Propositions for the emancipatory potential of urban spectacle

Abstract

During the last few decades, the role of the spectacle within urban settings has produced groundbreaking research, mainly in Euro-American and Southeast Asian settings. However, its full potential to account for creative forms of encounter and political engagement has not by and large been part of the rich scholarship on cities, particularly with regard to regions lacking full democratic rights. Toward this end, this article investigates the emancipatory potential of urban spectacle as an anchor for new forms of dissent by groups without access to conventional political channels. Specifically, it explores how, in the early 2000s, pro-Kurdish parties in Turkey, who were either banned by the state or denied access to parliament by targeted legal restrictions, used urban spectacle to develop a mass oppositional movement. In the southern city of Diyarbakır, these groups organized a number of themed mass demonstrations and urban festivals, such as the movement of civil disobedience and Newroz festivals, to enhance their public visibility, create new opportunities for popular mobilization, and support practices of active citizenship. The article concludes that an awareness of the emancipatory potential of urban spectacle can contribute to understanding the multiple dimensions of public space and its relationship to democratic action.