Introduction: Global Cultures of Contestation

From the popular uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East in early 2011, via the Spanish indignados and Occupy Wall Street to the Umbrella movement in Hong Kong, recent years have seen major instances of popular contestation across the world. Moving beyond positions that present a singularly celebratory or dismissive account of this global protest “wave,” we advocate approaching each protest in terms of both its specificity and its tendency, in a context of advanced globalization and digitization, to connect to, learn from, or influence protests elsewhere. Outlining the volume’s focus on mobility, sustainability, aesthetics, and connectivity in this chapter, we ask: (1) How do the protests use mobility and immobility as part of their action repertoires and what forms of mobility are implied in the spread of protest waves? (2) How are issues of sustainability addressed in the various protests, and to what extent are the protests themselves sustainable? (3) What are the aesthetics of contemporary protest movements? (4) How do connective platforms facilitate today’s protests and shape their focus and dynamics?