Strategic protest and the negotiation of legibility in Cape Town: a case study of Reclaim the City

ABSTRACT

The forms of protest and the related tactics that structure them are often linked to a deliberate logic of disruption and contestation. From pickets aiming to impede foot traffic in public spaces, to more “spectacular” forms of protest such as setting public property alight, these decisions are often far from the spontaneous acts of “violence” that they are depicted as by various news agencies and similarly aligned public officials. Using the example of a social movement based in Cape Town, South Africa, named Reclaim the City, this article thinks through different forms of protest, and how they are leveraged and perceived by a range of actors. By framing this discussion through James Scott’s (1998) work on legibility, this paper argues that social movements and similarly composed groups strategically navigate the process of being made legible by the state at different points for various reasons.

KEYWORDS:

• Legibility
• activism
• slow activism
• housing
• protest

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. An “escrache” is a form of public protest that is aimed at “harassing” [sic], or rather influencing, public figures (Lunn 2013).

Additional information

Funding

This work is based on the research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation of South Africa [Grant 98765].

Notes on contributors

Matthew Michael Wingfield

Matthew Michael Wingfield is a postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University (under the SARChI Chair for Land, Environment, and Sustainable Development), the same institution where he received his PhD in 2022. His research and publication record spans the focus of spatial and environmental justice, with a particular underpinning of working-class alternatives and grassroots-founded futures.