Resource-Poor People in Times of Crisis

Abstract

The past decades have provided ample evidence for the ability of poorly resourced people (e.g., the unemployed, working poor, undocumented workers and migrants) to protest on their behalf, thus overcoming their state of social and political marginalization. The economic and political crisis spreading throughout Europe since 2008 has not terminated these mobilizations, as illustrated by protest waves in the European South (e.g., Portugal, Spain and Greece). Individual cases have received ample consideration (e.g., the Spanish 'Indignados'), but no consistent picture has been portrayed so far. This panel aims at studying these protests in a more systematic manner by presenting, analyzing and discussing available evidence from various mobilization waves. It proposes to address a number of relevant questions. In how far were deprived people proactively involved in these protests? Where they able to stabilize their mobilization across time? And are we speaking primarily of local events, or did protests develop a national and/or European range of activity? Beyond these descriptive objectives, we will discuss conditions, mechanisms and consequences of these protests. Do times of crisis provide more favorable conditions for the mobilization of the poorly resourced people by increasing the relevance of their claims, expanding the range of allies and improving public support, or do we need to acknowledge also new impediments? What does the varying intensity of protests across the European Union tell us in comparative terms about beneficial or inhibitive conditions? What can we learn about the conditions of a successful scale-shift of local protests of poorly resourced people towards the national and/or European level? And can we say anything about the outcomes of these protests, i.e., does the mobilization of the people most severely hit by the economic crisis have any impact on public policies at local, national or European level?