In the aftermath of repression: Exploring the consequences of criminalisation through the experiences of NoTap environmental activists

• In Event: The Criminalisation of Environmental Activism

Abstract

In recent years, critical perspectives within criminology have paid increasing attention to the repression and criminalisation of dissent and activism – a topic which had for long been neglected in the discipline. This scholarship has so far provided insightful critical analyses of the policies and practices that criminalise dissent and protest. It has, however, left the aftermath of repression and criminalisation relatively under-studied. Through a thematic analysis of interviews with NoTap environmental activists in the Puglia region of southern Italy, who have been targeted with heavy repression and criminalisation for their opposition to the Tap pipeline, this paper addresses this gap by specifically focusing on the effects of repression and criminalisation on activists, as well as on activists’ individual responses to them.

Author

• Anna Di Ronco, University of Essex