Police Repression Research Articles

THE POLITICS OF VIOLENT CONCATENATIONS

AbstractBased on three years of ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines face‐to‐face violent interactions in a high‐poverty squatter settlement in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Delving into the situational interactions and biographies of those who simultaneously exercise and suffer violence—victims and perpetrators—we illustrate in fine‐grained detail the concatenations of violence and their political dimensions. Violent concatenations are political in a twofold sense: (1) they are shaped by state (legal and illegal) interventions, and (2) they are understood by both victims and perpetrators as being caused by state actors either directly (in the form of police repression) or clandestinely (in the form of collusion with criminals).

Shifting police strategies: US aid and repression by public safety institutions in Latin America

This article studies the international determinants of extrajudicial police killings in Latin America. Human rights violations by security forces are a problem that has plagued Latin American countries, despite broad democratization efforts in the region. Addressing the problem requires a better understanding of the processes that underlie it. Although existing literature has explored the determinants of police repression in Latin America through country-specific studies, there has been a lack of cross-national analyses. In this article we use original data on human rights violations by security forces in Latin America between 1998 and 2018 to argue that, beyond domestic factors, foreign aid provided by the United States in the War on Drugs era has influenced police repression both by encouraging heavy-handed policies and by driving a substitution dynamic between violations by different security forces.

“Securing the state” in post-2011 Tunisia: performativity of the authoritarian neoliberal state

ABSTRACT In this article, I adopt the theoretical lens of authoritarian neoliberalism coupled with the concept of performativity to analyse post-transition Tunisian counterterror politics. In doing so, I argue that “securing the state” from discursively constructed “threats” such as terrorism, political Islamism and the associated instability they are perceived to engender can be understood as a performative enactment of statehood in the context of reduced sovereignty associated with neoliberal deregulation, as well as a crisis of legitimacy faced by successive post-transition governments in Tunisia. However, performative counterterror discourses and practices are aimed not only at “flexing the muscles” of the state. They also seek to construct moral panic surrounding certain groups and thus justify the roll out of repressive policing of already marginalised communities rather than merely suspected terrorists. This performance is intended to distract from some of the root causes of radicalisation in contemporary Tunisia: economic inequalities and dispossession linked to failed neoliberal deregulation. Thus, through the exploration of the Tunisian case between 2014 and 2021, I contend we can best understand (in)security in the MENA when adopting an analytical approach bringing together security studies and International Political Economy (IPE).

Geography of police repression and regulation of street based khwaja sira sex workers in Lahore

This paper looks at street-level strategies employed by the police in their everyday interactions with khwaja sira sex workers using the lens of peripheralization. The findings of this study, based on 35 in-depth interviews with street-based khwaja sira sex workers in Lahore, suggest three important strategies of police repression. These include territorialization; securitization and manipulation of violence across urban centers and peripheries. The paper argues that police repression of khwaja sira sex workers serves to disconnect them from urban centers, key social ties and safety nets, and socio-economic resources critical for their respectful survival in the city. The result is the peripheralization of khwaja sira individuals and their communities, increased dependence on precarious/traditional forms of khwaja sira livelihoods including sex work, and production of difference and marginality.

Criminalizing Care: Environmental Justice Under Political and Police Repression

ABSTRACT This essay discusses the intensification of threats to practices of radical care, such as collective action, mutual aid, and expressions of solidarity with others resisting ecological violence. I take up the global criminalization of land, water, and environmental defenders – including draconian “critical infrastructure” bills and anti-protest activities – that further link anticolonial, anti-imperial, and critical environmental justice struggles across geographies. Considering the rhetorical stakes in defining critical infrastructure, I juxtapose the state’s designation of primarily extractive industries as critical to its national financial and political project with alternative infrastructures of care that emerge from within everyday movement organizing for more life-affirming ecological relationships and worlds. Recent US-based Defend the Atlanta Forest and Stop Cop City movements, among others, provide illustrative exemplars of this broader pattern of criminalization and solidarity. I conclude by underscoring the importance of strengthening and defending such infrastructures of care in the face of sweeping repression today.

