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Abstract

Street protest has re-emerged as a global phenomenon since 2010. There have been a multiplicity of causes ascribed to events in Cairo, Madrid, New York and London in 2011, or Istanbul, Stockholm and Rio in 2013. Ukraine’s ‘revolution’ and occupation in 2014 were further signs of the breakdown of the neoliberal consensus and the growing belief that alternatives are not only possible, but require active participation by wider figurations in acts labelled ‘deviant’ in order that they be realised. The rebirth of a mass movement for civil rights, tied with a fight for economic justice, began in the USA in August 2014, and still continues. The Middle East remains a cockpit of war, revolution, counter-revolution and terror which has fundamentally undermined many states’ monopoly of violence, leading to 2015s mass movement of refugees into neighbouring states and into Europe. These are ‘people on the move’ protesting and demanding to be treated as human beings, whilst facing criminalisation and demonisation from the authorities. In order to understand and fully appreciate these events, many of which are denounced and criminalised by the authorities against whom they are often directed, it is important to recognise that groups of people have been protesting for literally thousands of years. Indeed, some of society’s most important qualities, such as democracy and equality, justice and liberty, have been a product of these collective actions, known as demonstrations, assemblies, riots and rebellions, occupations and strikes.

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Clement, M. (2016). Introduction. In: A People’s History of Riots, Protest and the Law. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52751-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52751-6_1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52750-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52751-6

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