Introduction

This book has taken a journey through sites of protest across the world, attempting to understand better the place-based politics expressed in protest camps and related forms of occupation-based politics. The case studies in this book were organised into three sections that allowed exploration of some of the differing processes through which it is possible to discuss protest camps and their infrastructures. Through the three sections of the book, several connecting themes have been identified and the purpose of this conclusion is to draw these themes together, both to highlight the contribution this volume makes, and also to identify the places where future research efforts need to be directed.

Diversity and locality

A key insight from this volume is indeed the diversity of the protest camp as a form of social movement tactic. While deployed as a tactic across the globe, protest camping and the use of place-based actions differ significantly. The difference is represented first of all in the protests themselves: ranging from specific campaigns and educational functions (see Chapter Twenty-one by Crane) to broad social upheaval with revolutionary aspirations or character and consequences (see Shevtsova (Chapter Fourteen); Yaka and Karakayali (Chapter Four); and Wang et al (Chapter Seven)), tackling issues ranging from environmental protests (see Russell et al (Chapter Nine)), to housing (see Gordon (Chapter Thirteen); Arruda (Chapter Eighteen); Rollmann and Frenzel (Chapter Nineteen)), austerity (see Kavada and Dimitriou (Chapter Five); Halvorsen (Chapter Ten); and Gerbaudo (Chapter Six)), indigenous rights (see Barker and Ross (Chapter Twelve); and Thompson (Chapter Eleven)), refugee rights (see English (Chapter Twenty); Pascucci (Chapter Seventeen); and Rubing (Chapter Three)) and corruption (see Davies (Chapter Fifteen)). While prior scholarship has often focused on protest camps within the domain of environmental politics, as this volume makes clear, the tactic of protest camp has been, and continues to be, deployed across a range of issues and political ideologies.

Diversity is further reflected in how protest camps are developed; how and where they are deployed; and, how they react to and incorporate their social, political, cultural and material environment(s). While protest camps often bring very different protesters together and allow them to converge, the chapters have shown that camps look different in different countries, and mobilise different cultural and political symbols.