Space hijacking and the anarcho-politics of leisure

Abstract

Political scientists, social movement theorists and cultural geographers have made us aware of forms of micro-political resistance that have challenged the privatisation, corporatisation and securitisation of the city. An increasing tactical feature of such resistance has been the deployment of leisure practices and performances to challenge the dominant norms and ideologies governing the use of urban space. This paper focuses upon a case study of a creative intervention organised by a London-based group of anarchists. We consider the tactics employed by the Space Hijackers – a group of self-styled ‘anarchitects’ who have been prominent in questioning the spatialities of everyday urban life through leisure activity and creative protest opportunities. We assess the deliberately liminal tactics employed by the Space Hijackers, situated betwixt and between the normative social regulation of public space and a ‘pre-figurative’ or utopian vision of its future. Through the case study and a review of some prominent attempts to define the leisure–politics relationship, this essay highlights a need to further interrogate the nature and uses of leisure within micro-political struggle and citizen movements that seek to affect social change, and so continues the dialogue about how we are to understand ‘leisure politics’.

Cientistas políticos, teóricos do movimento social e geógrafos culturais deixaram-nos cientes das formas de resistência micropolíticas que desafiaram a privatização, corporativização e securitização da cidade. Um aspecto tático cada vez mais importante dessa resistência é a utilização de práticas e performances de lazer que provocam as normas e ideologias dominantes que governam o uso do espaço urbano. Este trabalho é focado em um estudo de caso de uma intervenção criativa organizada por um grupo de anarquistas de Londres. Consideramos as táticas utilizadas pelos Space Hijackers (Sequestradores de Espaço) – um grupo de auto-estilizados “anarquitetos” que são proeminentes no questionamento de espacialidades da vida urbana cotidiana através de oportunidades de atividades de lazer e protestos criativos. Avaliamos as táticas deliberadamente liminares empregadas pelos Space hijackers, situadas entre a regulação social normativa do espaço público e uma visão “pré-figurativa”, ou utópica, de seu futuro. Através do estudo de caso e de uma revisão de algumas tentativas proeminentes de definir a relação lazer-política, este estudo destaca a necessidade de se interrogar ainda mais a natureza e os usos do lazer dentro da luta micropolítica e dos movimentos de cidadãos que buscam realizar mudanças sociais, e assim continuar o debate sobre como devemos entender a “política do lazer”.

政治科学家, 社会运动理论家和文化地理学家让我们意识到各形式的微政治抵抗挑战了城市里的私人化, 公司化和证券化。这些抵抗的一个上升的战略性特征是使用休闲实践和表现来挑战城市空间使用的主要意识和规范。该文章着重于由一个在伦敦的无政府主义组组织的一个有创意的介入作为案例。我们考虑空间劫持者 – 一组自称为“无政府主义者”, 一直通过突出休闲活动和富有创造性的抗议机会质疑日常城市生活的空间性的人, 他们采用的战略。我们评估空间劫持者使用的刻意有限的战术, 它位于公共空间的规范性社会性制度和其未来的“预兆”或乌托邦预知之间。通过案例研究和一些突出尝试的审查来定义休闲-政治关系, 这篇文章强调在为了寻求影响社会变革的并且帮助我们继续理解“休闲政治”的微观政治斗争和公民运动中进一步审问休闲性质和用途的需要。

Keywords:

• politics
• leisure
• anarchism
• protest
• public space
• pre-figurative politics

Palavras Chave:

• política
• lazer
• anarquismo
• protesto
• espaço público
• política pré-figurativa

关键词:

• 政治
• 休闲
• 无政府主义
• 抗议
• 公众空间
• 预兆政治

Notes

1. For Rojek (1995, pp. 150–151) this denotes the rise of a post-modern politics which is performance-oriented ‘… postmodernists do not maintain that politics – or the things which make it necessary, such as injustice and prejudice – has vanished. Rather they contend that politics has become ever more gestural and performance-oriented. It is not what you say, but how you say it; it is not what you do but the impression that you make – or the sign that you give – that counts.’

2. Wilson (1988, p. 18) writes: ‘play can thus function to legitimate the status quo by providing drama and spectacle to reify and mystify the workings of the political system, or it can have an emancipatory potential by providing room for experimentation and challenge’.

3. A ‘project’ now at risk by the ban on drinking on tube trains imposed by London mayor Boris Johnson on 1 June 2008. Whilst this is not an arrestable offence, but a condition of carriage on services, London underground staff have been reported as having difficulties implementing the ban and are concerned about their personal safety when confronting drinkers. See BBC News, 1 June 2009, ‘Union hits out at Tube booze ban’.

4. http://www.spacehijackers.org/html/manifesto.html (accessed 19 October 2011).

5. The Manifesto has five points, directed against retail, corporate space, architectural practice and to promote the manipulation of language and corruption of the social and cultural interpretation of the built environment.

6. The fourth test (25 May 2007) was also linked to a Critical Mass ride through the city, with some ‘agents’ wearing their cricket whites for both events.