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Securitising disruption, disrupting securitisation

01 March 2019
12:30 - 14:00

Date:   Friday, March 2019
Time:   12:30 – 14:00
Venues: Video conference in Pretoria, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal | Livestream by Vidyo

Speaker: Prof. Jane Duncan, Professor and Head of Department of Journalism, Film and Television at the University of Johannesburg

Chair: Prof. Mia Swart, DGSD, HSRC

An often-heard official argument is that security responses to protests are necessary because protests are becoming increasingly violent and to ensure the rights of those who don’t wish to protest. Rather than disruption creating the need for security interventions, I will explore the ways in which security actually creates disruption. Responses to anti-austerity protests have become increasingly securitised in the wake of the 2008 global recession, leading to more protests that incorporate disruption and even violence into their repertoires. Disruption has become an important tool for disturbing the ‘normal’ functioning of unsustainable societies. But all too often, disruption is conflated with violence and limited inappropriately. This is in spite of the fact that the constitution and Regulation of Gatherings Act protect disruptive protests, while drawing the line at serious disruption. The right to disrupt must be defended as being part of the right to protest. Also, securitised responses to protests tend to create the very problems they were meant to solve. Beyond a certain point, such responses actually don’t achieve their intended purpose of discouraging protests: instead, they escalate the situation.

This seminar is part of the DGSD Democracy and Disruption seminar series.

Kindly RSVP by 28 February 2019

Pretoria: HSRC Video Conference Room, 1st  floor HSRC Library, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria.
Contact Arlene Grossberg  | T: (012) 302 2811  | E: acgrossberg@hsrc.ac.za
Cape Town: HSRC Video Conference Room, Merchant House 116-118 Buitengracht Street, Cape Town.
Contact Carmen Erasmus  | T: (021) 466 7827  | E: cerasmus@hsrc.ac.za
Durban: HSRC Video Conference Room, The Atrium, 5th Floor, 430 Peter Mokaba Ridge, Berea, 4001.
Contact Ridhwaan Khan  | T: (031) 242 5400  | C: 083 788 2786  | E: RKhan@hsrc.ac.za  

The HSRC seminar series is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The views and opinions expressed therein as well as findings and statements of the seminar series do not necessarily represent the views of the DST

Vidyo Link:

https://hsrc-vc.tenet.ac.za/flex.html?roomdirect.html&key=GGKGXLnInSbnn5Mspk7JfF1qu8