Patterns of Protest

A glittering celebration.A world-famous artist.A fatal splash of blue.At the Royal Academy’s star-studded opening night honouring celebrated artist Max Bruce, London’s cultural elite gather beneath chandeliers and champagne flutes. The evening seems flawless—until it isn’t.As Max steps forward to address his admirers, a protester bursts from the crowd and sprays him with blue paint. Within moments, he collapses. The paint was laced with cyanide.It’s murder.All evidence appears to point directly at the protester. The case seems airtight. But when newly qualified barrister Adam Green is assigned the defence, he quickly realises nothing is as straightforward as it seems. Was this a radical act of protest—or a carefully staged frame-up?Max Bruce was adored by many—but envied by more. Beneath the glamour of London’s art world lie rivalries, resentments and long-buried secrets. As Adam navigates the pressure of the courtroom and the weight of public opinion, he must untangle a web of ambitio

Can violent resistance ever be justified as a means of protest? Brought to the fore of national consciousness by protest movements such as Black Lives Matter, as well as the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol, questions around the ethics of uncivil unrest urgently call for a wider scholarly examination and debate. In this volume, editors Candice Delmas and Avia Pasternak bring together a collection of cutting-edge perspectives on the ethics of uncivil protest and resistance. The contributions in this book challenge the dominant consensus in liberal politics and philosophy that the only permissible form of illegal protest in democratic states is civil disobedience. The contributors argue instead that the distinction between civil and uncivil protest is far less rigid than was previously thought. The book explores the meaning of civility and incivility, as well as related concepts like power, resistance, activism, and legitimacy. The contributors draw new conceptual distinctions an