The Experience of the “Muravyov System” in the Domestic Politics of Russia at the End of the 19th – Beginning of the 20th Centuries

The article examines the issue of the “Muravyov system” (the political course of the Governor- General of the North-Western region M.N. Muravyov-Vilensky, 1863–1865) and its infl uence on the internal policy of the Russian Empire in the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. The author comes to the conclusion that the basic principles of Muravyov-Vilensky were later implemented at the all-Russian level. It was planned to combine anti-crisis repressive (administrative and police) measures with certain reforms. The reforms were intended to gain public support for government policy as only on that condition they could have the desired long-term effect. The policy of Muravyov-Vilensky was supported by the progressive bureaucracy, that developed the course of the Great Reforms of Emperor Alexander II, – N.A. Milyutin, Minister of Internal Affairs M.T. Loris-Melikov (1880–1881) and Prime Minister P.A. Stolypin (1906–1911). All of them also combined in their policy certain measures of revolutionary forces suppression with reform projects.

The Parallel Lives of Liddy Bacroff: Transgender (Pre)History and the Tyranny of the Archive in Twentieth-Century Germany

Abstract Pursued by authorities throughout the 1930s, Heinrich Habitz left behind a significant paper trail of official documentation, arrest warrants and imprisonment records. As Germany slipped further under National Socialist oppression, Habitz’s status as a homosexual man who sold sex marked him as a target of police repression. Even after the end of the war, the Hamburg Prosecutor’s Office attempted to locate and again prosecute him under the infamous §175 ‘sodomy law’. By rights, the study of Habitz should provide insights into the continuities of anti-queer repression between authoritarianism and democracy, but for one key point: ‘Heinrich Habitz’ existed only as a paper identity in official bureaucracy, and the ‘man’ authorities repeatedly persecuted was, in fact, a self-identified woman named ‘Liddy Bacroff’. Through a series of semi-autobiographical writings, alongside official paperwork, Liddy Bacroff presents the value of but also the difficulties facing the (re)construction of queer and, in particular, transgender (pre)histories. In this instance, the historian is not just faced with the problem of how this life, and others like it, should be represented in historiographical terms. We are left also with the question of how this victim of National Socialist barbarity should (or rather, can) be remembered: as the paper identity that provided a succession of carceral authorities with the justification to persecute and ultimately murder a cisgender gay man, or as the lived experience of a woman whose unique self-understanding allowed her to carve out her place in a society that otherwise relegated her to its margins.

Countering anti‐democratic policies in democracies: The importance of value‐oriented citizenship

AbstractLiving in democratic systems may lead the citizens of those countries to be less vigilant of the policies enforced by their governments, with the risk of endorsing anti‐democratic measures. Rights violations can indeed occur even in a democratic country. The aim of the present research is to understand whether people tend to be more accepting of repressive police actions when they occur in a country considered democratic than when they are perpetrated in a country considered authoritarian. Results on 363 Italian participants showed that participants were less ready to condemn a violent police intervention when it occurred in a country perceived to be democratic than in one considered to be less so. Moreover, as hypothesized, this paradox is supported more by people with a low value orientation, while people with a high value orientation do not accept intervention in either context. The implication of this research was to show the importance of considering theories that focus on the legitimacy of the authority's demands. Specifically, the political orientation theory emphasizes the importance of monitoring the policies issued even by established democracies to protect from their possible degeneration into autocracies.

Adverse effects of repressive policies: safety and security issues in Iranian football

ABSTRACT Iran’s football has been plagued by substantial safety and security problems. This paper argues that these problems represent to some extent the adverse effects of the repressive policies the government has adopted towards football. First, football matches have become focal points for social and political protests. Second, attempts to control football by limiting its commercialization have facilitated underinvestment in stadium safety. Third, the repressive policing of football crowds is likely to escalate football related riots. We provide support for these ideas on the base of a qualitative case study. Iranian football will need some fundamental reforms to escape the vicious circle of repression and conflict escalation.

“Tomar Santan Jano Thake Dudhe-Bhaate”: Exploring the Naxal movement through Bengali protest poetry

The Naxalite Movement was a radical left wing extremist movement that started in 1969 in the Indian state of West Bengal. Inspired by the ideas of Mao Tse Tsung, the combatants engaged in guerrilla warfare aiming to capture state power through armed insurgency, “annihilation line” that included the assassination of the representatives of the state administration and mass mobilisation. In the early 1970s, Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal, witnessed large-scale student participation in the conflict. It was suppressed by the State through the Operation Steeplechase, brutal police repression including widespread human rights violations. No political movement in post-independent India spawned as much literature, ranging from poetry to autobiographical narratives, as the Naxal Movement. Through a qualitative study, this paper attempts a critical analysis of the representative artistic expression by the Naxalites during the first phase of the conflict between 1969 and 1975. Drawing upon the poetry of revolutionaries such as Dronacharya Ghosh, Saroj Dutta and Timir Baran Sen, all of whom were killed by the police, along with the works of Naxal sympathiser poets like Sankha Ghosh and Birendranath Chattopadhyay, this paper aims to fill the research gap that exists in academia in the sphere of literary representation by the Naxal combatants.

