Music, Contentious Politics, and Identity: A Cultural Analysis of “Aksi Bela Islam” March in Jakarta (2016)

This article examines the role of music as a repertoire of contention and as a framing device used to challenge the political legitimacy of the rulers and strengthen the collective identity of the participants in “Aksi Bela Islam” (ABI), a demonstration held in Jakarta at the end of 2016. Rizieq Shihab, one of the key actors of ABI, wrote two songs known as “Si Ahok Durjana” and “Mars Aksi Bela Islam”. This paper argues that the success of mass mobilization during ABI cannot be separated from the creative use of media and popular culture—including music. The key actors of ABI used music and popular media as framing devices to communicate cognitive meanings, mobilize potential adherents, delegitimize authorities, instill emotional feelings and awaken the collective identity of Muslims. This paper applies social movement theory that emphasizes the significance and role of cultural factors in the dynamics of social movements.

“Fraudonomics”: Cartooning against Structural Adjustment in Togo

This article offers a sensitive reading of oppositional political cartoons in Togo in the early 1990s, during the period of structural adjustment, which was accompanied by the swift reversal of democratizing trends and the restoration of authoritarian rule. Togolese satirists perceived this moment as a moment of “fraudonomics”, thus contesting rampant corruption and clientelism in politics. They poked fun at the president, local politicians, businesspeople, and bureaucrats of the international institutions. The article begins by examining the making of satirical newspapers with a focus on the biographies of the satirists. As students, they started out on the adventure of publication with their own money and learned most of their drawing and printing techniques as work progressed. Secondly, an analysis of the readership shows that, although the satirical newspapers were a crucial element of the media in the early 1990s, it was mostly an elitist and urban phenomenon. The third section analyses the changing visual repertoire of contention through in-depth analysis of four selected caricatures.

“We Are Radical In Our Kindness”: The Political Socialisation, Motivations, Demands and Protest Actions of Young Environmental Activists in Britain

The year 2018 was a watershed in environmental activism, especially regarding young activists. Greta Thunberg started her School Strikes for Climate and the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion was founded. This article deals with young people’s involvement in these two global movements. It draws on 60 semi-structured interviews carried out with young environmental activists before, during and after protest actions under the auspices of the climate strikes and/or Extinction Rebellion in five British locations. The period of the political socialisation of this young generation is outlined and how it contributes to young people becoming environmental activists. The article then identifies the “radical” demands made by young environmental activists and their “radical” repertoire of contention in relation to their perceptions of the “radical” compared to hegemonic definitions. The interviews show that these young environmentalists are part of a generation of activists committed to obtaining significant change from powerholders through the use of deliberately non-violent direct action that challenges academic perceptions of radical repertoires of contention.

Violence or nonviolence: instrumental nature of protest mobilization

Protest mobilization is a complex multifaceted process, the implementation of which depends on the range objective and subjective factors. Recurrent mass protests aimed against the activity of government structures in different regions of the world, as well as unprecedented decrease in violence worldwide, actualize the questions associated with the motives of protest activity, as well as the instruments that characterize protest mobilization. The subject of this research is the instruments of protest political mobilization. The goal consists in delineating the boundaries of resorting to violence and nonviolence as the instruments of protest mobilization. Leaning on the principles of Charles Tilly’s Repertoire of Contention towards analysis of violence and nonviolence in political activity, as well as using the analysis of relevant data on the practices of protest activity, the authors formulate the following conclusions: 1) both violent and nonviolent instruments, which intersect within the framework of mass actions to various extent, underlie protest activity; 2) violence is an integral part of mass protests, however, the magnitude and intensity of violence is determined by the level of political dissatisfaction of the subjects of collective activity and the scale of available resource base; 3) statistically, nonviolent forms of mass protest are more successful in attaining the goals by the subjects of mobilization.

Schemas of Contention: How Do the Public Interpret the Repertoire of Contention?

