Between Citizenship, Equality, and Law The Language of the Summer 2011 Social Protests (original) (raw)
The intersection of law and protest may be perceived as an oxymoron. For many, law symbolizes stability and the maintenance of the socio-political and economic status quo while, at the same time, protecting human rights. Protest, conversely, points to the need to alter and reform the very same status quo, arguing that the conventional means of constructing politics and public policy through legislation and litigation have failed and that democratic and all other perceptions of justice have been halted. Nonethe-less, more than a few protest movements all around the globe have used lawyers, legal arguments, and legal mechanisms to advance social visions of an egalitarian society (see, e.g., McCann 1994; Sarat and Scheingold 1998). Especially after World War I, jurists held leading positions in protest movements, and legal arguments were regarded as relevant and efficient mechanisms to negotiate with political power.
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