Activism!: Direct Action, Hacktivism and the Future of Society (FOCI) - Softcover

Jordan, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861891229 ISBN 13: 9781861891228

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2002

Synopsis

Many schools of thought assert that Western culture has never been more politically apathetic. Tim Jordan's Activism! refutes this claim. In his powerful polemic, Jordan shows how acts of civil disobedience have come to dominate the political landscape. Because we inhabit such a quickly changing, high-tech and fragmented culture, the single-issue political movements and stable, conservative authorities of the past are continually being questioned. Traditional political battles have been replaced by the popular, collective practices of a new political activism. From Europe to the USA, from Australia to South America, from the Left to the Right, Jordan introduces us to the citizens who make up DIY culture: eco-activists, animal liberators, neo-fascists, ravers, anti-abortionists, squatters, hunt saboteurs and hacktivists. In his view, activism comprises a new ethics of living for the 21st century.

About this title

Review:

'In this accessible, logical book, Tim Jordan explains the difference between different sorts of collective action and explores various ways in which groups have campaigned for change, from the transgressive Zapatistas to the more conservative, legislation-based Snowdrop campaign ... Intelligent, readable stuff'. --The Independent on Sunday

'Open University social scientist Tim Jordan's exploration of alternative ways of being, interacting, protesting, and resisting is heartfelt and wide-ranging ... Jordan provides a lucid and useful route map through the numerous byways of a far from homogenous global phenomenon'
--Peace News

Synopsis:

This text refutes the common claim that Western culture has never been more politically apathetic, and demonstrates that the rise and persistence of acts of civil disobedience have in fact come to dominate our political landscape. The text shows how in our modern, dynamic, high-tech and fragmented society traditional, single-issue political battles such as class struggle or black liberation have been replaced by popular, collective practices of a new political activism. From Europe to the United States, and from Australia to South America, the text charts the activities, on both sides of the political spectrum, of the citizens who make up this DIY culture: eco-activists, animal liberators, neo-fascists, ravers, anti-abortionists, squatters, hunt saboteurs and internet activists (hacktivists). This text outlines the activities, enthusiasms and passions of these communities and proposes that these new social movements will actually be responsible for creating the ethical values by which we will all measure our lives in the 21st century. This is Utopianism at both its most fanatical and its most pragmatic - after all, the future of our world is at stake, or so the author says.

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1861891229
• ISBN 13: 9781861891228
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192