Right-wing British politician Nigel Farage is hit in the face with a milkshake during his general election campaign launch in Clacton-on-Sea, eastern England, on June 4, 2024.
Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images
From ancient Rome to modern times, pelting has been a performance of crowd defiance in all its joyous, furious and lawbreaking glory.
Police drag away a tent from a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Irvine on May 15, 2024.
Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
Framing dissent and poverty as a menace to public order can threaten fundamental rights, particularly when it’s used to justify the deployment of predictive technology.
One of the most rewarding things about working at The Conversation is being part of a project that brings people together when so often the focus in the media is on drama and division.
A protester cleans up after a pro-Palestinian demonstration ended peacefully at Brown University.
AP Photo/David Goldman
In most cases, it’s reasonable to expect that groups of protesters will abide by the law. But there are times when doing so diminishes the effectiveness of the protests.
Tents fill the pro-Palestinian protest encampment at McGill University in Montréal, on May 13, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Unless and until student encampments become an unreasonably severe disruption to the enjoyment of university spaces, there is no argument supporting state intervention.
A protester wearing a Georgian and European flag faces off with policemen blocking a street near the Parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 14 2024.
David Mdzinarishvili / EPA
Georgia seems to be particularly prone to activism, distinguishing it from its neighbours in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Student protesters link arms as police move to clear remaining protesters and their encampment at the University of Calgary campus on May 9, 2024.
Noah Korver/Canadian Press
Student protests on campuses are calling attention to atrocities in Gaza and challenging university administrators to divest. What is the best way forward that avoids unnecessary violence?
Students have now been protesting on Australian campuses for weeks. But as the camps become more established, so, too, do concerns about student safety.
The situation in Gaza undoubtedly requires urgent international attention and a peaceful resolution. Yet it is not the only armed conflict or humanitarian crisis in the world.
A student encampment at the University of Bristol.
Jamie Bellinger / Alamy Stock Photo
This is not the first time domestic violence has been declared a national crisis. Australian governments first got seriously involved in 1985. What can the past 40 years teach us?
Members of the New York Police Department load arrested protesters from Columbia University onto a bus on April 30, 2024.
(AP Photo/Julius Motal)
Almost 56 years to the day after the anti-war protests in 1968, New York City police evicted Columbia University students from an on-campus occupation.
A Defend Our Juries protest in London, February 2024.
Jeff Gilbert/Alamy Live News
While most colleges and universities have their own police units, some schools, like Columbia University, have only private security − and then can call in outside police when they feel it is needed.
Ohio National Guard soldiers move in on anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, in May 1970. Four students were killed and nine wounded when National Guardsmen opened fire on the protesters.
(AP Photo, File)
Even if you disagree with their concerns or their tactics, students should not be penalized for thinking critically about world events and trying to bring about positive social change.
Anti-Vietnam War protests at the University of Sydney, 1969.
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy SEARCH Foundation
Australian universities have long been a site of protest. Today’s students join this legacy of activists who helped shape higher education and the Australian cultural landscape.
Demonstrators gathered on Parliament Hill in 1975 calling for equal pay and equal child custody rights for LGBTQ+ parents.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Grimshaw
The Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada project uses a new online database to record the events, places, people, organizations and publications that have formed Canada’s LGBTQ+ rights movement.
A student holds a ‘Free Palestine’ sign at a rally at the University of Texas April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas, one of many gatherings following the arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University protesting Israel’s war in Gaza.
(Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Ontario’s Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act threatens to undermine university autonomy, and could serve to censor critical thinking and dissent on campuses.
A Muslim protester shouts at security personnel on the streets of Shaheen Bagh, a neighborhood in Delhi, in 2020.
Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images
Thanks to a strong oral Urdu literary tradition in South Asia, poems from the past linger in the popular imagination.
For activists struggling with the painful emotions that arise from their work, being self-compassionate might be a valuable source of mental and emotional support.
(Shutterstock)
Activists can face a lot of stress and even burnout campaigning for the causes they care about. Showing themselves self-compassion can help them deal with that stress.
Senior Associate Fellow on the Middle East at RUSI; Associate Professor in Politics & International Relations; Deputy Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL