In this thesis I will demonstrate that there is a similarity between the use of physical walls and digital walls as means of ideological dissemination by power structures as well as socio-political protesters. Also, I will show that their use in this manner not only changes the way that both function ideologically, but also changes the environment that these walls are created/exist in as well. The first case study will analyze Banksy’s employment of carnivalesque graffiti as a means of protest. The second case study will analyze the use of digital public space and “walls” created within social media as tools of protest, paralleling the earlier examples pertaining to the physical walls of public space. The third case study will look at the employment of the digital “walls” of Facebook and Twitter in conjunction with the use of public space in Cairo and its role in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

Im Mai 2013 begannen in Istanbul die größten, spontan organisierten zivilgesellschaftlichen Proteste in der Geschichte der Türkei. Die Besetzung des Gezi-Parks im Zentrum von Istanbul und das Vorgehen der Polizei mit massivem Einsatz von Tränengas und Wasserwerfern hatten sehr schnell zu einer breiten Solidarisierungswelle im gesamten Land geführt. Eine der dortigen Protestaktionen wird zum Ausgangspunkt, um die Verschränkung von politischen und performativen Interventionen zu diskutieren. Um diese Aspekte zu beleuchten, werden die Artikulationsformate im Rahmen der Proteste in Bezug zum Projekt „re.act.feminism #2 – a performing archive“ gesetzt.

Ad hoc social movement coalitions are made up of diverse groups that come together to maximise the use of limited resources. Once formed, they face a dilemma. Coalition logic holds that given the limited time frame and instrumental objectives of the organisation, resources should be disproportionately invested in the visible sphere of action. However, this instrumental emphasis ignores the need to invest resources in the 'submerged' sphere of membership intercommunication. As a result tensions which have their root in divergent ideologies, traditions and histories of resistance can threaten the coalition's collective identity. This thesis is about one such organisation, the No! To APEC (NTA) coalition, one of three groups that made up the movement to oppose the APEC Economic Leader's Meeting in Vancouver held in November 1997. NTA, made up of small leftwing grassroots groups, built a campaign around resistance to "imperialist globalisation." It organised community education, an international conference and a march and rally. Although it succeeded in meeting its objectives, a fracture occurred between the largest and most consolidated member group and the other unconsolidated grouping made up of individuals and representatives of small organisations. The fracture caused a disconnection between the local and the international priorities set by the organisation at its outset. In this study I examine the process that led to this outcome. In particular I identify the importance of establishing a capacity for reflexively monitoring the actions and interactions of members. While consensus is not a pre-requisite for solidarity, disputes arising from different perspectives and membership tactics may jeopardise organisational unity. Providing a limited space for evaluating conflicting validity claims and organisational dynamics may help to preserve unity during the active phase of a coalition's mobilisation. The methods used to obtain data for this study were participant observation and interviewing. I spent six months as an activist-researcher with the coalition and I interviewed activists from the three main APEC opposition groups. Although the main focus of this study is on the political and organisational evolution of the NTA coalition, I broaden the discussion to argue that ad hoc coalitions play an important role in generating 'social capital' or 'social movement connectivity.' Social solidarity generated in the course of short-term political action increases the potential for further action mobilisation in social movement networks and communities. In the final part of the thesis I review literature on globalisation and social movements. Combined with what has been learned about coalitions in the previous chapters, this exercise provides a context for examining the APEC opposition movement and, by extension, the prospects for building transnational movements and a counter-hegemonic historical bloc against imperialist globalisation.

Beginning in December 2010, Tunisian citizens used techniques of protest, resistance and intervention in a struggle for freedom from the systems that had for decades denied them agency, autonomy and dignity. As a result of their resistance, in January 2011 the Tunisian people successfully deposed the authoritarian president Ben Ali after 23 years in power. Though this movement began spontaneously and operated without designated leadership, the role of the national labor union - The Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) - was vital in mobilizing and directing the uprising. This thesis will interpret the events of the 2011 Tunisian uprising through the framework of civil resistance, as defined by Gene Sharp and Hardy Merriman. Through the use of political defiance and noncooperation, civil resistance employs nonviolent tactics to challenge and remove entrenched political leaders and systems. This study will analyze the Tunisian uprising and the role of the UGTT in the movement using three indicators of civil resistance success: unity, strategic planning, and nonviolent discipline. Despite sporadic incidents of violence, this thesis asserts that the 2011 Tunisian uprising successfully enacted nonviolent civil resistance, and the implementation of nonviolent political action has made the establishment of a genuine and lasting democracy a real possibility for the future. The UGTT were invaluable in the 2011 uprising as facilitators and collaborators with the Tunisian people, and currently function in a pivotal nonpartisan and objective intermediary political role. Though the outcome remains uncertain and the conclusion of the revolution in flux, the 2011 Tunisian uprising has set an example and a precedent for civil resistance to the rest of the world.

No description available.

This paper advances a theoretical construct entitled "neoliberal globalization" to explain the transformations in state form since the late 1970s which have been inspired by neoliberalism, an ideology privileging market mechanisms for capital accumulation and social organization. The essay will then examine the phenomenon of Canada's and Quebec's integration into the North American and the hemispheric economies since the mid-1980s. The following section will focus on the impact of neoliberal globalization on Quebec's idiosyncratic modalities of state organization and social integration. Lastly, the essay will investigate a transnational resistance movement in the Americas opposing neoliberal hemispheric integration, as well as recent mutations on Quebec's social and political left. The growth of cross-border coalitions opposing the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and transformation of left politics in Quebec will be accounted for by reviewing theories of social movement internationalism.

