Anti-repressive counter hegemonies. A case study of protest in Barcelona (2011-2015)

Abstract

The 15-M movement and the social movements that became stronger thanks to 15M (a movement against evictions, against labor reform, against austerity and against the curtailing of women's rights) have been a reaction against the neoliberal management of a crisis whose genesis was also caused by neoliberal practices. To face these conflicts, the State has developed a police, judicial and legislative arsenal to regulate and repress protest. Thus, a reconceptualization of the term 'democracy' as a guarantee of social rights and liberties, as well as the claim for self-management and citizen participation, has become a new interpretative framework to question the performance of the repressive apparatus of the State. The study of antirepression in Catalonia shows that repression against protest has also served to make visible the limits of the rule of law. If protest has managed to unmask real power relations, the repression of protest, in the Catalan case, provided an opportunity to open a social debate - which has also reached the institutions - on criminal guarantee. This paper argues that these antirepressive counter hegemonies, although limited by a growing criminal state, have meant a real challenge for the State and its criminal system.