The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest

This book explores the aesthetic dimensions of the Arab Spring and the worldwide protest movements that followed. From Egypt to India, and from Botswana to London, worker, youth and middle class rebellions have taken on the political and bureaucratic status quo. When most people can no longer earn a decent wage, they pit themselves against the privilege of small, wealthy and often corrupt elites. A remarkable feature of the protests from the Arab Spring onwards has been the importance of images, songs, videos, humour, satire and dramatic performances. This book explores the central role the aesthetic played in energising the massive mobilisations of young people, the disaffected, the middle classes and the apolitical silent majority. You can discover how it fuelled solidarities and alliances among democrats, workers, trade unions, civil rights activists and opposition parties. It shares perspectives from political, media, visual, economic and linguistic anthropology, and the anthropology of work, art, social organisation and social movement. It addresses the use of social networking and new media technologies such as Twitter.