The Return of Protest

This international seminar addresses this possible alternative in light of the long cycle of global struggles that began at the beginning of the nineties in Latin America, continued with the Arab Spring and, starting in 2011, arrived in Europe through movements such as 15M. Differences in geopolitical contexts do not, however, get in the way of acknowledging common motives, motives that are summed up in the word democracy. This seminar features two exceptional witnesses from two predominant regions in this cycle of protests and political change: Asef Bayat, an Iranian professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois, and Luis Tapia Mealla, professor of CIDES at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz (Bolivia).

Programme

6 May, 2014
Asef Bayat. Egypt: The Rebirth of Arab Democracy

7 May, 2014
Luis Tapia Mealla. Latin American Revolutions in Perspective

8 May, 2014
Asef Bayat and Luis Tapia Mealla. Debate: A New Global Cycle of Protest for Democracy

Participants

Asef Bayat. Professor of Sociology and Middle Eastern Studies. His most recent publications include Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn (Stanford University Press, 2007), Life as Politics (Stanford University Press, 2009) and Being Young and Muslim (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Luis Tapia Mealla. Philosopher, teacher and researcher, with a Doctorate in Political Science. He is the head of the Multidisciplinary Doctorate Programme in Developmental Sciences-CIDES at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). His recent publications include La igualdad es cogobierno (CIDES, 2007) and La invención del núcleo común. Ciudadanía y gobierno multisectorial (Autodeterminación, 2006).