Political
repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a
society, thereby reducing their standing among their fellow citizens. It is often manifested through policies such as
human rights violations, surveillance abuse,
police brutality, imprisonment, involuntary settlement, stripping of citizen's rights, lustration and violent action or terror such as the murder, summary executions, torture, forced disappearance and other extrajudicial punishment of political activists, dissidents, or general population. Political
… Read more repression is often accompanied by violence, which might be legal or illegal according to domestic law. Violence can both eliminate political opposition directly by killing opposition members, or indirectly by instilling
fear.
Political
conflict strongly increases the likelihood of state
repression. Civil uprisings are a strong predictor of repressive activity as states so often engage in repressive behaviors in times of civil
conflict. When their authority or legitimacy is threatened, regimes respond by overtly or covertly suppressing dissidents to eliminate the behavioral threat.
Repression suppresses dissident mobilization by reducing the capacity of challengers to
organize, yet it is also feasible that challengers can leverage state repressive behavior to spur mobilization among sympathizers by framing
repression as a new grievance against the state.
A
black bloc is a tactic used by anti-capitalist protesters who wear black clothing, ski masks, scarves, sunglasses, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing and face-protecting items. The clothing is used to conceal wearers' identities and hinder criminal prosecution by making it difficult to distinguish between participants. It is also used to protect their faces and eyes from pepper spray, which is used by police during protests or civil unrest. The tactic allows the group to appear as one large unified mass.
Black bloc participants are often associated with
anarchism,
anarcho-communism,
communism, libertarian
socialism, antifascism, or the anti-
globalization movement.
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The tactic was developed in the 1980s in the European autonomist movement's protests against squatter evictions,
nuclear power, and restrictions on
abortion, as well as other influences. Black blocs gained broader media attention outside
Europe during the 1999 Seattle WTO protests when a
black bloc damaged property of various
multinationals.
Diversity of tactics is a phenomenon wherein a social movement makes periodic use of force for disruptive or defensive purposes, stepping beyond the limits of
nonviolence, but also stopping short of total militarization. It also refers to the theory which asserts this to be the most effective strategy of
civil disobedience for social change.
Diversity of tactics may promote
nonviolent tactics, or armed
resistance, or a range of methods in between, depending on the level of
repression the political movement is facing.
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