London Rising: Friday, 6 March

’Cause in London Town

There’s just no place for a street fighting man

—The Rolling Stones, 1968 

Mick Jagger’s words above can sometimes feel axiomatic.  London has an outwardly less impressive revolutionary tradition to call upon than many of its closest neighbours, most obviously Paris.  This is to say, of course, that history is political: if the past seems quiet, what hope for remaking the future?   

London Rising is interested in redeeming the capital’s radical past whilst insisting upon the revolutionary potential of the present.  Our aim is to collectively describe a continuum of tumult in London, attuned to the struggle between conflicting forces. 

We very much encourage contributions to this symposium from outside of the academy: we would like to hear from the streets.

Suggested topics include, but most certainly are not limited to:

- The Peasants’ Revolt

- Jack Cade’s Rebellion

- The Levellers 

- The English Revolution, 1688

- Anti-racism in London: abolitionism, Rock Against Racism

- The Hands Off Russia campaign

- Fighting for women’s rights, gay rights

- London and the anti-war movements: 1968; 2003

- London ‘Riots’: 1981; 1985; 1990; 2011

- Resisting austerity, gentrification

- Climate protests in London

Please email paper abstracts of no more than 250 words to londonrising2020@gmail.com by Wednesday, 15 January 2020.