Metropolitics

Algeria's Hirak: When a Social Movement Puts Citizenship Under the Microscope

Islam Amine Derradji & Amel Gherbi & translated by Oliver Waine — 2021-03-26T06:00:00Z

The popular mobilization that rose up in Algeria in 2019 was not only a revolt against living conditions that had become unacceptable. It was also a movement that turned the country's streets into a stage for the organized construction of collective and political life by citizens seeking to revisit their history and assert their independence.
Since February 22, 2019, Algeria has been living to the rhythm of unprecedented mobilizations. Millions of Algerians took to the streets to oppose

- From the Field / North Africa, Maghreb, Africa, collective action, mobilization, civic organizing, demonstrations, protest, Algeria, social movement, citizenship, citizens

When Revolution Reinvents Public Space in Beirut

Ines Lakrouf & translated by Oliver Waine — 2020-09-18T05:00:00Z

In the fall of 2019, peaceful protesters in Lebanon were demanding an end to corruption and calling for a movement of national unity. A young urban planner gives her account of these events, and of the ways in which the inhabitants of Beirut are reclaiming public spaces.
In Lebanon, anger has been expressed loud and clear since October 17, 2019. Beyond the anecdotal side of a mobilization triggered by the imposition of a WhatsApp tax, as reported in the media, it is against an attack on the

- Debates / Lebanon, Beirut, public space, mobilization, demonstrations, revolution

How the Youth of the Banlieues See the Gilets Jaunes

2020-04-24T05:00:00Z

Do the “Yellow Vests” and the youth of France's banlieues share a common vision of the inequalities and discrimination that divide contemporary societies? A roundtable discussion organized as part of research on participation in working-class neighborhoods sheds light on the ambivalent views that certain young people in these areas have regarding the Gilets Jaunes movement.
Since the beginning of the Gilets Jaunes (“Yellow Vests”) movement, in October 2018, a number of commentators have noted

- From the Field / banlieue, suburbs, gilets jaunes, youth, collective action, mobilization, working-class neighborhoods, working classes, demonstrations, protest, discrimination, Paris region, Île-de-France, France, Paris

A Geography of Revolt in Alexandria, Egypt's Second Capital

Youssef El Chazli — 2016-02-23T06:00:00Z

How does the layout of a city affect how protest unfolds? How does urban space constrain and enable the choices protesters have both physically and symbolically? How does protest differ from one city to another? Youssef El Chazli takes us inside Alexandria's revolt in January 2011 and contrasts it to the better-known story of the anti-Mubarak uprising of 25 January 2011 in Cairo, showing us the ways in which the protest in Egypt's “second capital” ballooned because of the geographically

- From the Field / public space, collective action, demonstrations, social movement, police, urban geography, protest, Arab Spring, Egypt, geography, Alexandria

Designing protests in urban public space

Tali Hatuka — 2011-09-14T05:00:00Z

Social and political protests in urban public spaces are multiplying in cities all around the world. Tali Hatuka explains the role of space and gaze in the design of public dissent.
“Whatever happens in Tahrir immediately becomes a national concern,” the national daily Al-Ahram's Fatemah Farag wrote in 1999, making it clear that the location and the design of recent protests play a crucial role in the meaning and effect of the action on the general public. Indeed, when Tahrir Square, usually

- Debates / public space, democracy, collective action, demonstrations, social movement