Week 5_ Joshua Liu_ ASA 114

One of the topics that Michael Peter Smith discusses in this week's reading is the globalization of grassroot politics. Smith goes into significant detail when explaining the varying types of "cross-border" grassroot politics that are practiced by transnational migrants and refugees. One such type that interested me was the method of thinking and acting simultaneously on multiple scales. Smith describes this as, "a politics in which single political acts can be orchestrated through multiple targets, operating at a variety of institutional and geographical scales, mediated by the appropriation of the global means of mass communication by transnational grassroots movements..." (Smith, p. 31). I was particularly interested in Smith's example, where he writes about the events hosted by rights activists in San Francisco. I'm amazed by how a small group of people could organize a localized event involving a variety of individuals to spread awareness across the world. In a way, this parallels the recent climate movements that we have been seeing. What started with a handful of concerned students throughout the world, who worked simultaneously on both scales, has now evolved into a massive movement in which we see students around the world walkout on their classes in their fight to combat climate change.

Question: What are some examples of these movements here at UC Davis, and how can we get involved in them to enact change?