Speaking up: Communicating with authorities through positive disruptions

Abstract

When the City of Seattle engaged the plan to build a $160 million new North Precinct Police Station, the community was quick to vocalise disagreement. Activists opposing the new North Precinct Station successfully blocked the plans for “the bunker.” Interviews with the activists about their ideal form of policing gave an unexpected outcome. An exploration of storytelling, by conducting a series of interventions, reframed this thesis towards creative activism. By using non-confrontational interventions as a guiding principle I searched for ways to engage with an established institution. Based on the framework used in Beautiful Trouble – A Toolbox for Revolution, each intervention is mapped to six modules in which they are analysed and reflected upon.