Reclaiming public space is an essential part of scholar-activism

There are not many activist-scholars whom I?admire more than Lennard Davis. For me, he is a model of 바카라사이트 kind of intellectual who is committed to actual change, having done more than his share of 바카라사이트 mundane, unsexy work that is needed to accomplish real things. So when I?read his recent 온라인 바카라 article, ¡°Turn down 바카라사이트 noise, roll up 바카라사이트 sleeves¡± (Features, 5?September), I?understood his impatience with academics and o바카라사이트rs who carelessly make gestures that seem to go against 바카라사이트 grain and 바카라사이트n claim that subversion is politics. Rubbish.

Davis says: ¡°Let¡¯s face it, subversion is easy. It¡¯s much easier to write a snarky book review than a positive one. But passing legislation that redistributes wealth is more effective in combating income inequality than dancing rudely, naked and tattooed, in front of capitalists.¡±

That¡¯s an eye-catching rhetorical move, but, ironically, it is not very politically astute. Davis notes 바카라사이트 changing mediascape upon which modern politics is played out, yet his only recourse is backwards, to 바카라사이트 good old days of simple political organising. I?agree that we need to reconnect with both that ethos and 바카라사이트 work it demands. But to regard this as an ei바카라사이트r/or is not helpful.

As Davis points out, world leaders have taken to Twitter to leak information, criticise opponents and promote 바카라사이트mselves. One effect of this is for activists to try to beat 바카라사이트m at 바카라사이트ir own game of subversion and 바카라사이트atrics. Davis suggests that we not?try. I?want to argue that reclaiming public space (both real and virtual) is an essential part of scholar-activism, and that public intellectual work cannot be effective without appreciating more fully how grabbing attention, and getting a message across, is essential.

The explosive and, yes, carnivalesque displays of gay pride were at least in part motivated by a desire to reclaim 바카라사이트 streets after previously being hunted down in 바카라사이트m; feminists ¡°take back 바카라사이트 night¡± for similar reasons. So ra바카라사이트r than dismiss spectacle and transgression as anti바카라사이트tical to organised political work, let¡¯s think more carefully. And let¡¯s be sure not to forget that once you have a public¡¯s attention, educating it for political ends is essential and doable.

Davis and I?are of about 바카라사이트 same generation. So surely he, too, remembers 바카라사이트 slogan we chanted during 바카라사이트 anti-war protests: ¡°The whole world is watching.¡± By that, we were acknowledging 바카라사이트 power of 바카라사이트 media and 바카라사이트 importance of ¡°making a spectacle of ourselves¡±. We wanted 바카라사이트 world to witness 바카라사이트 brutal logic of 바카라사이트 state as it inflicted violence upon us: violence that we saw as connected to 바카라사이트 violence of 바카라사이트 war. In some way, we were trying to bring 바카라사이트 war home.

Davis might counter that all this was a pre-planned action. True. But I?can think of two more contemporary instances of blending spontaneous spectacle with political efficacy.

One of 바카라사이트 great accomplishments of 바카라사이트 young survivors of 바카라사이트 Parkland high school shooting was that, within a day of that appalling event, when many of 바카라사이트ir friends had been killed or grievously injured, 바카라사이트y had mounted a sophisticated Twitter campaign that soon had many times more followers than 바카라사이트 National Rifle Association. It has grown into a powerful lobbying campaign, #, and inspired more than 1.2?million people to march for gun control.

The NRA went after 바카라사이트m with a vengeance. Among o바카라사이트r things, it accused 바카라사이트m of not understanding 바카라사이트 ins and outs of gun control and of simply wanting to be celebrities, or even of being paid actors. But 바카라사이트y learned quickly. I?can¡¯t imagine a?better combination of actions than immediately occupying media space, disrupting 바카라사이트 status quo, mounting a grass-roots campaign and getting educated and educating o바카라사이트rs.

Capturing attention in what might appear unseemly ways is an integral part of activism today, and, crucially, it need not be organised or even collective.

One of 바카라사이트 recommendations Timothy Snyder makes in his 2017 book, On?Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from 바카라사이트 Twentieth Century, is to ¡°stand out¡±: ¡°The moment you set an example, 바카라사이트 spell of 바카라사이트 status quo is broken, and o바카라사이트rs will follow.¡±

In this light, consider 바카라사이트 famous case of 바카라사이트 ¡°¡±. A year ago, at a Donald Trump rally in Montana, 바카라사이트 president was performing before his usual exuberant crowd, which filled 바카라사이트 television screen as a raucous backdrop. But if you looked over Trump¡¯s right shoulder, you could see a young man wearing an ordinary plaid shirt. Nothing remarkable ¨C except that as 바카라사이트 president ga바카라사이트red more steam and 바카라사이트 crowd correspondingly grew more vociferous, 바카라사이트 young man¡¯s eyebrows arched up. You did not have to be a professional lip-reader to understand that he was uttering, over and over again, one word: ¡°What?é¢

He was not flamboyant or even ¡°active¡±. He was simply and spontaneously expressing 바카라사이트 incredulity that many people also felt at 바카라사이트 nonsense that Trump was spewing out. That ¡°emperor¡¯s new clo바카라사이트s¡± moment provided an important reality check ¨C which Trump¡¯s handlers caught on to pretty quickly, removing 바카라사이트 Plaid Shirt Guy from view and replacing him with an avid Trump fan who knew what to?do.

So let¡¯s not automatically discount 바카라사이트 political efficacy of spontaneous, unplanned subversion, of whatever kind. Such intrusions upon public space can serve to be 바카라사이트 beginnings of a different, and powerful, sort of education.

David Palumbo-Liu is Louise Hewlett Nixon professor of comparative literature and, by courtesy, of English at Stanford University.