Framing the changing face of citizen action

turbulent times in need of reflection

Tags: Worldwide , Knowledge Platform
Additional tags: Citizen action UK riots protests arab spring

When spring became summer, protests even landed in the UK. The British government responded predictably and was quick to frame  these protests acts of senseless violence and unnecessary destruction of  community property. Protestors were being portrayed as senseless  criminals, their acts clear examples of moral decline, ample rationale  for tighter security and heavy punishments. Yet, even the best of spin has not succeeded in smothering critical analyses suggesting that things might not be so simple.

On the left side of the political spectrum, social workers and politicians alike are suggesting that protests are but a logical reaction to the breakdown of social welfare systems.Critics on the right stress a lack of responsibility and moral breakdown of society fed by the failing policies of the nanny state. Beyond that debate, one could ask how the UK riots are linked to protests elsewhere. In a recent Open democracy blog for example, Bradford Scholar Paul Rogers attempts to connect the dots by pointing at the growing worldwide gap between haves and have nots and the underlying failure of neoliberalism ‘to deliver social justice’. More generally, can we start to see these various popular uprisings as expressions of growing disillusionment and loss of faith in the political and economic systems stretching beyond the ‘hoodies on a rampage'? Is this just the tip of the iceberg or rather,the first plume of smoke of a volcano about to erupt? Perhaps so, suggests Fieke Jansen from the Hivos/CIS digital natives knowledge programme.Their global online conversations reveal striking levels of disassociation and frustration among youths with the 20th century policies and institutions so clearly inadequate for ‘their’ 21st century global village. That in turn begs the question what alternatives they have on offer. Are we witnessing the blossoming of a next generation of social activism, as Chatan Bhagat suggests here? If so, what are the agenda’s, objectives, structures, connections and strategies? Now that the euphoria in places like Egypt and Tunesia has waned, how do claims travel from the squares to processes of structural institutional reform? Questions abound, that will keep researchers occupied in times to come. Questions too, that require a transdisciplinary approach involving reflection processes in the global North and South and explorations into the on- and offline world.

From 14-16 september, the Hivos knowledge programme offers one such effort. Together with the Institute of Social Studies, the Institute for Development Studies and the Centre for Internet and Society, we will bring a global group of activists, academics and social practitioners together in The Hague, to discuss the changing face of citizen action in a globalizing world. What are the main trends and drivers? What are the implications for research and social intervention practices? Our conversation will surely be colored by but venture beyond this summer of protest. Interested to join? You can follow our conversation on this site. If you wish to attend then please contact us here.