25 years of protest: migration control and the power of local activism

Abstract

In this article we argue that local activist interventions can have far-reaching implications on national and international levels. We conceptualise our approach with reference to geographers’ notions of ‘glocalisation’, which emphasise the connectivity between global and local scales. We illustrate our argument with the example of the Close Campsfield Campaign, a local activist group who work to end immigration detention. Their 25-year campaign illustrates the potential individuals have to take local action, which then reverberates way beyond its immediate context.