Normative and non-normative collective action facing repression in a democratic context: A mixed study in a Chilean social movement

This work addresses collective action in the context of a social movement facing police repression in a democratic country. The movement studied was carried out in a region of southern Chile, had a very high citizen participation and deployed normative and non-normative actions. We aim to understand why people decided to participate and how they came to consider violent action as a legitimate option. We use a mixed methods approach. In a quantitative study we compare participation in normative and non-normative actions, and find they factor together as part of the same action repertoire, making it possible to speak of a continuum of participation instead of different types. We also replicate key findings of the SIMCA model, with protest participation motivated directly by anger and efficacy, but also by positive emotions. In a qualitative study we found similar results and draw out new data highlighting the relevance of the experience of repression in invoking a need for radical action and creating social cohesion among protestors.

Police Repression and Trauma in Light of the Revolutions in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract The 2005, 2010 and 2020 regime changes in Kyrgyzstan began as public revolts followed by mass violence and brutal confrontations between law enforcement and protestors. The goal of this paper is to explore the police repression in the handling of mass mobilizations and the trauma and moral injury. The research is based on interviews with fifteen active duty and retired police officers, ranging from rank-and-file officers to police chiefs. My research shows that the Kyrgyz police are deeply traumatized by political upheavals which bring the public and police into violent conflict, with skirmishes which result in the loss of lives of civilians and police officers. Police officers now fear public disorder and are often reluctant to participate in crowd control operations. They often feel as though they are used as a tool by incumbent leaders to suppress political opposition, and are subsequently betrayed by whoever succeeds ousted political elites.

High-speed mobile networks and police repression during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of Nigeria

PurposeGovernment repression against civilians while enforcing COVID-19 related lockdowns was widely reported in Africa. At the same time, many have claimed that high-speed (4G) mobile network proliferation provide an accountability mechanism that may constrain police abuses. This study focused on Nigeria to examine (1) the effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on police repression and (2) whether widespread high-speed mobile data networks constrain police repression.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Database (ACLED) and the Mobile Coverage Database, this study used difference-in-differences (DID) and triple difference (DDD) estimation on a sample of 423,925 observations (local government area-days) between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020 to estimate the causal effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and high-speed (4G) mobile data on police repression.FindingsLockdowns increased certain forms of police repression in areas with substantial high-speed (4G) mobile networks. Separate from the lockdowns, widespread 4G network increased police repression even without lockdowns.Research limitations/implicationsProliferation of high-speed mobile networks in Nigeria appears to facilitate, rather than constrain, police repression. It is possible that high-speed mobile data networks allow police to detect and repress citizen behaviors, rather than permitting citizens to correct repressive police behaviors.Originality/valueAlthough many studies have explored the COVID-19 pandemic and police behavior in Western countries, only a few have examined its effects in states with even more troubled policing institutions, including those in sub-Saharan Africa, using DID and DDD estimation.

Analisis Yuridis Keberadaan Tim Anti Anarkis Satuan Brimob Polda Bali dalam Mengantisipasi Maraknya Aksi Penjambretan

In the presence of developments and economic crises in society, it has implications for an increase in crime, one of which is the act of mugging. In an effort to anticipate street crimes, especially acts of mugging that occur within the jurisdiction of the Bali Police, the Police, especially the Brimob Corps, formed a special unit known as the anti-anarchist team, the Bali Police Mobile Brigade Unit, which has the task of anticipating and dealing with mugging crimes that occur in the jurisdiction of the Bali Police. This study aims to understand the role and function of the anti-anarchist team of the Bali Police Mobile Brigade Unit in anticipating mugging crimes that occur in the jurisdiction of the Bali Police. The type of research used is empirical research using a factual approach and statutory approach plus conducting interviews with informants from the Bali Mobile Brigade Police. The results of the study show the role of the anti-anarchist team of the Bali Police Mobile Brigade Unit in anticipating the crime of mugging, namely carrying out pre-emptive, preventive and repressive police duties. However, it has not been able to run smoothly because there are obstacles including the lack of facilities and infrastructure, human resource factors, cultural factors of people who do not care enough, and acts of omission.

