From Theory to the Streets: A Conversation about Uncivil Disobedience

Casa do Comum, in Lisbon, will host a roundtable discussion on uncivil disobedience on 20 May, from 18:30 to 20:00, featuring Candice Delmas (Northeastern University), António Tonga (Em Luta) and Toni Melajoki (Greenpeace Portugal). The roundtable will explore uncivil disobedience: when, and under which conditions, it may be considered justifiable, strategically effective, and practically feasible.

CANDICE DELMAS is the author of A Duty to Resist: When Disobedience Should Be Uncivil (Oxford University Press, 2018). Candice is a political philosopher whose work sits at the crossroads of democracy, civil disobedience, political resistance, and ethics. She is especially known for defending the moral and democratic legitimacy of protest, whistleblowing, disruptive activism, and even forms of principled law-breaking when institutions fail to deliver justice.

ANTÓNIO TONGA is an activist of the collective Em Luta. EM LUTA is a revolutionary socialist movement rooted in workers’ struggles, anti-racism, feminism, and internationalism, which argues that capitalism cannot be reformed and must be replaced through collective struggle and socialist revolution. Em Luta organizes workers and oppressed groups against capitalism, racism, and exploitation, defending internationalist class struggle and a socialist transformation of society. It sees liberation not in managing the system better, but in overturning it entirely.

TONI MELAJOKI is the director of Greenpeace Portugal. Greenpeace is an independent international environmental organization that combines non-violent direct action, public campaigning, and grassroots mobilization to confront climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, and environmental destruction. It presents itself as a politically and economically independent movement, funded by individual supporters rather than governments or corporations, working for a greener, more peaceful, and socially just world.

The conversation will be moderated by Dima Mohammed, argumentation scholar specialised in political argumentation and ArgLab Coordinator at the NOVA Institute of Philosophy. Dima’s research examines the complexities of public political arguments and the challenges they pose, with a focus on the workings of argumentation in challenging conditions, such as situations characterised by injustice, populism, hate speech, and deep disagreements.

All are welcome.

This event is organised by Dima Mohammed and Maria Grazia Rossi and is part of the activities of the Laboratory of Argumentation, Cognition and Language (ArgLab) of the NOVA Institute of Philosophy (IFILNOVA). For any inquiries, please contact Dima or Maria Grazia.