Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Focusing on the demobilization of three Colombian guerrilla groups, the paper describes the process of members' leaving their radical political group long after the peace agreements were signed. The author points out that for many former guerrillas, separating from the guerrilla social network is a complex process that involves the internal psychological factor of the feeling that members do not matter any more to the political organization, as well as external social forces that push the individual to separate themselves from other ex-guerrilla members.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: As a reflection of race relations in American legal norms, activists have played a significant role in the evolution of legal norms, deliberately politicizing the courts with actions and documents that revealed the systemic injustice within the justice system. Outside the courtroom, pamphlets, plays, media events, autobiographical accounts in books and black newspapers, and mass demonstrations were deployed. Inside the courtroom, defendants and lawyers embarrassed the law in its own terms and on its own ground. While constitutionally protected, such speech and publications tested the patience of the courts and the boundaries of the law.

A theatrical paradigm, where contempt seemed to go both ways, is the 1948 seditious lobby case involving William L. Patterson, lawyer and president of the Civil Rights Congress. At a joint session of Congress, Patterson, by referring to Congressman Lanham (Dem., Georgia) as representing a “poll-tax state where Negroes were denied their civil rights,” provoked Lanham into calling him a “black son-of-a-bitch.” The contemptuous language referencing Patterson was subsequently denied at the proceedings that charged Patterson with contempt. This scene, sanitized in official transcripts, was fully recorded in pamphlets and other marginal texts that were widely disseminated. Like others we will examine, the Patterson case exposes the barely suppressed rage of an official governmental body in carrying out its judicial function. We will discuss other cases (Bobby Seale’s contempt citations, the voir dire in the trial of Huey Newton for murder, Nelson Mandela’s last statement at the dock prior to his twenty-seven year incarceration).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: My analysis of Guerrilla Video Primer details the ins and outs of the paradoxical practice of guerrilla journalism and suggests how biocybernetic technologies might be deployed to bolster serious protest. Issues in the pre-production, shooting, and post-production stages of guerrilla journalism are highlighted. Distinctions between performance and its semblances are discussed, as are the possibilities for considering them in other than dichotomous terms.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Gurrilla media were integrated into protest movements in Taiwan to challenge state ideology by constructing counter-hegemonies. These guerrilla media included low-cost political magazines, outlawed cable channels, and underground radio stations, all fighting against the centers of power from a position of marginality. After the onset of democratization, however, the liberating energies of guerrilla media have imposed severe constraints on the media discourses with regard to democratic citizenship.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Based on 42 in-depth interviews with members of three former Colombian guerrilla organizations, M-19, EPL, and CRS, reasons why they stayed in these organizations through several years, if not decades, of violent confrontation with government forces are examined. From a micro-level perspective, the study identifies four important motivations for members to remain in these groups: personal dependence on their organization, shared values with other members and the group, the clandestine life-style, and self-identity, which is boosted by the subjects’ feeling that their work in the group matters.