Ebook: Criminalization of Activism: Historical, Present and Future Perspectives

Criminalization of Activism draws on a multiplicity of perspectives and case studies from the Global South and Global North to show how protest has been subject to processes of criminalisation over time.

Contributors are made of up scholars and activist from different disciplinary backgrounds, with a balance between authors from the Global North and the Global South. An introduction frames the topic within critical criminology, while also highlighting the possible disciplinary approaches and definitions of criminalization of resistance/activism. The editors also look into the particularities of the current times in comparison to dynamics of criminalization in prior stages of capitalism.

The first part offers four different theoretical approaches to understand the complex interrelations between politics and criminalization of resistance. Second, the book offers case studies to expose certain historical patterns in the criminalization of riots, experiences of resistance and class struggle. This includes an analysis of the cast system in India, neoliberalism and social inequality in Argentina and refugees in Italy and Greece. The third part of the book deals with three further case studies which expose trends in the historical criminalization of policing and prison related struggles, analysing prison riots in the United States and Argentina, and the civil rights movement confronting police brutality in the United States. Part four provides insight into historical patterns in the criminalization of political activities, with case studies on Italian leftist activism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Catalonian struggle for independence. The last part of the book deals with the criminalization of green struggles, examining the green ban in Australia, indigenous struggles in Brazil and Ecuador and environmental demonstrations in Belgium. Finally, the conclusion analyses the interactions between the different contributions and discusses the future challenges to this field of study.

Bringing together a range of criminalisation themes into a single volume, compromising historical criminology, indigenous studies, gender studies, critical criminology, southern criminology, convict criminology and green criminology, it will be of great interest to scholars and students of criminology and sociology, as well as those involved in activism.