Who is speaking? The Indignados as political subjects

Abstract

Since 2011, the Indignados have been a prominent feature of Spanish politics. Based on the emotional characteristics and framing of the movement, this article argues that our common notions of how democracy and legitimacy should work, and in particular ideas of deliberative democracy, consistently favour political behaviour of a certain kind, namely that of rational action. This article argues that ideas of radical democracy, especially those of Jacques Rancière, could help broaden the idea of politics, in arguing that only recognising rational actions is an exclusionary practice. The article thus uses the case of the Indignados in order to rethink some dimensions of democratic theory. It starts out with an outlook on the current situation in Spain and then moves on to describe the main tenets of deliberative democracy and the problem the Indignados pose to such a theory. In opposition to this it introduces Rancière's works, and argues that this has much higher bearing for our contemporary problems of democracy. The article concludes by saying that deliberative democracy lacks explanatory power when it comes to the Indignados. By requiring a unified sovereign, a distinction between voice and noise, and a consensual form of legitimate decision-making, the Indignados are not deemed political subjects in deliberative democratic theory. This can be seen as an exclusionary practice, since the Indignados still form a noticeable presence in today's political landscape. Therefore, there is a need for revising what constitutes a political subject and a political action.

La seguridad y el estado democrático liberal. Criminalizando la política de los jóvenes

“…The first major wave of action occurred between mid-May and June 2011, focusing on consciousnessraising, promoting political debate in the streets, and staging occupations (Calvo 2013, Eklundh 2014. According to Calvo, given that Spanish political culture is generally recognized as apathetic and that this is particularly prominent in respect to young people, the Indignados movement was a 'remarkable disruption' as 'discontent is seldom translated into sustained collective protest' and 'traditional social movements are currently unable to bring protesters to the streets…' (Calvo 2013: 239).…”

The Indignados and Occupy movements as political challenges to representative democracy: a reply to Eklundh

“…The Indignados as political subjects', Emmy Eklundh (2014) argues that the Indignados, as their name indicates, communicate in emotional rather than rational terms and are thus marginalized by some democratic theories and conventions. The Indignados as political subjects', Emmy Eklundh (2014) argues that the Indignados, as their name indicates, communicate in emotional rather than rational terms and are thus marginalized by some democratic theories and conventions.…”

Rethinking Modes of Political Participation

“…What can be considered as political participation? This question remains central to contemporary political participation research (e.g., Collin 2009;Eklundh 2014;Flinders and Wood 2018;Grasso 2016;Norris 2002;Rowe and Marsh 2018;Sparks 1997;Van Deth 2001. A strand of answers to this question has been built around the distinction between conventional and unconventional participation (e.g., Akram et al 2014;Barnes and Kaase 1979;Kaase 1999;Lamprianou 2013;Linssen et al 2011;Riley et al 2013;Van Deth 2001;Verba and Nie 1972).…”

“…Some scholars maintain that what at one point in time and space is perceived as unconventional can be elsewhere understood as conventional, such as demonstrations or consumer boycotts (Linssen et al 2011;Norris 2002). This alteration is possible, as certain types of unconventional participation that have features similar to conventional forms escape a strict distinction between conventional and unconventional, for example "connective action" (Bennett and Segerberg 2012), the Indignados movement (Eklundh 2014), or "information activism" (Halupka 2016), which I will elaborate further below. Although many unconventional modes of political participation share characteristics with conventional participation, they are less important than the conventional due to a strict dichotomous meaning behind the two categories.…”

“…This shift in perspective opens up possibilities for the political recognition of forms of participation that have been denied such appreciation, as they were previously counted as unconventional or they did not fit the conventional-unconventional distinction. Consider, for example, connective action (Bennett and Segerberg 2012), lifestyle politics (Portwood-Stacer 2013), the Indignados movement (Eklundh 2014), and information activism (Halupka 2016).…”