Political Participation and Activism in the Post-15m Era: Young People’s Political Identifications in Lleida, Catalonia

Abstract

New spaces for political participation have emerged since the beginning of the Los Indignados 15M movement, in 2011. Drawing on an ethnographic inquiry into youth activism in Lleida (Catalonia), we identify and analyse new forms of political participation generated since 15M. This chapter examines youth activism in Lleida from the perspective of the dichotomy of the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ political practices. The authors focus on the discursive construction around the actors’ own accounts of what they call ‘new political activism,’ and consider how it differs from more conventional understandings of political participation. In this way, they analyse two post-15M movements, including their evolution and how the involvement of the young activists has changed them.