Have just ploughed through enough of my reading (lots of Red Peppers) to get to “Meaning in Movement: An ideational analysis of Sheffield-based Protest Networks Contesting Globalisation and War” by Kevin Gillan.
I started reading it years ago, and liked it muchly, but got distracted and it got lost in The Pile. Polishing it off now and hope to blog it soon. Came across this though, on page 279, that deserves immediate blogging.
By emphasising the network form McLeish argues that the flows of information and interaction between groups and individuals are more important that (sic) the points of convergence. The ‘nodes’ – the points at which multiple flows connect – may represent a key moment during a movement’s history but have a tendency to create ossified traditions, incapable of reacting to changing political opportunities. ‘Organisers thrown up by events, who find themselves serving or surfing these waves of history narcissistically imagine themselves their authors. Last year’s bright creative movement becomes a fossilized bureaucracy or an inert ritualistic subculture.”
page 279
Er, Climate Camp since about 2007, anyone?
