2. Occupying Space
Occupying Space is probably the typical kind of protest you think of
In the Reading they use the example of International ANSWER
“International ANSWER has organized a very long series of orators, and while
thousands of people in this massive rally cannot see the soundstage or hear the
speakers, many stand quietly and listen to the amplified oratory, applauding and
cheering when moved to do so, while others mill around, chat, and wait for the
announcement that the march will begin.”
3. Opening Space
Example is Absurd Response
“However, at least one troupe of costumed performers called Absurd Response is
not listening to the speakers. Instead, they move randomly through the throng,
singing, dancing and improvising”
4. Differences
Message of Occupying Space is often more clear, but Opening space is more
participatory and less hierarchical
“International ANSWER valued coherence of message the most while Absurd
Response valued creativity, style, and opening up a joyful, counter cultural space.”
5. Tactics
“repertoire of contention”- set of oppositional tactics that movements creatively
accumulate over the course of many struggles. These tactics evolve over time as
movements interact with their often-hostile environment.
“repressive tolerance.”- if tactics are overused they lose a great deal of their effect.
The state develops counter-tactics for containing and minimizing their potency
Tactics can be the building-block elements of a strategy
6. Why public demonstrations?
To collectively express dissent on a specific issue
To express the strength of the movement, both for internal confidence-building and
as a general warning for opponents
To recruit new members and grow the movement
To define collective identity for a group, subculture, or movement
To define collective identity for a group, subculture, or movement
7. Unity
“To define collective identity for a group, subculture, or movement”
However
As Kelly Moore and Lesley J. Wood argue, coalitions are strongest when they do not claim a unity of
interests, priorities, or tactics, but rather acknowledge their diversity while emphasizing the spirit of
cooperation for the tasks at hand
Ex. Color Bloc
Groups of “10 or 12 clowns, analogous to the “affinity group” model of the direct-action movement. In
groups of this size, members are working with people they know and trust. They develop models of group
decision-making where every voice can be heard.”
8. Carnival
The opening-space model overlaps in many ways with the practice of carnival.
Carnival is not a spectacle seen by the people; they live in it, and everyone
participates because it's very idea embraces all the people.
Very different from Occupying space protests where “there is no process whereby
the average participant can contribute creatively to the dramaturgy of the protest.
The underlying ideology of this sort of gathering is monologic, with a mass of
spectators listening to a few elevated and amplified leaders.”
9. CIRCA
Founded in 2003 (Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army)
“Resist interpellation. They neither flee nor fight. They stay and play.”
“With its horizontalist organizing model, CIRCA practices a form of nonviolent
direct action that joins collective buffoonery with satirical performance.”
10. Earned Media
Media coverage that is not purchased as advertising, but free news coverage
received by pitching a good story or press release to journalists.
Ex. Image of Trixie kissing police shields “An image so compelling or strange or
surprising that even one’s ideological opponents will reproduce it— even if it
undermines their own narrative”
11. Reclaim The Streets
This performance is the work of Reclaim the Streets (RTS) activists, appearing in
colorful costumes to provide political satire for demonstrators and passersby, and to
perform solidarity across tensive borders of identity with immigrant workers. This
activist group is dedicated to reclaiming increasingly hemmed-in, homogenized, and
privatized public space for free expression and participatory protest
March for the Rights of Immigrant Workers
Wrestling Performance
Superbarrio- he is a masked Mexican wrestling hero, a lucha libre fighter. He battles
corrupt landlords and bosses
12. Police Response
“There are about as many police as demonstrators, and the police, some heavily
armed, form a solid ring of blue around the protesters at all times, whether marching
or performing.”
Disproportionate police presence serves several purposes: 1. to intimidate the
demonstrators; 2. to criminalize us to onlookers; 3. and to block sightlines to
make it difficult for spectators to see how free expression still occurs in the
increasingly hemmed-in public space of New York City.
13. Cat and Mouse
Activists come up with a new way to transgress into bounded spaces to get their
message out, and police find new ways to frustrate the new tactic.
Both learn from each other
Ex. RTS tipped off the police
However, this “party” took the form of half a dozen men and women in formal dress,
seated at a table (complete with tablecloth and doilies) on the sidewalk:
New tactic- include them in performances
14. Mask law
One if the performers was arrested for violating the mask law.
amidst said gathering, the deponent observed approximately five individuals
wearing masks that covered their faces; (iii) the deponent observed that said
individuals with masks were congregating together in that they were in proximity to
each other and were engaged in some form of performance together;
However there was an exception for masquerade parties and similar events
Law used to arrest KKK, but originated to crush Radical Farmer’s revolt in 1845
15. The selective enforcement of this law in practice is as blatant as the classism in the
wording of the law. Can the reader imagine three costumed employees of the Disney
Store, giving out coupons to passersby, being led off in handcuffs for violation of the
Mask Law? Of course, the only individuals actually arrested under this law were
radical protesters who annoyed the Mayor’s Office by theatrically opposing
gentrification, the destruction of the people’s gardens of the Lower East Side, and
the privatization of public space.
16. Importance of the Mask
Masks are not only important for encouraging stronger gesture and voice. Masks are
also intrinsically expressive as works of art, creating an archetypal persona on
which an audience member can project empathy precisely because they are not
purely realistic, but are symbolic totems of class, gender, mythic identity, and
symbolic persona.
Keep anonymity
17. Questions
Can you think of an example of an Opening space protest that was not discussed in
the reading?
What are the possible weaknesses of CIRCA?
Can you think of an example of “Earned Media”?
Is the mask law problematic or just the selective enforcement of the law?
