Some University of Pittsburgh sociologists expect this week's Group of 20 summit protests and demonstrations to be peaceful — despite police preparations for disruptions and media reports of violence at similar events.
Pitt's Department of Sociology, which specializes in social movements, plans a panel discussion focusing on Pittsburgh's G-20 protests at noon Wednesday, said Professor Kathleen Blee, the department's chair.
The discussion is scheduled for the department conference room at 2400 Posvar Hall, 230 Bouquet St. in Oakland.
"It'll be an opportunity to get a quick read on what scholars know about protest movements," Blee said.
Pitt sociology professors Suzanne Staggenborg and Rachel Kutz-Flamenbaum plan to survey as many as 500 protesters to compile a profile of G-20 demonstrators and determine how their concerns might differ from those at other events.
"For example, I expect climate change to be very important at the same time that concerns about the economy are central," Staggenborg said. "We want to try to understand what motivates people to participate and what they hope to gain from the protests."
Kutz-Flamenbaum said social movements and protests are a fundamental part of democracy.
"Even the most cursory glance at history shows that protest is effective," she said. "Two hundred years ago, the only people in the U.S. who were allowed to vote were white men. Today suffrage is a near universal right. That happened because groups of African Americans and groups of women organized in powerful collectives and they engaged in forms of protest."
Although violence and vandalism by protesters get the most media attention, such acts "are incredibly rare in protests," Kutz-Flamenbaum said. "They get lots of attention because they are so unusual and sensational."
Activists actually want positive events because will raise important issues related to social and economic justice and the environment, Staggenborg said.
"Nonviolent protests are often effective because they give protesters a moral advantage," she said.
Of course, violence might happen, said Mohammed Bamyeh, a Pitt sociology professor.
"But I have not seen any evidence that it is destined to happen," Bamyeh said, "What I have been seeing in Pittsburgh media over the past few weeks is an ongoing attempt to hystericize the public about this event. ... and I think it is irresponsible of the media to speculate without evidence on what has not happened."
At the most recent G-20 meeting, which was in London in April, thousands of people protested, and one man died after a confrontation with police.
Confrontations between more than 50,000 protesters and police at the 1999 World Trade Organization in Seattle resulted in about 600 arrests and $3 million in property damage. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to quell rioters.
G-20 summit protests expected to remain peaceful |