Benjamin S. Case

Street Rebellion: Resistance Beyond Violence and Nonviolence Benjamin S. Case

The complex relationship between violence and nonviolence in social movements.

We are living in a time of uprisings. Across the world and all around us, movements are taking to the streets and challenging established power. These uprisings routinely involve moments of physical confrontation--burning vehicles and barricades, vandalism, projectiles thrown at police, and scuffles between protestors and authorities. Yet the Left has struggled to incorporate rioting into theories of change, remaining stuck in the recurring debates about violence and nonviolence. The idea of "strategic nonviolence" has become mainstream, spreading the notion that riots are counterproductive. But discussing violence and nonviolence as a binary--as distinct, mutually exclusive, and opposite concepts--does not help us understand what is really going on when people riot.





Street Rebellion argues that strategic nonviolence theory and research are misguided. Using data on protests from around the world and in-depth interviews with rioters, Benjamin S. Case pushes through beyond the impasses in arguments over violence and nonviolence, advancing the conversation and bringing new clarity to resistance studies. In a style that bridges the divide between academia and activism, he develops a broader and more accurate understanding of how people struggle for liberation. Street Rebellion will be of equal use in the classroom and on the streets.