From Doomscrolling to Activism/Action

During From Doomscrolling to Activism/Action we will look at how large-scale protests and political actions come to fruition. From both a theoretical and practical perspective, we will look at what protest entails. During the event:

• Dr. Paul Reilly will tell us about the way in which protests move from social media to the streets, using his analysis of the case of the Flag-protests in Northern Ireland in 2012-2013. What does a protest need to move forward? And what can we learn about previous protest for current goals?
• Chris Julien dares us to go beyond our comfort zone and shares insights for being part of systemic change. Is there room for activism in the everyday? Can protest achieve change? And when is activism a ‘success’?
• The event will be moderated by dr. Delia Dumitrica.

Dr. Paul Reilly is Senior Lecturer in Communications, Media and Democracy in the School of Social & Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow and his research focuses among other things in the role of internet in conflict transformation. He wrote the book Digital Contention in a divided society: social media, parades and protest in Northern Ireland. 

Chris Julien is PhD-candidate at Utrecht University, active in and spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion NL, and Senior Research Fellow at Waag Futurelab. His research focuses on new materialisms, decolonial and eco-thinking, with the aim to develop materialist-epistemological techniques for ecological governance. He wrote the book Alledaags Activisme (Everyday Activism).

This event is a collaboration between Studium Generale and dr. Delia Dumitrica, lecturer in Politics and Media at Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC).