Geographies of Alternative Spaces, Resilience and Slow/Quiet Activism

This chapter builds on ideas around how people can respond to the seemingly unbridled power of global capitalism, particularly the ‘belief that one can undermine global capitalism and state power...not by way of directly attacking them, but by refocusing the field of struggle on everyday practice, where one can “build a new world”’ ( Zizek, 2006 : 338). In other words, creating alternatives to capitalism (and its various accomplices, including incomplete neoliberalism) via the commons, counter-publics, social infrastructure, and so forth, part of Cindi Katz’s (2004) reworking and resilience (seeking a better deal, and making do when transformational change is not immediately possible). This contrasts with her understanding of resistance, an over-used term which involves some kind of upheaval and transformation within and across social structures, thereby challenging and even removing the status quo. More on this in Chapter 14, but as in this chapter, we are not interested in promoting the status quo. Specifically, we explore four responses: creating commons; counterpublics and counter-places; abolition geographies; and practicing resilience. For each, we draw on examples of these responses from around the world and consider how they fit within a broader quiet politics.