When Protest Becomes Crime: Riots, Resistance, and Rebellion
Dissent, Power, and the Criminalization of Collective Action
Why This Course Exists:
In times of crisis, protest becomes a vital tool for change—but also a target. Around the world, peaceful demonstrators are labeled as threats, activists are surveilled, and acts of resistance are reframed as crimes. This course explores the historical and current dynamics of how dissent is policed and pathologized, and how people reclaim protest as a form of speech, memory, and justice.
What Makes It Unique:
Grounded in criminology, social movement theory, legal studies, and cultural history
Builds analytical tools alongside creative resistance strategies
Combines academic learning with hands-on reflective and activist exercises
Ends in a final output that can take the form of a digital campaign, visual essay, or intervention plan
Created by a team blending expertise in criminal psychology, cultural resistance, and artistic protest methods, this course draws from frontline experience, rigorous research, and interdisciplinary teaching.
Course Duration: 3–4 months
Total Modules: 8 modules with 2–3 structured lessons each
Format: Online, self-paced. Includes downloadable readings, audio/visual lectures, real-world case studies, creative and analytical tasks, and a final project or campaign prototype.
Learning Outcomes:
Participants will understand how power defines legality, analyze global protest movements, reflect on their own roles in resistance, and create a meaningful final project rooted in theory and public engagement.
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Lesson 1.1: Protest and Power
Explore foundational theories on protest, legitimacy, and dissent. Learn how protest shapes democracy—and when it becomes criminalized.
Explore foundational theories on protest, legitimacy, and dissent. Learn how protest shapes democracy—and when it becomes criminalized.
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Lesson 1.2: Silence as Structure
Understand how silence is enforced—via media, policy, and policing—and how resistance can begin with listening and naming.
Understand how silence is enforced—via media, policy, and policing—and how resistance can begin with listening and naming.
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Lesson 2.1: Definitions That Define Us
Examine how legal systems and media use language to frame events: riot vs protest, terrorist vs dissident. Learn how this shapes public perception and criminal justice.
Examine how legal systems and media use language to frame events: riot vs protest, terrorist vs dissident. Learn how this shapes public perception and criminal justice.
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Lesson 2.2: The Threshold of Force
Study how states determine when protest becomes a threat. Analyze responses to historical and contemporary mass mobilizations, including BLM, Arab Spring, and Greek youth uprisings.
Study how states determine when protest becomes a threat. Analyze responses to historical and contemporary mass mobilizations, including BLM, Arab Spring, and Greek youth uprisings.
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Lesson 3.1: Surveillance as Control
Explore how governments monitor dissent through facial recognition, infiltration, and data collection. Discuss implications for democratic space.
Explore how governments monitor dissent through facial recognition, infiltration, and data collection. Discuss implications for democratic space.
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Lesson 3.2: Strategic Nonviolence and Creative Tactics
Learn principles from Gene Sharp and others on how movements resist without traditional power. Study examples from Otpor!, Hong Kong, and Chile.
Learn principles from Gene Sharp and others on how movements resist without traditional power. Study examples from Otpor!, Hong Kong, and Chile.
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Lesson 4.1: Protest and the Law
Dive into the history of laws used to criminalize assemblies, occupations, and speech. Understand the use of anti-terrorism laws against protest.
Dive into the history of laws used to criminalize assemblies, occupations, and speech. Understand the use of anti-terrorism laws against protest.
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Lesson 4.2: Who Is a Criminal?
Interrogate the idea of “the criminal” through labeling theory and moral panic. Reflect on how race, class, and ideology shape who is framed as dangerous.
Interrogate the idea of “the criminal” through labeling theory and moral panic. Reflect on how race, class, and ideology shape who is framed as dangerous.
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Lesson 5.1: Collective Mourning
Study the role of grief and loss in fueling protest—from memorials to public vigils. Learn how mourning can become political.
Study the role of grief and loss in fueling protest—from memorials to public vigils. Learn how mourning can become political.
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Lesson 5.2: Visual Resistance
Explore protest art, graffiti, banners, and design as acts of refusal. Participants will analyze a protest image of their choice and write a short reflection on its impact.
Explore protest art, graffiti, banners, and design as acts of refusal. Participants will analyze a protest image of their choice and write a short reflection on its impact.
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Lesson 6.1: Comparative Case Studies
Analyze three global protest movements (e.g., Chile’s feminist movement, India’s farmer protests, Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom uprising). Reflect on shared tactics and risks.
Analyze three global protest movements (e.g., Chile’s feminist movement, India’s farmer protests, Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom uprising). Reflect on shared tactics and risks.
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Lesson 6.2: Protest in Your Backyard
Research a local or national protest in your country and identify its key actors, tactics, and state response. Prepare a short report or visual timeline.
Research a local or national protest in your country and identify its key actors, tactics, and state response. Prepare a short report or visual timeline.
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Lesson 7.1: Choosing a Project Track
Participants select their final project format: a visual campaign, a creative work, or an analytical plan. Guidance is given on ethics, research, and message.
Participants select their final project format: a visual campaign, a creative work, or an analytical plan. Guidance is given on ethics, research, and message.
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Lesson 7.2: Building Your Project
Begin drafting your piece. Receive peer or instructor feedback to refine it. Focus is on clarity, relevance, and public engagement.
Begin drafting your piece. Receive peer or instructor feedback to refine it. Focus is on clarity, relevance, and public engagement.
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Lesson 8.1: Submitting the Final Work
Participants finalize and submit their piece along with an optional creator’s note. Submissions will be curated into a digital showcase or zine.
Participants finalize and submit their piece along with an optional creator’s note. Submissions will be curated into a digital showcase or zine.
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Lesson 8.2: Reflection and Ongoing Resistance
Close with a guided reflection. What do you take with you from this course? What does resistance mean in your everyday life now?
Close with a guided reflection. What do you take with you from this course? What does resistance mean in your everyday life now?
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Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Elina is a criminal psychologist, PhD researcher, and interdisciplinary visual artist. Her work focuses on deviance, trauma, and social narratives, her academic research explores how power defines truth, silence, and criminality. Alongside her research, Elina works across painting, installation, and editorial projects, with exhibitions and visual features in independent publications and magazines. Her practice bridges analytical depth with visual storytelling—making complex ideas accessible, emotionally resonant, and grounded in real-world urgency.With experience in qualitative research, narrative analysis, and activism-informed education, Elina brings both rigor and sensitivity to topics often left unspoken.
Amanda is a visual artist, curator, and art historian whose work investigates representation, protest aesthetics, and collective memory. Holding degrees in Literature and Art History, with a specialization in contemporary art from MoMA, she has collaborated with magazines, activist collectives, and independent galleries. Amanda’s practice blends academic insight with visual resistance, empowering students to speak through form and image.
Together, they combine theory and action—inviting you to critically analyze systems of repression while building creative and ethical paths toward resistance.