Prologue: Theorising transversal dissent

Abstract

The question is no longer one that opposes the global and the local , or the transnational and the national . It is, above all, a question of the sudden temporal commutation which blurs not only inside and outside, the boundaries of the political territory, but also the before and after of its duration, of its history. Manifestations of popular dissent, such as street demonstrations, social movements and civil disobedience, have for long occupied central positions in most political landscapes. The processes through which they exert human agency, however, have recently undergone important transformations. In previous epochs, popular protests had a mostly local nature, that is, their dynamic was one that directly opposed ruler and ruled. By the late twentieth century the nature of dissent has changed fundamentally. The presence of mass media can transform a local act of resistance almost immediately into an event of global significance. Images of a protest march may flicker over television screens worldwide only hours after people have taken to the street. As a result, the protest soon takes on a much larger, transterritorial dimension. This book theorises the changing nature of dissent in the context of several historical and contemporary case studies. Among them is a detailed scrutiny of the protest forms that contributed to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and, ultimately, to a series of substantial transformations in global politics.