Summary
Lev Grinberg’s term — written mo(ve)ments, for the intertwining of movements and moments — for the proactive demonstrations of presence by subordinated social forces seeking recognition and representation in the decision-making process, erupting when legitimate channels of representation are almost completely closed (Moments of Resistance, PDF p.40, 55-57).
Details
- Grinberg’s suggested definition of resistance is the attempt to open Political Space through physical presentation of power by subordinated social forces seeking recognition and representation; resistance can be understood as a movement because it mobilizes social forces over a long period, creating a relation between the timeframe and collective action which constitutes the mo(ve)ment (PDF p.55).
- The moment refers to the timeframe between the initial intrusion into the public sphere, when the movement mobilizes collective action and succeeds in making the group visible, and the point when the movement, its agendas, claims and ideas no longer attract public interest after the problem is considered to have been solved, with the group legitimately represented or successfully marginalized (PDF p.55-56).
- In the cases analyzed, the timeframes range from one month of ethnic riots (April 1959) to five years of working class strikes (1960-1965) and Palestinian national revolt (1987-1992) (PDF p.55).
- Mo(ve)ments differ from social movements and from cycles of protest: the “political” aspect is also a matter of symbolic repression of identities, narratives, discourses and agendas; the mo(ve)ment is not necessarily the culmination of long-term action by activists but a volcanic eruption of repressed discontent, and it is not a cycle because threatened institutionalized political actors react to prevent a new cycle — the counter-mo(ve)ment (PDF p.56-57).
- The counter-mo(ve)ment is the dominant groups’ attempt, lasting from a few months to several years, to reestablish their powerful position by redefining agendas, discourses, institutions and structures; it is never a return to the status quo ante but a re-accommodation of the political arena by attempting to shrink the space opened by the mo(ve)ment (never to become totally closed ever again), coopting its leaders or taking other steps to regain control, aiming to prevent a future eruption; it does not always succeed, and when it does, its success is often partial (PDF p.56).
- Facing resistance, the dominant can afford to ignore it given sufficient confidence in their power, react violently when they are less confident, or recognize the subordinated and negotiate a compromise, namely open up political space (PDF p.54).
- Grinberg distinguishes four types of resistance by social base and repertoire: anticolonial civil society revolts against externally imposed state institutions; ethnic riots against discrimination by the dominant cultural elites; working class strike waves against employers and state economic policies; and mass occupations of public space in protest against neo-liberal economic policies and international financial power (PDF p.20).
Related pages
Lev Grinberg, Political Space, Symbolic Violence, Split Corporatism, Moments of Resistance