In this paper I explore the inadequacy of the representation of the border, which is underpinned by Manichean distinctions of friend and foe, superior and inferior, inside and outside, to analyze the cultural encounter between Europeans and their others. I argue that a great deal of scholarship interest in this cultural encounter is trapped into a border imaginary that loses sight of those cultural phenomena, such as hybridity, transnational identities, and cosmopolitan affiliations, which challenge established political and cultural borders and foster ‘from below’ new imaginations of the European space. By analyzing a complex set of cultural productions—the creative combination of European modes of thought, texts, and styles in the visual and performative arts, with indigenous local artistic styles and mindsets—I show that, as seen as early as the 16th-century, the rise of a global imagination is the result of complex relations of connectivity between Europe and other parts of the world. I propose a new border imaginary, which is underpinned by a cosmopolitan grammar of difference, to account better for the changing nature of the European space within the dynamics of globalization.

This article is concerned with how the indignados social movement (also known as M15) used distinctive symbolic and visual communication strategies to articulate their collective self-representation as a movement of global citizens. Through social semiotic analysis and critical discourse analysis of textual and visual materials available in the blogs of the encampments of Lisbon, Barcelona and Madrid, the author illuminates how the indignados used the image of the occupied square as a model of dissent and democratic participation, which becomes available for global circulation. Drawing upon Hariman and Lucaites’s conception of iconic image described in No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy (2007), the author argues that the image of the occupied square is a global icon that embodies the universal value of democracy. It is suggested that if we want to understand the image of the occupied square as an embodiment of democracy across nationally-defined public spheres, we need to understand the ways in which the indignados, as political agents, devised and used particular protest images to develop and dramatize a particular vision of democracy that resonates strongly with global audiences. The article goes on to show that the image of the occupied square resonates with global audiences because its meanings tap on a repertoire of culturally shared representations of non-violent occupations of urban space in the 20th century (e.g. Tiananmen Square, the American Civil Rights Movement sit-ins) that is powerfully embedded in Western public memory.

This article asks whether the Indignados social movement can be seen as a counter-public that is capable of fostering genuine forms of cosmopolitan citizenship. It is argued that via the artful use of the possibilities of digital media (e.g. social networking websites, live video, blogs) the Indignados social movement goes on to devise new forms of public discourse and organized protest as well as shared ways of thinking and acting that are capable of fuelling cosmopolitan solidarity. It is suggested that the movement serves as a springboard to analyse how new forms of public communication can foster both a shared sense of European solidarity and cosmopolitan publics. Looking at examples of protest camps in various European settings and their public communication, the paper puts forward the claim that the movement's self-definition as leaderless, global, inclusive and non-hierarchical owes much to its performative dimension. This latter dimension is visible, for instance, in the theatricality of the protest camps, ludic forms of protest (e.g. the carnivalesque use of the V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes' mask), and forms of public debate and decision-making that are underpinned by embodied practices (e.g., silent gestures) as much as by the procedural legitimacy of rationalcritical discourse. In targeting the political and financial elites (including those associated to the EU), the performance of protest offers new insights on what it means to be a European citizen against the backdrop of the EU debt crisis, the emergence of unelected governments in Italy and Greece, and the so-called 'dictatorship of the markets'. We will see that this transnational movement goes on to engender radical modes of citizen participation that while locally-rooted are also powerfully shaped and informed by the creative appropriation and reinvention of a shared repertoire of European symbols, meanings, and values.

Aims and scopeThis special issue is concerned with how and why certain visual images picturing protest events and social movements are rendered visible or invisible in the public sphere. 'Picturing Protest' responds to the growing interest in a new protest culture and new ways of 'doing politics', ranging from Arab revolts to the Occupy Movement, the Indignados and anti-austerity protests Taken all together, the different contributions ask how and why activists, photojournalists, citizen journalists and journalists use protest images, ranging from maps, posters, to amateur and professional photographs, to communicate with a range of audiences within and beyond nationally-defined public spheres. The contributors do so by employing theoretical tools and methods that originate from within a variety of disciplines, including media and

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