Police, Violence, and the “Logic of Damage”: Comparing U.S. and Chilean Media Portrayals of Protests

ABSTRACT Drawing from the protest paradigm and the mediation opportunity structure, this study textually analyzes mainstream and alternative media coverage of the 2019 inequality protests in Chile and the 2020 racial justice protests in the United States. In both cases, violence and forceful policing were linked to the protests, allowing this study to explore mediated violence and compare the discursive construction of the demonstrations, protesters, and police as articulated through 1) violence/damage, 2) repression, 3) oppression, and 4) blame. Findings revealed Chilean and U.S. mainstream media emphasized protester violence in juxtaposition with police trying to maintain order, peacefulness was portrayed as a novelty, and violence was disengaged from historical context. In contrast, alternative media treated protester violence as a response to structural violence, and police repression of protesters was criticized. This study shows the continued pervasiveness of the protest paradigm in mainstream news, and the way alternative media can offer discursive opportunities to counterframe police and protester violence and challenge mainstream media’s hostile portrayals of protesters’ use of the logic of damage. Ultimately, we suggest media and discursive opportunity structures are key to understanding mainstream and alternative media portrayals of protests.

Street Children in Iran: What Are Their Living and Working Conditions? Findings from a Survey in Six Major Cities.

This cross-sectional rapid survey was conducted from March to May 2017 in six major cities in Iran. The sample group consisted of Iranian and non-Iranian girls and boys, aged 10 to 18, who worked on the streets for at least one month prior to the survey. Time-location based sampling was used. A total of 856 Children were randomly selected from 464 venues, including corners of streets, parks, metro gates, bus stations, shopping malls, and shopping centers frequented by street children. Findings showed that 90% of participants were boys, 60% were between 10 and 14 years old, almost 50% attended school, 12% were illiterate, and 32% had quit school. Children of Afghan nationality comprised 54% of the study participants, and the rest were Iranian. Of all participants, 85% resided with family or relatives. Most children (75.5%) worked more than 5 h daily, and vending (71.2%) and waste picking (16.1%) were common activities. Street children suffered, mainly, from harsh weather (22.7%), insults and beatings of everyday people (21%), starvation (20.7%), and police repression (15.4%). More than half of the study participants were not involved in intervention programs, and just 7% of them had attended any health education programs. Street children reported little to no service use, which may contribute to poor health. Street children require immediate attention to improve their wellbeing. Decision-makers and academicians should collaborate on intervention development research to design appropriate health and social interventions targeted at street children.

In, Of, and For the City: Acknowledging the 2022 Anthony Leeds Prize in Urban Anthropology

In, Of, and For the City: Acknowledging the 2022 Anthony Leeds Prize in Urban Anthropology

Picture-Skin, Music-Muscle: The Intersemiotic/ Intermedia Body of Olney São Paulo’s Manhã Cinzenta

The film Manhã cinzenta (1969), by Brazilian filmmaker Olney São Paulo, is a fictional documentary in a short film, which works with fictional space scenes and real elements (clipping from newspapers, movie posters, radio news, images from student marches, and police repression). As a political-artistic form of resistance to the 1964 Brazilian civil-military dictatorship, it is a manifest against authoritarian regimes, also referring to the Latin American dictatorships of 1960-1970. Based on the work of Rajewsky and Clüver, we analyzed, from the intermediate texture, the relationship between image and music, respectively, “epidermis and muscle” by Wingstedt, threads of an artistic and political texture as elements of the constitution of a multimedia body: metaphor of resistance. The film can contribute to breaking with the logic of domination - a logic that is structured by the monopoly of discourse about the past, which in current times has been trying to extinguish from history, from memory, the violent event of the Brazilian civil-military coup. For this reason, it is important to study it, due to the importance of this film as one of the most significant films about resisting, having also been a metaphor for the life of the filmmaker himself.

Art for People's Sake: Artists and Community in Black Chicago, 1965-1975 by Rebecca Zorach

Art for People's Sake: Artists and Community in Black Chicago, 1965-1975 by Rebecca Zorach

The Red Thread: The Passaic Textile Strike

The Red Thread: The Passaic Textile Strike