Street Politics

This chapter discusses different types of political manifestations that took place in the street and the different actors that engaged in street politics. It takes us through the streets and squares of diverse cities such as Naples and Delft, Madrid and Istanbul over a period of roughly three hundred years. The presence of ‘ordinary people’ as onlookers was indispensable to give official street politics, such as executions, processions and rituals, their legitimacy, thereby validating the authority of those in charge. The term ‘street politics’ is commonly associated with demonstrations and protest actions in the street, but that is too narrow a definition. Politics has never exclusively taken place inside palaces, council halls and government buildings; it has also happened in city streets, squares, marketplaces and alleys. Popular street politics, such as demonstrations and revolts, did not simply express resistance against the state, but rather dissatisfaction with the limitations of the state and its representatives.