This section of the module has made me realise that politics is not only about the state and governments, citizens can also be part of the political process not only through voting in elections but by getting their voices heard and being active citizens. In his book Duncan green describes active citizens as, ‘the unsung heroes of how change happens by putting demos (the people) into democracy’. People exercise their citizenship by engaging each other and the decision makers to seek improvements in their lives. Active citizenship enables people living in poverty to raise their voices to defend their rights and exert pressure for reforms to happen. Social movements emerge when active citizens come together around a common cause in response to contentious situations of what they see as a deterioration of democracy. According to Tarrow 1994 , “Ordinary people often try to exert power by contentious means against national states or opponents’. They do this through the formation of social movements which are large informal groupings of people intending to transform power dynamics by demanding change from the bottom up. They seek change on behalf of the society that is excluded, marginalised or powerless. Social movements are not new they have deep historical roots from protest against the slave trade to women suffrage. Some characteristics of social movements are that they informal, complex, and impossible to predict as they can be triggered by an unplanned event. They grow or shrink in response to contentious factors They start small and can get really big in short time, they don’t have leaders and are granular. According to Tarrow 1994 social movements “emerge when political opportunities open up for social actors who usually lack them”. Social movements are not always progressive, they often succeed, but even when they failed, their actions set in motion profound political, social, cultural, and international changes.
Social movements have been known to promote improved governance. Organized movements in India for example challenged corruption. The Indian Aam Aadmi Party grew out of an anti-corruption protest organised by the Indian Against corruption movement which was a series of demonstrations and protests across India intended to establish strong legislation and enforcement against political corruption. The movement gained momentum in 2011 when anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare began a hunger strike. The movement was nonpartisan and involved non-violent demonstrations, matches, hunger strikes, rallies and the use of social media to organise, communicate and raise awareness. The protest led to an introduction of anti-corruption legislation. Social movements evolve into political parties because as social movements they cannot represent the will of the people because they are not elected.
Apartheid Signage
The South African National Congress emerged from a coalition of social coalition of social movements and ended apartheid and became a political party that is currently ruling. Under the apartheid system in South Africa various laws were passed to limit the political, civil and economic rights of non-whites in South Africa. This included the right to vote, right to own land and freedom of movement. The apartheid system classified South Africans into “White”, “Coloured”, “Indian”, and “African”. This classification determined where the different classes of people could live. In response to these restrictions, social movements developed and demonstrated against the Apartheid system. From the period between 1960-1970s demonstration against apartheid were held from the Sharpville demonstration and resultant massacre to the Soweto Uprising and many others in between. The brutal repression against the social movements and activists saw a decline in protests for a while. By the 1980s more protests were held and the growing social movements pushed the South Africa’s Botha government into a state of emergency that resulted in talks and negations with Nelson Mandela. In 1990s Nelson Mandela was freed and democracy in South Africa was born
Another example is the Brazil’s workers party (PT) which was founded by independent trade unions, artists and social movements protesting against military rule in 1980 and later came to rule in 2003. Most recently social movements have brought down the oppressive governments of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Social movements enable participants to develop a sense of self identity and encourage citizen participation and voice. They bring people together and maintain the ability of people to feel connected so as to harness collective action that will help transform the shared grievances into collective power that can trigger change.
Social movements are powerful, complex and dynamic drivers of change, coupled with the use of the internet and social media which easily connects people there have an even greater platform of effecting change.
References
Green, D. (2016). How Change Happens, Oxford, Oxford University Press
Tarrow, S. (1994). Introduction. Power in movement: social movements and contentious politics: 1 – 28. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Thembiedevelops 