<p>This study is a response to the dilemma of poor service delivery or the lack thereof. In this regard, this study posits the professionalisation of local government as part of the solution. The focus is on the administrative arm of local government, which is the major conduit for service delivery. Professionalisation of local government is a broader theme. For the present purposes, focus will be devoted to the competency component which entails attracting qualified personnel competent to discharge local government responsibilities. However, it is not limited to attracting already competent and professional staff. It also entails developing the skills of existing staff. This definition, in essence, relates to qualification through training, learning and specialisation.11 In essence, professionalisation of local government ensures that all employees act and behave in a professional way. In this regard, this study seeks to identify the competency standards set by the legislative framework and then explore the legal avenues for enforcing compliance, by the municipal administration, with such standards. This requires one to look at and answer the following questions: What constitutes municipal staff? / What is the content of the competency framework in question? / What are the enforcement mechanisms currently in place? / Whose role is it to enforce compliance with the competency framework? / Broadly speaking, enforcement can take two forms: hard enforcement and soft enforcement. The hard form of enforcement relates to giving incentives for compliance with the competency framework and dismissal for non-compliance. Softer enforcement, in turn, relates to correction and monitoring.</p>

Depuis les débuts des études sur la chanson, plusieurs chercheurs ont pu déterminer que l’âge d’or de la chanson québécoise comprenait la production chansonnière des années soixante et soixante-dix. C’est en filiation avec cette époque culturellement engagée et collective que la chanson du tournant du millénaire s’établit. En effet, après le creux musical des années quatre-vingt au Québec, un groupe reprit le collier de la chanson engagée au début des années quatre-vingt-dix. En défendant les marginalisés de la société et en se faisant le porte-parole de ceux-ci, les Colocs ont contribué à l’acceptation sociale des chômeurs, des sans-abris, des sidéens, des dépressifs, et autres laissés pour compte de la société. En s’attaquant à des problématiques socio-politiques graves, le groupe permet de les voir sous un autre angle et de créer une mise en perspective chez les victimes. Par l’utilisation de procédés ironiques, les Colocs parvinrent à installer une distance entre les problèmes et leurs victimes. En majorité auto-ironiques, les chansons du groupe révèlent en plus une ironie de situation, aussi appelée ironie du sort. En parallèle aux Colocs, d’autres artistes des années quatre-vingt-dix et deux mille offrent des chansons engagées au caractère ironique, et permettent une comparaison fructueuse. Dans l’optique de dédramatiser des situations potentiellement catastrophiques et d’élaborer une forme de critique sociale engagée, les Colocs ont créé une production chansonnière où l’ironie primait. / Since the early studies on songwriting, several researchers have determined that the golden age of Quebec songwriting included productions of the sixties and seventies. It’s in affiliation with the collective spirit of those years that the new protest song of the millennium settled. Indeed, after the hollow musical eighties in Quebec, a band took the lead of the protest song in the early nineties. By defending the marginalized people of society and making themselves their spokesmen, Les Colocs have contributed to the "empowerment" of the unemployed, the homeless, AIDS victims, the depressive and other left out of society. Addressing socio-political issues, the group let us see them from another angle and create a new perspective for the victims. Through the use of ironic processes, Les Colocs managed to install a distance between problems and their victims. Mostly self-ironic, their songs also reveal an irony of situation, also called irony of fate. In parallel to Les Colocs, other artists of the nineties and the early years of the new millenium offer songs with an incurred ironic character, and allow a meaningful comparison. In order to defuse potentially catastrophic situations and develop a form of social critique, Les Colocs have created a production where songwriter’s irony prevailed.

Dans ce travail, nous posons d’abord la question de la légitimité de la contestation internationale. En partant de la conception libérale de la souveraineté étatique, nous montrons que la contestation internationale pourrait être critiquée pour l’interférence qu’elle crée entre des acteurs étrangers. Pour défendre la légitimité de la contestation, nous argumentons en faveur de la position républicaine de Philip Pettit selon laquelle la souveraineté étatique ne devrait pas être comprise comme une absence d’interférence, mais plutôt comme une absence de domination. En montrant que les problèmes environnementaux peuvent être compris en tant que domination écologique, nous tentons alors de démontrer que la contestation internationale ne pose pas nécessairement problème pour la souveraineté des États, mais qu’au contraire, celle-ci peut servir protection contre d’éventuels cas de domination. Dans la seconde partie du travail, nous explorons la question de la légitimité des moyens de contestation utilisés par les activistes. En conservant les idées de Pettit concernant la domination, nous prenons toutefois nos distances par rapport à cet auteur et sa conception délibérative de la contestation. Nous amorcerons finalement la réflexion dans le but de trouver des critères pouvant légitimer certains recours à des moyens de contestation plus radicaux. Nous défendons notamment une position originale, voulant que la contestation soit comprise en continuité avec la délibération plutôt qu’en rupture avec celle-ci. / In this paper, we first study the case of international activism’s legitimacy. Accordinging to the liberal sovereignty principal, we show that it could be a problem to allow activists to protest on the international stage, as this would create a form of interference against the ones they target. But as we consider that the political pressure of interest groups is necessary to face major problems like the environmental issues, it seems important to us to advocate their work at the global level. To offer a defense of international activism, we base our position on the republican ideas of Philip Pettit for whom, political freedom would not be a non-interference, but a non-domination. After showing that some environmental issues can be understood as domination issues, we argue that international activism is not a necessarily a problem for the State’s sovereignty, but that it offers a protection against some form of ecological domination. In the second half of this paper, we study the legitimacy of the different means of pressure the activists can use to protest. As we keep the idea of freedom as non-domination, we will take our distances from Pettit’s thought of political contestatory. After criticizing the ideas of the deliberative democrats, we will initiate the reflection to find some new criterions that would legitimate some more radical means of pressure like direct actions and civil disobedience. We also offer an original thesis by suggesting that activism and deliberation should not be understood as opposites but rather as a continuum.