Negotiating the Resistance

Abstract

In the post 2008 financial crisis climate we have seen a plethora of protest movements emerge globally with one of the most recognisable, particularly in the western context, being that of the Occupy movement, which sought to contest the global accumulation of wealth by the few, at the expense of the many. Such protest movements have paved the way for old and new, often contentious, dialogues pertinent for a variety of disciplines and subject matters. Drawing upon both emerging narratives from the movement within the published literature and the authors own empirical interview data with participants at a variety of Occupy sites, this article discusses to what extent the Occupy movement negotiates its existence with the hegemonic state-corporate nexus through its Safer Spaces Policy. The paper concludes that the counter-hegemonic endeavours of resistance movements can be compromised, through the coercion and consent strategies of the powerful working in tandem, resulting in a movement that both opposes and emulates what it seeks to contest. Such discussion can ultimately contribute to the longevous discourses pertaining to how hegemonic power operates not just on but through people.

Legacies of Contention

“…The spatial dynamics of the 2011 wave are also ripe for reconsiderationas we saw in the case of the movement of the squares. Further reflections on the role of space in the 2011 wave can be found in Sophie Toupin's (2013) work on physical and virtual occupations during the Occupy movement and Samantha Fletcher's (2016) study of how the dynamics of these physical spaces interacted with the movement's brokerage mechanisms. Alternatively, we can examine temporal factors, such as the role of 'flashpoints' in triggering events such as the 2011 England Riots (Moran and Waddington 2015).…”