In this essay, Chris Robé explores the origins of video activism from the ecology, women’s liberation, and anarchist movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then traces the state’s increasing surveillance of video activism and recent debates regarding the value of such activism among participants of the Stop Cop City movement.

Chris Robé is a Professor of Film and Media Studies at Florida Atlantic University in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies. He writes about media activism of all varieties and has recently published Abolishing Surveillance: Digital Media Activism and State Repression with PM Press. He occasionally writes film reviews for PopMatters. He is also vice-president for his faculty union, pushing back against the attacks against academic freedom while pursuing creating a quality and free public higher education for all.

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro.

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Artwork by Sam G.