qui stigmatise les dangers de l’émigration pour décourager les jeunes à partir, un théâtre sans les expulsés, qui offre d’eux une image compassionnelle, simples victimes d’un ordre politiquement injuste.

Iraqi women's purple and pink protest defies social, religious and cultural legacies as it offers a new trajectory for Iraqi women to present themselves in public. They highlighted their right to appear as part of the global social movement and political mobilisation  by offering  anti-governmental, ant-sectarian and ant-patriarchal attitude towards state's violence to suppress the Iraqi protest that erupted on the 25th October 2019.

In 2013 when demonstrations began in Istanbul’s Gezi Park, they swiftly swept the Anatolian heartland. Drawings, songs, stories, jokes and protest practices circulated via social media. As pundits struggled to explain the loud and erratic call to resist (#Diren) protesters seized actions from the media and authorities and internalised them. A socio-material cultural genre of references rapidly grew and became an evasive foundation for the individuals that in a dialectical subjectivization process developed within it. As individuals and groups were emotionally moved cultural mobilisation turned citizens into protesters.

« Notre objectif dans cet article est de montrer que le voile n'est pas qu'un enjeu central pour les droits et la condition des femmes iraniennes et afghanes. Il s'agit aussi d'un moyen de protestation utilisé par les femmes à l'encontre du gouvernement et pour montrer leur opposition aux obligations auxquelles entend les soumettre l'autorité patriarcale, au nom de la tradition. Deux événements historiques viennent à l'appui de ce constat : les tentatives d''enlèvement du voile en 1926 en Afghanistan et en 1936 en Iran, sous l'ordre de Reza Pahlavi, le shah d'Iran. Ensuite l'obligation du port du voile, en Iran, dans les années 1980 à la suite de la Révolution de 1979, ainsi que depuis 2001, en Afghanistan, pour des raisons liées à la sécurité. Dans cet article nous allons analyser et comparer des événements consécutifs à des réformes politiques qui ont provoqué la mobilisation des femmes pour leurs droits, au moyen du voile ».

Armed movements are usually analyzed in the context of ongoing conflict, and much of the
preceding mobilization and recruitment is often given far less attention. In this article, we
assert that this period can be of critical relevance to subsequent movement trajectories.
Analysis of the period antecedent to insurgency also facilitates a deeper contextualization of
movement actors and their environments. We examine the period of preconflict mobilization
for PKK and the FLN/EZLN, two movements of comparable interest due to their successful
urban-to-rural transitions. We contend that the establishment of cross-class, locally based
constituencies in both cases was critical to their consolidation as armed movements. We
discuss the cases in relation to three main parameters: their immediate social environment,
the role of the state, and the strategies adopted by the respective movements.