https://toarcheio.org To Archeio project site Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:10:24 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 https://toarcheio.org/items/communal-performativity-a-seed-for-change-the-solidarity-of-thessalonikis-social-movements-in-the-diverse-fights-against-neoliberalism/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:52 +0000 http://arc.local/items/communal-performativity-a-seed-for-change-the-solidarity-of-thessalonikis-social-movements-in-the-diverse-fights-against-neoliberalism/ Continued]]> The debate on the financial crisis is at an impasse. Neoliberal austerity discourse is often positioned as an almost insurmountable barrier, its disciplinary power affecting even the most change‐oriented citizen‐initiatives existing today. Countering this, this paper highlights the transformative capacity of social movements in Thessaloniki. Drawing from Butler, Laclau and Mouffe, and Gibson‐Graham we develop the notion of “communal performativity” both as an academic and as a practical concept to understand and build trajectories of socio‐economic change. “Communal” denotes the drive of the movements’ participants to interconnect and (re)negotiate with a multiplicity of Others, curbing identity politics to articulate internal differences and Otherness. We see some hopeful signs of bridges being built towards shared trajectories of change that can be understood as different but concrete variations on the abstract counter‐narrative of “breaking with neoliberalism”. Some of these variations challenge, others diversify neoliberal discourses and practices.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/alternative-food-economies-and-transformative-politics-in-times-of-crisis-insights-from-the-basque-country-and-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:47 +0000 http://arc.local/items/alternative-food-economies-and-transformative-politics-in-times-of-crisis-insights-from-the-basque-country-and-greece/ Continued]]> Why and how do alternative economies emerge, how do they develop and what is their contribution, if any, to transformative politics? Alternative economies proliferate in the countries worse hit by economic crisis and austerity, such as Spain or Greece. Yet the existing literature is stuck in a counter‐productive division between celebration and critique. We move beyond this division applying philosopher Daniel Bensaïd’s understanding of politics to two alternative food economies, one in the Basque Country and one in Greece. We illuminate the activist strategies and specific conjunctures within which the two alternatives emerged and explain how they develop in the face of political‐economic barriers. Alternative economies, we conclude, can be transformational when they are inserted in activist strategies directed to extend conflict, social struggles and challenge the capital–state nexus.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/governmentalities-of-urban-crises-in-inner-city-athens-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:42 +0000 http://arc.local/items/governmentalities-of-urban-crises-in-inner-city-athens-greece/ Continued]]> Through the notion of “conjuncture” this paper explores the interplay of urban crises that have been unfolding in the city of Athens during the past 7 years (2008–2014). By focusing on specific “critical moments” that have significantly influenced the narratives, discourses and subsequent policies concerning “Athens in crisis”, it examines a number of intertwined approaches and tactics that shaped the governmentality of such crisis. These approaches and tactics, that work in tandem, include emergency‐driven policies and politics; politics of fear that occasionally transform into geographies of fear; processes of defining the “public” and “public enemies”; and redefinitions of (il)legalities. Yet, they have repercussions on people, places and politics. In this context, certain issues are deemed critical or urgent while others do not or are even obscured.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/neoliberal-capitalism-and-conservation-in-the-post-crisis-era-the-dialectics-of-green-and-un-green-grabbing-in-greece-and-the-uk/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:31 +0000 http://arc.local/items/neoliberal-capitalism-and-conservation-in-the-post-crisis-era-the-dialectics-of-green-and-un-green-grabbing-in-greece-and-the-uk/ Continued]]> Abstract
“Green-grabbing”, in which environmental arguments support expropriation of land and resources, is a recognized element in neoliberal conservation. However, capitalism’s strategic interest in promoting the neoliberalization of conservation is accompanied by attempts to exploit hitherto protected natures without any pretence at “greenness”. In this paper we explore the dialectics between “green” and “un-green” grabbing as neoliberal strategies in the reconstruction of nature conservation policies after the 2008 financial “crash” in Greece and the UK. In both countries, accelerated neoliberalization is manifested in diverse ways, including initiatives to roll back conservation regulation, market-based approaches to “saving” nature and the privatization of public nature assets. The intensification of “green” and “un-green” grabbing reflects capitalism’s strategic interest in both promoting and obstructing nature conservation, ultimately leaving for “protected natures” two choices: either to be further degraded to boost growth or to be “saved” through their deeper inclusion as commodities visible to the market.

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