Silas Harrebye

The ambivalence of creative activism as a reorganization of critique

This article identifies an emerging type of critique and defines it as creative activism. It is argued why this is distinguishable from earlier similar forms of protests and shown why traditional theories of political art, social movements and citizenship are in themselves insufficient to accurately describe and understand the normative ambivalence of what is also known as culture jamming. Irony and utopia are proposed as analytical concepts supplementing these existing theoretical frameworks. It is also demonstrated how these alternative perspectives can be fruitfully applied to understand the reorganization of critique regardless of whether one views creative activism suspiciously as a societal symptom or more optimistically as a democratic potential.

Global Civil Society and International Summits: New Labels for Different Types of Activism at the COP15

Research in the field of citizenship, civil society, and social movements in relation to larger democratic summits has either focused on radical confrontational elements of activism, broad public demonstrations, or the professional non-governmental organizations. In this article, I label the types of activist groups involved in and around the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen (2009). My proposition is that such a categorization may help to refine the general debate through more nuanced distinctions and accurate definitions and provide a better understanding of why the creative elements seem to take a central role in todays activist landscape. I develop these typological conceptual representations based on an understanding of civil society as a mediating catalyst. By presenting six versions of citizenship participation based on an analysis of diverse ends and means, I identify how each of them has their own specific logic about the democratic challenges surrounding the summit. This analysis leads me to address the question of whether an attempt to bridge the gap between the official system and the active citizen through a distinction between antagonistic and negotiation-friendly forms of activism is fruitful. In conclusion, the creative activist is revealed as a mediating figure in civil society pointing towards a new definition of ‘facilitating citizenship’.

Radikale brud, aktivisme og forandring: Indføring i en brydningstid

Det var den bedste tid, det var den vaerste tid; det var visdommens arhundrede, det var darskabens arhundrede; det var troens periode, det var vantroens periode; det var lysets tid, det var morkets tid; det var habets var, det var fortvivlelsens vinter; vi havde alt i vente, vi havde intet i vente; vi gik alle lige ind i Himlen, vi gik alle den modsatte vej – kort sagt, tiden lignede i den grad den naervaerende, at nogle af dens mest larmende talsmaend pastod, at den i godt som i ondt kun matte tages i superlativ. Saledes starter verdenshistoriens mest solgte roman, En fortaelling om to byer, af Charles Dickens. Tiden, som Dickens beskriver sa malerisk – og indkredser sa penetrerende – er perioden fra 1775 til den franske revolution i 1789 og raedselsregimet, der fulgte umiddelbart efter. Dickens udgav romanen i 1859, og sa dengang slaende paralleller mellem 1700-tallets revolutionsperiode, der aendrede Europe og resten af verden sa fundamentalt, og hans egen omvaeltelige nutid. Revolutionerne havde aendret verden, men de var pa en eller anden made stadig en del af den verden Dickens levede i. Revolutionens dynamikker lurede i kulissen, og drastiske forandringer og voldsomme bevaegelser var at fornemme pa tvaers af det europaeiske kontinent, fra London til Paris, og i alle de andre voksende byer.

Paradoxes of Participation

This chapter deals with the facilitating aspects of active citizenship. We will focus on explaining the variation in extra-parliamentary activities, such as signing petitions, demonstrating, displaying badge stickers, and boycotting products — based on data collected from 20 European countries. Secondly, a broader typology of activism will also be developed. The main questions dealt with here are primarily how feelings of dissatisfaction with the government and feelings of being a member of a discriminated group affect the level of extra-parliamentary participation. Furthermore we will look at how various welfare regimes condition the extent to which these groups chose to act. So we are back to the dynamics between societal structures and political agents, and I combine a critical tradition which suggests that political participation is motivated by a feeling of dissatisfaction with an institutional perspective where certain institutional conditions are seen as enablers for citizens to actively participate in political life.

Professionalization and Cooptation

The interplay between civil society actors and organizations and state and market is changing. Some argue that a fourth sector is emerging (fourthsector.net; Escobar & Gutierrez, 2011) and new partnerships are being formed. But how does this change the way that today’s creative activists operate with and against shifting political agents both inside and outside the established polity?

Occupying the Space In-Between

The following campaigns all have one thing in common. Whether it be KONY 2012, Greenpeace’s surprise appearance at the Danish Queen’s gala party, Top Goon: Diaries of a Little Dictator in Syria, The Yes Men’s fake New York Times, or Antanas Mockus’ symbolic violence vaccines and mime-controlled traffic-squads in Bogota, Colombia, they function as creative critique meant to challenge regimes, habitual ways of thinking, and, in a way, the very notion of politics. Sometimes they even lead to innovative solutions to wicked problems.

The Gordian Knot — Measuring Effect and Revisiting Theories of Change

Most critical journalists and skeptical politicians — and probably the majority of citizens too — ask the same question when it comes to social movements, and especially the creative actions that play a particular role for these and that are dealt with here: do they actually make a difference? And many activists ask themselves the same thing: how do we know when what we are doing is successful?

The Ambivalence of Cynicism, Irony, and Utopia

In this chapter cynicism, irony, and utopia are proposed as analytical concepts that can supplement existing theoretical frameworks, and I will demonstrate how these alternative perspectives can be fruitfully applied to understand the reorganization of critique regardless of whether one views creative activism suspiciously as a societal symptom or more optimistically as a democratic potential.1

Mirroring Counter Strategies

From broad social movements to sudden uprisings, social enterprises, smaller cadres of professional activists and everyday makers around the world are challenging the status quo. Nancy Fraser’s latest theory of framing and Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopology form the theoretical basis from which I here show how creative activism in practice is an example of how counter-mirroring strategies today are used to circumvent what I characterize as the reflexive character of capitalism. The ambiguous social architecture of facilitating meta-activism depicted so far has been pointing towards these mirroring technologies aimed at creating an alternative reflection.

Creative Activism Today

Creative activism can now be defined as a kind of meta activism that facilitates the engagement of active citizens in temporary, strategically manufactured, transformative interventions in order to change society for the better by communicating conflicts and/or solutions where no one else can or will in order to provoke reflection (and consequent behavioral changes) in an attempt to revitalize the political imagination.