Report: Scaling Up the Urban Protest
Cities often spark democratic change. They nurture movements and amplify voices. But when protests spill beyond central squares and the main streets near government buildings, where do demonstrators gather? How do tens – sometimes hundreds – of thousands of people coordinate and communicate effectively?
Neighbourhood organising offers one powerful method for scaling up non-violent protest. Many movements have grown and expanded by evolving from single-street or city-centre actions into city-wide campaigns. They reach diverse groups across society by organising protest actions in neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools, universities and other community spaces.
This webinar series explored non-violent direct action (NVDA) in urban settings and aimed to build awareness among urban civil society. We concentrated on these key topics:
- The power of community and how to harness it
- NVDA methods: economic boycotts and occupations
- Communication strategies within non-violent movements
The webinars:
9 May 2025 at 18:00 CEST
The speaker: Palina Burko (Belarus) is a Green activist and member of the Belarusian Young Greens. She joined protests in Belarus from 2017 onwards and took an active role in demonstrations against the rigged 2020 elections. Political persecution forced her to leave Belarus in 2021.
14 May 2025 at 18:00 CEST
The speaker: Predrag Momčilović researches, writes, and campaigns from Belgrade. He explores political ecology, degrowth, urban environments, the social dimensions of climate change, food production, and fair energy transition. He’s the executive director the Center for Green Politics, a political foundation linked to Serbia’s green-left party. He co-founded various platforms, organisations, and cooperatives. His books include “Sustainability, degrowth and food production” and “Air as commons”.
21 May 2025 at 16:00 CEST
The speaker: Artem Tidva (Ukraine) is a trade union organiser, activist with the Ukrainian left-wing NGO Social Movement (Соціальний рух), and researcher studying labour movements in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.