Shutting Down the Streets: Political Violence and Social Control in the Global Era

Abstract

Shutting Down the Streets: Political Violence and Social Control in the Global Era, by Amory Starr, Luis Fernandez, and Christian Scholl. New York/London: New York University Press, 2011. 207pp. $67.84 cloth. $23.00 paper. ISBN: 9780814741009. Kevin B. Anderson University of California, Santa Barbara kanderson@soc.ucsb.edu Categories: Collective Behavior and Social Movements Crime, Law, and Deviance Theory Word count: 1095 This book speaks to three sets of issues: First, it carries out an analysis based upon direct participant observation of some of the more radical edges of the global justice or alterglobalization (or anti-capitalist) movement, including the wing commonly associated with the term “black block.” Second, it discusses the new forms of state repression, surveillance, and control of urban space that have been carried out by security forces during global economic or political summits that faced large protest movements from the alterglobalization movement. Third, it constitutes an interesting and instructive example of using the Foucauldian theory of power and resistance as the basis for the study of some very contemporary developments. One of the hallmarks of contemporary social protest – at least since Seattle 1999 – has been its global character, with international groups of demonstrators assembling at various gatherings like the WTO, the G8, the FTAA, or NATO. Within those demonstrations, a relatively small number of participants have engaged in direct action of various types, sometimes committing minor acts of violence against property, security