Abstract

This article examines social activist networks in Britain, the physical spaces they occupy, and how they facilitate protest actions while less tangibly providing shared emotional space. The nexus between physical and emotional spaces activists occupy in contemporary Britain is the key point of inquiry. Maffesoli's notion of the social divine is used to help understand activists' desire to seek connections and community while pursuing activism. Networks act as a link to emotional community while promoting further political activity, here anti–global capital and antiwar activism. Central to the idea of an activist network is using the Internet to disseminate plans. However, as the author aims to establish, the Internet is not the only networking tool available to activists. Action plans, ideas, and contacts are circulated via zines, at infoshops and stalls, and in social centers. Networks of activism develop rather than spontaneously emerge on the day of any given action; they emerge from the interaction of activists, in shared physical and/or emotional spaces.