Margus Tamm recently defended his doctoral dissertation at the Estonian Academy of Arts, in which he explored the more theatrical aspects of contemporary political protests — how protest functions as a sensory, artistic and poetic event that disrupts political routine and sparks public debate.

In Tamm's analysis, protest is not simply a reaction to a specific issue, but part of a broader cultural conversation. It is a language through which people speak both to power and to each other — about who they are, what they stand for and the kind of society they wish to create.

Global statistics show that protest movements and protest politics are playing an increasingly prominent role in shaping 21st-century political culture. "Official parties and institutions are losing public trust and grassroots political energy is moving more and more into the streets, public squares and onto social media. In today's fragmented societies, plagued by an epidemic of loneliness, participating in collective protest can be one of the most accessible forms of community," Tamm explained.

He was particularly interested in this trend within democratic societies where citizens ostensibly already have formal channels for political engagement — free elections, freedom of speech and press freedom. "And yet, it's become clear that for many issues, this is no longer enough. This raises the question: is the rise of protest movements a sign of a crisis in democracy or a natural evolution of it?" the author asked.

In his dissertation, Tamm emphasized the beneficial role protest movements play in democratic discourse, especially in how they expand political imagination and bring public attention to topics that official politics either chooses to ignore or fails to notice with enough urgency. He cited the example of the emergence of economic inequality as a major issue during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest movement.

The movement drew attention to themes such as social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the outsized influence of corporations and the financial sector on government. Its signature slogan, "We are the 99 percent," highlighted the growing income gap and unequal distribution of wealth between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the rest of the population.

Protest as a staged event

"We live in a globalized world where many of the most pressing issues, such as the climate crisis and humanitarian disasters, are global in nature," said Tamm. "In such cases, there's often no local ballot box through which to express concern. That's when people turn to the global public. And the easiest way to do that is through an event that spreads via media and social media: something visually striking, emotionally charged, sometimes even shocking, but not so extreme that it undermines public support. Something artistic."

He approaches specific protest actions as communicative events: examining how a protest is staged, how it circulates in the media and what kind of response it receives from society. Protest, then, is a cultural event because it must be visible, impactful and emotionally resonant. Without that, it becomes merely a technical demand that fails to reach a broader audience.

In Estonia, protests and social movements have more often been examined in the context of Soviet-era dissidence and the restoration of independence. Still, there are also political science studies on post-independence civic activism and case studies of individual protest actions. Tamm's dissertation adds a cultural theory perspective to this body of work — exploring how protest forms, media usage and spatial interventions themselves create political meaning.

Globally, the rise of contemporary protest movements, protest politics and visual activism has been the focus of increased academic interest since the 2010s. Margus Tamm, however, was drawn to the period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 2009 financial crisis and the global wave of protests that followed.

His goal was to show how the experimental, artistic activism of that era directly influenced the large-scale protest movements that came later. The Estonian examples he analyzed in his dissertation come from the 21st century — a time when Estonia was already integrated into the democratic and capitalist world.

Tamm explained that contemporary protest is deeply characterized by the use of theatrical, carnivalesque and artistic tactics: eye-catching costumes and accessories (such as pussyhats, Guy Fawkes masks and yellow vests), music, installations and street art. For example, the 2025 spring protests in Turkey were even described in Le Monde as resembling a "work of art."

Protests in the early 20th century were closely tied to class-based labor movements and the protests of the 1960s and 1970s were often backed by strong trade unions and student organizations. Modern-day protests, by contrast, tend to be more spontaneous, atomized and decentralized, forming on the fly and on location, often without any formal organization or official leadership. They also frequently lack clearly defined political programs or strategies. "This can be seen as a weakness, but also as a strength, and in any case, it fits well with the meme-driven, shareable logic of the social media age," Tamm said.

In his work, Tamm emphasized that beyond direct political outcomes, the cultural impact of protest must also be considered. This kind of influence, he argued, may in the long run prove to be even more socially significant than individual short-term political victories. Protest culture asserts itself through visibility, connection and inspiration and its impact can transcend generations, languages and national borders.

