IF WE BURN

Book Presentation by Vincent Bevins

From 2010 to 2020, the world experienced a wave of transnational political protests, with millions mobilizing against global capitalism, neoliberalism, and entrenched dictatorships. These movements, once symbols of hope and resistance, have since been overshadowed by rising authoritarianism, escalating political violence, deepening economic inequalities, mass displacement, and environmental devastation. 

What happened during these pivotal uprisings? Why did many lead to outcomes opposite to what participants had expected? And how can collective resistance endure in an increasingly repressive world?

Join us for a compelling conversation with UK-based journalist Vincent Bevins, author of IF WE BURN: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, based on four years of research and hundreds of interviews across the globe. Vincent Bevins is an award-winning journalist and correspondent. He previously served as the Brazil correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, and worked for the Financial Times in London. Among the other publications he has written for the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, the Guardian, Foreign Policy, the New York Review of Books, The New Republic, and more.

After the book presentation, Dr. Derya Özkaya and Dr. Lura Pollozhani will provide insights from their ethnographic research about protest movements in Southeast Europe, offering deeper perspectives on the ongoing struggles for justice.

Derya Özkaya is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Center for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz. Her research interests are centered on politics of affect, collective emotions, political activism, protest movements, critical ageing studies, and collective memory.

Lura Pollozhani is a researcher at the Center for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz. Her research interests include social movements, EU enlargement, radicalization, citizenship practices in divided societies, and democratization.