Slow Activism in Fast Times: Reflections on the Politics of Media Spectacles after Apartheid

Academics and journalists in South Africa routinely reproduce stark oppositions between 'radical' social movements that embrace the spectacular revolutionary politics of the barricades, and those that work within the 'reformist' logic of the law, liberalism, constitutional democr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of southern African studies 2014-01, Vol.40 (1), p.91-110
Main Author: Robins, Steven
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Apartheid
Case studies
Civil disobedience
Civil society
Coalitions
Constitutional Law
Delivery Systems
Democracy
Demonstrations & protests
Educational inequality
Journalists
Liberalism
Logic
Mass Media
Medical treatment
Patients
Political Campaigns
Politics
Programming (Broadcast)
Radicalism
Social activism
Social inequality
Social Justice
Social Movements
South Africa
Strikes
The Politics of Activism and Opposition
Wildcat strikes
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Academics and journalists in South Africa routinely reproduce stark oppositions between 'radical' social movements that embrace the spectacular revolutionary politics of the barricades, and those that work within the 'reformist' logic of the law, liberalism, constitutional democracy and the bureaucratic state. These strikingly different activist strategies also seem to manifest themselves as contrasts between the politics of the instant media spectacle and the patient, long-term organisational work of 'slow activism'. At one level, the slow and patient styles of activism of South African civil society organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Social Justice Coalition (SJC) and Equal Education (EE) can indeed be contrasted with the spectacle of the burning barricades typically associated with 'service delivery protests' and the illegal wildcat strikes that spread throughout the mining and transport sectors in 2012. However, this contrast can also be misleading. By focusing on the case study of the Social Justice Coalition in Khayelitsha in Cape Town, this paper shows that, notwithstanding these apparent differences of political style and repertoire, 'reformist' social movements are not averse to using media-friendly spectacles of civil disobedience campaigns to highlight service delivery problems, structural inequalities and social injustices. The SJC case study is specifically concerned with how this particular organisation has drawn on a variety of activist traditions that use media campaigns and the politics of the spectacle as part of a rich repertoire of modes of mass mobilisation.
ISSN:0305-7070
1465-3893
DOI:10.1080/03057070.2014.889517