Introduction

All forms of protest have a geography and interact with the spatiality of the world in particular ways (Nicholls, 2009). This is particularly evident in the case of protest camps: they take form and materialise through an occupation of space, a piece of land, for an extended period of time. Many protest camps simultaneously occupy physical space and mediated space. In this sense, as well as occupying particular locations, by occupying mediated/media space they also have the potential to occupy people's imaginations, and occupy the media agenda for a while. The chapters in this section of the book primarily examine the contested politics of the physical occupation of land, its consequence and dynamics (Leidinger, 2015; Vasudevan, 2015a).

Ways of occupying

The act of occupying land or public space in the city can be motivated by many factors. Fundamentally, it constitutes a contestation of power within a given society and seeks to wrest actual and symbolic control over a given space or territory for a period of time. The tactical or strategic objective of a protest camp can significantly shape decisions about the place it occupies (as well as the form the occupation can, or is allowed, to take). While it is not our intention to set up a strong typology of camps, it is worth elaborating how camps with different objectives might use the land they occupy in different ways. First, there are protest camps that seek to protect a site, environment or community from unwanted developments. Of course, such camps are not purely defensive, as they proactively seek to stop something from happening. Examples of camps like this frequently arise out of environmental protest movements, seeking to stop the building of new roads (Doherty et al, 2007; Routledge, 1997), land occupations to block hydroelectric dams (Frenzel, 2014), or stop mining (Stahler- Sholk et al, 2014; Li, 2015). Second, there are camps, which assemble near a site which symbolises an injustice or wider social, political or environmental problem of some kind. Such camps may seek to disrupt the functioning of a power station (Frenzel, 2014), a business, or the embassy of a repressive regime (Brown and Yaffe, 2014). The tactical objective of this type of camp is to bear witness to the injustices at issue and mobilise further opposition to them.