Questioning the Representation of South Africa’s ‘New Social Movements’: A Case Study of the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign

Abstract

Drawing on the experience of the author as an activist working within the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign (MPAEC), this article considers the way that the representation of a ‘social movement’ serves as a contested space of power. Six aspects of the operation of the MPAEC - gender roles, structure, the question of insiders and outsiders, the question of spies within the movement, the use of money and ‘individual agendas’ - are examined to highlight how power operates through the representation of these terrains. Finally, some of the implications of the representation of ‘social movements’ for the struggle against domination are teased out.