Preliminary Programme

Wed 22 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Thu 23 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Fri 24 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Sat 25 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

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Wednesday 22 March 2006 16:30
M-4 URB01 Cities and Urban Unrest, 1500-2000
Room M
Network: Urban Chair: Shane Ewen
Organizers: - Discussants: -
T.K. Vinod Kumar : Administrative Response to Public unrest in the Malabar
Malabar, with Calicut as its headquarters, was a district in the Madras province in British India. The Moplah Rebellion took place in the Malabar district in the year 1921. The colonial administration took steps, successfully to suppress the rebellion.

After independence of India, Malabar was subdivided into smaller districts. Calicut City ... (Show more)
Malabar, with Calicut as its headquarters, was a district in the Madras province in British India. The Moplah Rebellion took place in the Malabar district in the year 1921. The colonial administration took steps, successfully to suppress the rebellion.

After independence of India, Malabar was subdivided into smaller districts. Calicut City is at present part of Calicut district. There have been recurring communal riots in the coastal areas of Calicut City from 1970 to 2003. The district administration and the State Government have taken measures to prevent and control these riots.

What are the factors causing public unrest in the area during the two periods? How had the administration in two different periods reacted to it? This paper analyses the measures taken by administration to control public unrest during the two periods. The paper also analyses the similarities and differences in methods used by administration, the external and internal factors affecting the administrative response and other related factors. (Show less)

Lars Nilsson, Mats Berglund : City authorities and public unrest in Stockholm 1500-2000
In July 1743 around 5,000 peasants, mainly from the province of Dalarna, were marching into Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The peasants were organised like a military force and many of them were armed; those who didn’t had a gun wore farmer-tools like axes, shovels or pitchforks. One cause behind ... (Show more)
In July 1743 around 5,000 peasants, mainly from the province of Dalarna, were marching into Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The peasants were organised like a military force and many of them were armed; those who didn’t had a gun wore farmer-tools like axes, shovels or pitchforks. One cause behind the long march to Stockholm was a broad popular discontent with the ongoing Russian war. Another reason was an aim to guarantee the succession after the old and child-less king, Fredrik I. Just outside the city-border the king himself was meeting up the peasant-army promising to listen to – and negotiate about – their demands. In spite of nice promises from both sides, already at the next day violence broke out in the city-centre. More than twenty dead bodies were found after the battle. The epilogue of the so called dala-uprising includes a judicial process where several thousands of dala-peasants were hold as prisoners in the city of Stockholm, charged for rebellion against the crown.

Popular contentions of this kind have not been common in the early-modern or modern Scandinavian history. During the medieval era and the time of the early Vasas there was almost constantly social disturbances and riots in Sweden (like the Engelbrekt-uprising at 1430’s, and the rebellion of the peasantry of Dalarna and Småland around 1530 respectively in the beginning of the 1540’s). In a European perspective the early-modern period was a time of riots and uprisings, but Sweden has, at least since the 17th century, been more characterised by the absence of that kind of disturbances. This pattern has in earlier research been explained in terms of a typical Swedish political negotiation-culture. Conflicts and dissatisfactions were canalized and solved in a peaceful way through official legal channels like the local and regional courts, but also in the national parliament (riksdagen) where the peasantry was represented.

This picture of the Swedish political culture is only partly true. Previous research has – as we see it – focused too much on consensus, and has therefore tended to neglect the real conflicts. By studying the conflicts themselves we’ll be able to investigate not only the course of events and the dynamics of the riots, uprisings and social disturbances, but also the role of the authorities and the actions of the local government. Some conclusions can already be made: First, we can notice that open conflicts have not been so rare as previous research has indicated. Second, the early-modern riots and uprisings included forms of political manifestations that we didn’t know before. Third, the city authorities were often careful in their actions. The common method of the authorities of Stockholm dealing with public unrest in the ‘calm’ early-modern era was to talk to – and negotiate with – the most active leaders of the mob. That was also the situation in the dala-uprising – even though it failed in 1743 it became a fairly successful strategy over time.

At mid-19th century, the pendulum swung back to harder repressions from the city authorities. There was no longer time or space for discussions or negotiations. The Crusenstolpe-riots in1838 as well as the march-riots in 1848 ended both up with the use of violence, and several people in the crowd were shot by the military. The hunger-riots of 1917, the youth-rebellion in the late 1960’s and recent demonstrations against globalization have as well met hard resistance from the city government and the police forces. During intervening periods softer measures seem to have been used. Our ambition is to analyse this long-term changes and how they are related to general traits in the development of Stockholm and Sweden. (Show less)

Jelle van Lottum, Harm Kaal : A tumultuous town: the Amsterdam City Government and Public Unrest, 1848-2000
This paper examines the way in which city authorities in modern-time Amsterdam have dealt with riots in the city. How did the way in which the authorities handled the disturbances evolve over time? How can this development, these changes be explained? Which different repertoires of actions were implemented by the ... (Show more)
This paper examines the way in which city authorities in modern-time Amsterdam have dealt with riots in the city. How did the way in which the authorities handled the disturbances evolve over time? How can this development, these changes be explained? Which different repertoires of actions were implemented by the city authorities? Amsterdam has a reputation for being a troublesome city. The analysis will be based on three rebellious events in the modern history of Amsterdam: the Eel Revolt of 1886, the Jordan Revolt of 1934 and the Construction Workers Protest of 1966. The city authorities’ policy will be analyzed by distinguishing between three different phases. First, signaling threats: how did the city authorities acquire information on possible unrest in the city? Second, anticipating threats: how was this information implemented into policy? In what way did city authorities try to prevent riots from taking place? Third, reaction on disturbances: how did the city authorities try to put down the revolt? (Show less)

Joseph Julius Varga : “For Speaking Jewish in a Jewish Neighborhood”: Civil Rights and Community/Police Relations During the Post-War Red Scare, 1919-1922.
On 29 October, 1920, Brooklyn resident Louis Goldberg was arrested for addressing a public meeting in Yiddish. Goldberg’s arrest illustrates how local police utilized disorderly conduct statutes to control public space and curtail civil liberties during the “red scare” of the post war period, 1919 to 1922. In this paper ... (Show more)
On 29 October, 1920, Brooklyn resident Louis Goldberg was arrested for addressing a public meeting in Yiddish. Goldberg’s arrest illustrates how local police utilized disorderly conduct statutes to control public space and curtail civil liberties during the “red scare” of the post war period, 1919 to 1922. In this paper I argue that the principal weapon in the containment of political activism is the use of disorderly conduct statutes. While most public attention concerning the curtailment of civil liberties focuses on questions of constitutional law (such as the current debate over the USA Patriot Act) I contend that the actual control of political activity is exercised through the enforcement, or the threat of enforcement, of such statutes. Further, I will contend that the importance of local law enforcement lies not so much in their use as enforcers of order in a chaotic social situation, but in their symbolic perception as wielders of arbitrary power. These issues have profound ramifications for our contemporary situation and our historical understanding of the trajectory of civil rights in America. When larger issues such as the “red scare” or the “war on terror” effect local policing, the results can be deleterious to the exercise of democratic rights and liberties. (Show less)



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