Why the violence?: translocal justifications of violence in student protests

Abstract

Student protests frequently turn violent; however, how student activists justify their use of violence is scarcely researched. Using photovoice data created by former activists from five South African universities, I uncover four discourses on violence and its justification in the context of the #FeesMustFall protests: violence as assertion of identity and agency; violence as form of advocacy for social justice; violence as defence against state and institutional violence; and violence as expression of victimhood. By exploring the translocality of these justifications, I show how activists mobilise various translocal resources to challenge university authorities and justify their use of emancipatory violence.