Away from Demonstrations South African Poor People’s Movements and the ‘Regime of the Near’

Abstract

Drawing on fieldwork carried out among different South African poor people’s movements, this article explores what is played out on the fringes of this type of mobilization. Away from the noise of demon-strations, we can observe the particularities of a commitment that links together the cause being defended, the immediate socio-spatial environ-ment of the activists, and their everyday worlds—a commitment that is rooted in the ‘regime of the near’. The space of activism thus coincides with the spaces in which the daily lives of these women and men unfold. I argue that this approach helps us better understand how mobilization spreads and how it can be sustained. It also makes it possible to measure more precisely that on which the legitimacy claimed by the movement and its visibility are based, as well as the persistence of commitment.