The Reclaim the Streets Protest Parties in London

Abstract

Artistic Utopias of Revolt analyses certain forms adopted in the collective reclaiming of the street and other public spaces. In this chapter, Ramírez Blanco studies the specific history of Reclaim the Streets (RTS) which, during the second half of the 1990s organized illegal anti-capitalist street raves that blocked London’s traffic and commercial activity and created their own ephemeral worlds. The author shows how the group’s activity turned the protest event into a festival in which countercultural entertainment is united with political action. She studies the references, genealogies, and practices of RTS through a careful iconographic reading, where the ethics and the politics of the movement come together.