A “Weapon of the Weak”: Electric Boycotts in the Arab Levant and the Global Contours of Interwar Anti-Imperialism.
In April 1931, boycotts of foreign-owned electricity companies were launched across multiple cities of the Arab Levant under French Mandate. This article argues that the boycotts drew on an established local culture of boycotting that was shaped by the social relations formed under the system of “co...
| Published in: | Radical History Review Vol. 2019; no. 134; pp. 116 - 143 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Duke University Press
May2019
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=139127763&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 139127763 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01636545 2AT jtl: Radical History Review issn: 01636545 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May2019 vid: 2019 iid: 134 pid: 154 pub: Duke University Press artinfo: ui: 139127763 10.1215/01636545-7323432 ppf: 116 ppct: 27 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 1.2MB tig: atl: A “Weapon of the Weak”: Electric Boycotts in the Arab Levant and the Global Contours of Interwar Anti-Imperialism. aug: au: Pascoe, Stephen affil: Doctoral candidate in history at the University of California, Irvine. su: Boycotts Anti-imperialist movements Interwar Period (1918-1939) Globalization Communism sug: subj: Boycotts Anti-imperialist movements Interwar Period (1918-1939) Globalization Communism keyword: anti-imperialism boycott concessionary imperialism electricity Syria ab: In April 1931, boycotts of foreign-owned electricity companies were launched across multiple cities of the Arab Levant under French Mandate. This article argues that the boycotts drew on an established local culture of boycotting that was shaped by the social relations formed under the system of “concessionary imperialism.” These “electric boycotts” took on increased potency in the context of the constrained opportunities for anti-imperial protest under the interwar system. They were part of an oft-forgotten history of nonviolent civil disobedience, overshadowed by more violent expressions of opposition to colonial rule. It is argued that the 1931 and 1936 boycotts were novel for the threat of regional conflagration that they posed, as well as the increased “internationalization” in the framing of their meanings. Gandhism, Communism, and later, Fascism, provided competing poles of reference for anti-imperial activists in French Mandate Syria across the decade of the 1930s. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Radical History Review is the property of Duke University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Radical History Review holder: Duke University Press dt: @attributes: year: 2019 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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