Modern protests and hacker culture

One of the arguments Margus Tamm puts forward in his dissertation is that modern protest culture largely originated in the digital communication networks of the 1990s and is closely tied to the mindset of internet activism, net art and hacker culture. The internet enabled dissenters to connect, but perhaps even more importantly, Tamm said, it conveyed a key lesson from hacker culture: anyone who knows how to use modern media tools cleverly can intervene in even the most complex global power structures.

"A lot of that early activism could be compared to what we now call trolling," he explained. "The goal wasn't necessarily to propose a political alternative, but to sow confusion. The prevailing attitude in the 1990s was that even if the world order was unjust, there were no viable political alternatives. All one could do was ridicule the system — create disorder and maybe something new, maybe even something better, would emerge from that disorder."

Before long, this kind of so-called media hacking began to move from the internet into city streets. A symbolic turning point was the 1999 anti-globalization protests in Seattle. At the time, Tamm said, these demonstrations left many political observers bewildered. Their carnivalesque diversity, programmatic cacophony and unconventional forms did not fit the classical image of what "serious politics" should look like.

But in hindsight, these protests foretold a new political normal. New social movements are not necessarily trying to fit into existing systems, especially when those systems fail to address issues that truly affect people's lives. This kind of protest is not limited to lobbying for changes in legislation; it seeks to reshape visibility, narratives and the terms of public discourse.

On the one hand, digital protest has made participation easier and faster, but it also has a downside. So-called clicktivism can remain superficial: symbolic participation doesn't always lead to real political impact. Still, the digital realm enables new forms of visibility and solidarity that earlier protest formats did not allow.

The rise of protest politics has unfolded in parallel with a decline in traditional political participation and the weakening of democratic institutions. But according to Tamm, that doesn't mean protest movements are undermining democracy. Rather, it reflects a crisis in representative democracy — one to which grassroots movements are increasingly responding by stepping into roles once held by official institutions.

"It's also important to remember that formal democratic institutions aren't somehow separate from citizen action — they're the result of past societal struggles and agreements," he noted. "Civil disobedience and protest are not just disruptions or malfunctions; they are expressions of political and cultural creativity, an ongoing search that keeps democracy alive and evolving."

Umbrella in Hong Kong

The artistic tools of protest are broad and constantly evolving. Margus Tamm explained how even the most ordinary objects can, in the context of protest, become global symbols of resistance.

For example, during the 2014 student-led protests in Hong Kong, the umbrella became both a practical shield against tear gas and a symbol of peaceful defiance. The everyday aesthetics of colorful umbrellas helped counter the authorities' narrative portraying the protesters as dangerous extremists, reinforcing instead the image of ordinary people standing up for their rights.

Tamm highlighted two protest actions that have taken place in Estonia, which challenge conventional ideas of what political protest looks like. Both focus on the politics of urban space.

Park(ing) actions: In these events, a group of people purchases parking tickets for car spaces, but instead of parking cars, they host picnics in the lot. Technically, the parking ticket gives them the right to occupy the space, but the action disrupts the usual order of things and draws attention to the idea that car-centric urban planning could be replaced with more pleasant alternatives. In Estonia, such an event was organized by the Prussakov Cyclists' Association in 2006 at Freedom Square, which at the time served as a parking lot.

Guerilla crosswalks: On heavily trafficked streets where there are no safe pedestrian crossings, activists paint unofficial crosswalks and/or install their own crossing signs. While this is illegal and not sanctioned by official city planning, if these DIY interventions work in practice, they expose shortcomings in urban mobility policy. Such actions were carried out in Estonia in 2005 and 2006 near the intersection of Laikmaa and Gonsiori streets.

"These were small, clever interventions that blurred the line between art and activism, but succeeded in sparking public discussion about urban policy," Tamm said. "In some cases, they can even lead to real change. For example, Freedom Square now has a pedestrian plaza and the parking lot has been moved underground."

One of the most important conclusions of Tamm's dissertation is that protest culture should not be seen as a disruption to society, but as a resource. Protest is a mechanism through which society self-corrects, raises issues that might otherwise remain invisible and compels those in power to justify their decisions. Without protest, democracy would be diminished. Public debate would shrink, critical voices would disappear and citizens would retreat into the role of passive observers. Protest culture keeps society "alive" precisely because it prevents the existing order from becoming rigid and unquestionable.

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