/ 14 April 2014

Live stream: WISER Public Positions discussion on protests and violence

A demonstrator swings a burning tyre at a crossroad in Hebron during a protest for basic government services.
A demonstrator swings a burning tyre at a crossroad in Hebron during a protest for basic government services.

At 4:30pm on Monday April 14, the second event in the Public Positions series will be hosted at WISER.

A short paper produced by Julia Hornberger will form the basis for a lively discussion by a panel chaired by Firoz Cachalia, and consisting of Kelly Gillespie, Gareth Newham and S'bu Zikode.

In this session, they will examine the crises around popular protest and policing.

Why is there so much violence associated with policing protest? Is this a matter of policy and training? Is the relationship between the people and the police formed by our history? Or is the police force carrying the burden of the entire state, for many of the poor the only instance of the bureaucracy available at the local level?

Recent events at Relela and elsewhere suggest that this problem – frighteningly interlaced with the limits on the state and popular convictions about witchcraft – threatens to unravel the fabric of citizenship.

These are all problems that have been richly examined in South African social science over the last century.