Struggles in search of a ground: Protests after lockdown

This photo essay explores the relationship between the city, London, and the febrile political moment in the months after the removal of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Our interest in this moment is centered on two quite different protests—one in opposition to the invasion of Ukraine, the other a mixed gathering of groups in a park in London. We use these to explore the relationship between political actions, or struggles, and the grounds for those actions, suggesting that the two protests show how differently these can be configured. In the protest in the park, the city was used as a ground for different struggles, which sometimes appeared in the same spaces and places. In the Ukraine protest, the city provides a foundation to articulate protests that reveal some oddities in the politics of the city. Taken together they reveal an unshakeable commitment to using “real” space, despite the intense interest in online protest during the pandemic. However, the post-pandemic moment also created unexpected juxtapositions of protests, which begs questions about how city space is occupied and used. Through these examples, we discuss how struggles seek to take place.