Activists and the Surveillance State: Learning from Repression

by Aziz Choudry (Editor)

Overview

The use of secret police, security agencies and informers to spy on, disrupt and undermine opposition to the dominant political and economic order has a long history. This book reflects on the surveillance, harassment and infiltration that pervades the lives of activists, organisations and movements that are labelled as 'threats to national security'. Activists and scholars from the UK, South Africa, Canada, the US, Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand expose disturbing stories of political policing to question what lies beneath state surveillance. Problematising the social amnesia that exists within progressive political networks and supposed liberal democracies, Activists and the Surveillance State shows that ultimately, movements can learn from their own repression, developing a critical and complex understanding of the nature of states, capital and democracy today that can inform the struggles of tomorrow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745337807
Publisher:	Pluto Press
Publication date:	01/15/2019
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Aziz Choudry was Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Social Movement Learning and Knowledge Production in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation (CERT), University of Johannesburg. He is editor of The University and Social Justice, Activists and the Surveillance State and Just Work? Migrant Workers' Struggles Today (Pluto, 2020, 2019, 2016).

Table of Contents

Part I 1. Lessons Learnt, Lessons Lost: Pedagogies of Repression, Thoughtcrime, and the Sharp Edge of State Power - Aziz Choudry 2. The Victorious Allies and the Surveillance State - Radha D'Souza Part II 3. Forgetting and Remembering National Security in 'Canada': From a Pedagogy of Repression to Pedagogies of Resistance - Gary Kinsman 4. ASIO and the Australia - Timor-Leste solidarity movement, 1974-1979- Bob Boughton 5. Uncivil Activism, Repression, and Palestinianization: Youth in the Palestine Solidarity Movement - Sunaina Maira 6. The Plantation-to-Plant-to-Prison Pipeline in North America: An Interview with David Austin - David Austin 7. Stopping the Spies: Resisting National Security Surveillance in South Africa - Jane Duncan 8. Mapuche Struggle for Self-determination and Chilean Security State - Fernando Pairican 9. Spying in the UK: Political Policing and the Repression of Dissent - Emily Apple 10. Aotearoa/New Zealand: Spies Wide Shut: Responses & Resistance to the National Security State - Val Morse Part III 11. The Undercover Research Project: Academics, Activists and Others Investigate Political Policing - Eveline Lubbers

Editorial Reviews

An important intervention that moves us beyond assessments of the scale and scope of surveillance and securitisation to reflect on lessons learned from multiple global resistance movements. The contributions in this book prompt us to consider possibilities for more hopeful futures.”

 

Nisha Kapoor

Activists and the Surveillance State is a wide-ranging exploration of collective organizing in response to state and corporate surveillance. The book’s rich discussion of what movements have learned—and failed to learn—about how surveillance works makes it a crucial reference for scholars and activists alike.”
 

author of The Muslims Are Coming Arun Kundnani

This important collection draws critical attention to the harms of state surveillance and police power, and how this power has been challenged and resisted by ordinary citizens. It is a must-read for activists, community organisers, and scholars alike.”

Leeds Beckett University Waqas Tufail

Activists in social movements and others challenging the prevailing socioeconomic and political structures will find in this book invaluable lessons and an effective antidote to the harassment, infiltration, and 'dirty tricks' of agencies that uphold the interests of the corporate and political elite.”

 

Salim Vally

'Activists and the Surveillance State is a wide-ranging exploration of collective organising in response to state and corporate surveillance. The book's rich discussion of what movements have learned, and failed to learn, about how surveillance works makes it a crucial reference for scholars and activists alike' Arun Kundnani, author of The Muslims are Coming

From the Publisher