Bodies as mass: learning from protest
“Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.”
— Edward Said, 1993
#ericgarner
#Icantbreathe
#whyblacklivesmatter
All of these have been trending on Twitter the last few weeks, not without reason.
The public reactions in the last several weeks over the grand jury decisions on the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown have spurred ongoing protests across the country to express outrage against these rulings- at times, shutting down streets and highways in the process. In the wake of national protests, I experienced the effects of mass occupation one evening in Dallas.
Protest, at its essence, is a speech act. It is corporeal- physical, bodily, individually, and as a mass. In itself it is a physical reformation of the protocols of the city. It is a moment of creation and recreation- of our understanding of public space as well as the underlying political framework in that space.
Large-scale protests most demonstrably showcase the phenomenon of bodies acting either in solidarity or as whole in a singular mass. One of the central experiences of mass protest is precisely to be part of the “mass”: to find oneself in a space that is expressly out of scale with the individual, and to find that thousands, together, have filled it. The mass fills space, occupies terrain, exhibits spatial qualities, and re-defines sites; the spaces in which it fills transforms and becomes epicenters of democratic expression and protest. The binary of object versus void, figure verses ground is tested as bodies act between states of temporary field condition and accumulations of mass.
Urban design recognizes the power of true public space- one where a mass, as described, can meet, mingle, promenade, gather, protest, or perform. The public space, or the maidan, in itself implies democracy. Conversely, historical manipulation of such spaces has been ways for autocrats to squash dissent through urban design. Defensive architecture and urban design meant to suppress protest can be seen through the Parisian Boulevards of Haussman’s design. The expansive streets not only increased legibility of the city, but were also designed to make it harder for Revolutionists from barricading the city and allowing French soldiers a clear path to suppress revolts. Tian An Men, Kiev, Red Square and the like have the effect of a totalitarian scale, dwarfing individuals and reminding activists of the power of the state, arguably the exact opposite of “public space”. The 1989 tank-led suppression of students in pro-democracy demonstrations in Tian An Men serves as a reminder of how mass occupation can fail.
In times like these today, while protesters are airing grievances against social and civil injustice through disruption of the order of a city, the conversation turns to the rights of the public realm – the mass of bodies versus the casual non-participant. The fact is people occupy public spaces because it is so visible. As an idea, it defies the regime by occupying space usually denied it, or in a way that transforms the place’s meaning. Bodies amass on highways, on Wall Street, in Victory Plaza here in Dallas do exactly that. Inconvenient or not, the streets, plazas, and parks that are chosen as platforms for civil protest are public, and should be - we all have a right to the city, as Lefebvre describes. But in a way, the tension between the “public-ness” of the public space and the civic protest are at odds with one another and is problematic. As designers, we tout our abilities to foresee multifunctional uses of a well-thought public realm, streets, parks, or otherwise and often delude ourselves that it will promote social equality and justice. While numerous case studies prove that may be true, consider the impact the diversity of civil protest in these spaces bring.
Protests inevitably re-appropriate spaces in ways likely not intended by design, and force the non-participant to engage. When traffic is blocked preventing me from returning home, I am forced to confront the message of those doing the blocking. Regardless of my outrage, or lack thereof, I am a body; amass with those around me, filling a void in the public space and redefining the site as a field for democratic values. Politically engaged or not, I am exposed and connected with the public realm, perhaps more so than the casual day. In this way, the act of protest by way of re-appropriating spaces in itself speaks to the very values that the grievances aim to promote- social and civil equality and justice. These events are extra-political and extra-urban. The city does not handle them comfortably as they break with the scale of the city; they impede routine and threaten order. Within the habitual city, they are the extraordinary and must be so.
#Dallas Protest happening NOW passing Omni Hotel #BlackLivesMatter #EricGarner #ItStopsToday via @MarcusMoorewfaa pic.twitter.com/RW4ZFDf4eh
— Jessie Jessup (@JessieJessup) December 5, 2014