The literature on contention conflates the structuring of contentious actions with their interpreta-tion, obscuring the independent role of interpretation. We propose a schemas of contention theory that explicitly distinguishes between a schema of action and a schema of interpretation. Focusing on the latter, we theorize and study the public’s interpretation of contention. In two studies of 1429 US citizens, we show that interpretation is structured by a schema that can be modelled in the dimensions of legitimacy and political legibility. Studies that neglect the schema of interpreta-tion or reduce it to that of action misrepresent the structuring of contention.

From Affordances to Repertoires of Contention

This chapter analyzes the political circumstances and opportunities under which mobile phones emerge as a repertoire of contention. It argues that we should not just look at the use of communication technologies in contention. Instead, an investigation necessitates the perception of communication technologies as a repertoire of contention on the basis of affordances that structure the possibilities of the use of technology. Through fieldwork and in-depth interviews, this chapter indicates that taking (certain functions of) mobile phones as protest repertoire derives from a confluence of given social group’s habitus of media use that manifests particular affordances and the learned experience of the contested means of the past in official mass communication. More interestingly, communication and metacommunication of official media coverage of information and communication technology-mediated political activism modularizes and legitimizes the use of mobile phones in protests, and hence shapes specific ways people have harnessed their mobile phones as a key contentious repertoire.

THE CHANGING PRACTICE OF RIOTING: REVISITING REPERTOIRE TRANSITIONS IN BRITAIN, 1800–1939*

This article uses a systematic catalogue of 414 riots in Liverpool, Glasgow, and Manchester to examine the changing practice of rioting from 1800 to 1939. Three empirical findings emerge: first, over this period, riots went from being an autonomous tactic to one which was largely subordinated to other protest logics; second, the way rioters chose their targets changed: instead of targeting individuals with whom rioters had concrete relationships, they started targeting people as tokens of some wider type; third, throughout this period rioting remained a localized practice that reflected local traditions and dynamics. On the basis of these findings, I revisit the orthodox history of social movements and suggest we refine this narrative to explicitly acknowledge continuity in the repertoire of contention, regional variation, the uneven reach of the state, and to properly distinguish between individual practices like demonstrations, composite forms like social movements, and the repertoire as a whole.

Information and Communication Technologies as Contentious Repertoire

This study advances an original theoretical framework to understand the deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in political contention. It argues that we should not look only at the use of ICTs in contention, as technologies are not “born” to be used in and for political activism. Rather, people appropriate and manoeuvre technologies—some but not others—for such purposes, in specific contexts. This study proposes a relational understanding of ICT uses in contention, taking into account their technicalities and their sociality, as well as the transformation and actualisation that occurs between them. It suggests that an investigation necessitates the perception of communication technologies as a repertoire of contention on the basis of affordances that structure the possibilities of the use of technology. The study further presents an application of the framework in cases of protests in mainland China. Through fieldwork and in-depth interviews, this study indicates that the choice of (certain functions of) mobile phones as protest repertoire derives from a confluence of (a) a given social group’s habitus of media use that manifests particular affordances, and (b) the learned experience of the contested means of the past in official mass communication. It concludes that what people do and do not do with ICTs in political contention is significantly shaped by affordances and habitus, thereby revealing the dynamics behind repertoire selection and constraint.

The changing practice of rioting: Revisiting repertoire transitions in Britain, 1800-1939

This paper uses a systematic catalogue of 414 riots in Liverpool, Glasgow and Manchester to examine the changing practice of rioting from 1800 to 1939. Three empirical findings emerge: first, over this period, riots went from being an autonomous tactic to one which was largely subordinated to other protest logics; second, the way rioters chose their targets changed: instead of targeting individuals with whom rioters had concrete relationships, they started targeting people as tokens of some wider type; third, throughout this period rioting was a localised practice which reflected local traditions and dynamics. On the basis of these findings, I revisit the orthodox history of social movements and suggest we refine this narrative to explicitly acknowledge continuity in the repertoire of contention, regional variation, the uneven reach of the state and to properly distinguish between individual practices like demonstrations, composite forms like social movements and the repertoire as a whole.