Snapshot: Organizing and Protest in Public Space
Whose streets? Our streets!
Last year, in the context of a growing homelessness crisis in Toronto and fueled by continued displacement of encampments in public spaces, The Bentway became the site and subject of a protest calling attention to poverty and housing precarity. This call was one that the organization took seriously, re-evaluating its third-party event practices, governance policies, and establishing new networks and partnerships in the community to play a more supporting role. While there is absolutely more work to be done to position The Bentway as part of a solution, this particular case shows the power of organizing to prompt change.
Public spaces like The Bentway have long functioned as sites of resistance. While some spaces lend themselves more readily to protest, the highly visible—and inherently public—nature of city streets, parks, and plazas allow them to serve as necessary platforms for people to raise awareness, speak truth to power, and advocate for the rights and freedoms not afforded to them.
In the age of COVID-19, protest in public space faces new constraints and scrutinies. In-person demonstrations must adapt to the pandemic by distributing masks, hand sanitizer and more to ensure participants’ safety. Many have gone completely online. Yet, in going digital, we’ve seen the span of protest begin to cross borders of every kind in order to unite communities. Activists are able to connect their individual fights against injustice to expansive networks. The act of protest itself becomes globally uniting.
This quality of protest to transcend time and place reminds us that protest is more than the notion of “taking to the streets”. In fact, some would argue the mere existence of certain bodies in public space is an act of protest. Broadening our definition of protest, we see it manifest in many forms: from a community gathering to create a mural; to academics organizing online teach-ins; to blocking railways in solidarity.
This week’s Snapshot will highlight 3 (intersecting) types of protest along the spectrum of organizing in public space that display the power of collective action:
1. Protests that create art
Art has always been a powerful tool of protest because it shows reimagined futures that artists invite us to work towards. Through poetry, music and photography, art can uniquely inspire, accelerate, and memorialize a movement.
In Minneapolis, the site of George Floyd’s death, Danez Smith describes the that the city, decorated with protest art at every corner, has “quickly become an art gallery, and every neighborhood curates a different emotion”
Belarusian activists Svetlana Sugako and Nadezhda Brodskaya of the Belarus Free Theater have for years used performance as a means of resistance to government censorship
Other times, it is the movement that inspires art. “Henry G20”, a play co-presented with Luminato and set to premiere at The Bentway in 2021, documents the G20 protests and conflicts that erupted in the streets of Toronto, as well as the questions about our civil liberties that still linger a decade later.
2. Protests that educate
Countless political movements have recognized the importance in sharing knowledge to support critical thinking and liberation. Book clubs and teach-ins are often examples of the long-term endeavor to empower communities with the information needed to mobilize.
The Scholar Strike (initiated by a tweet by Dr. Anthea Butler) mobilized academics to provide free teach-ins on their fields as it related to the BLM movement
Several community organizations teamed up to facilitate a teach-in by trans activists in response to an event held at a Toronto Public Library
3. Protests that disrupt
For many, disrupting a system is the only way to highlight its inherent aim to oppress some while benefiting others. These types of protest often divide public opinion, though it is important to recognize that many large-scale changes have arisen only once people have been forced to stop and listen.
The Sunrise Movement, a US-based group of climate change activists, often use direct action to garner attention and support for policy change. They first gained notoriety for staging a sit-in of over 100 people in a government official’s office that halted most activities
Solidarity protests for the Wet’suwet’en nation gained attention for blocking railways and other major roadways
In Nigeria, ongoing protests “EndSARS” and “EndSWAT” have blocked roadways across Lagos in demonstrations aimed at ending police brutality.
While this list is not exhaustive (nor prescriptive) of the ways people engage in protest, it does anchor us in the knowledge that the use of public space has always been for the people, by the people.
