International Program for European Studies Bachelor Thesis
15 ECTS
Spring semester 2016 Supervisor: Inge Eriksson
How do left anti-systemic groups in the
European Union meet the challenges of a
changing transnational political system?
Table of Contents
1. Abstract ... 3
2. Introduction ... 4
3.1 In the Field of European Studies ... 5
3.2 Research problem and working hypothesis ... 6
3.3 Challenges of a changing transnational political system ... 8
3.4 Research Question ... 9
3.5 Outline of the thesis ... 9
4. Previous research ... 10
5. Methodology ... 13
5.1 Theoretical Framework ... 13
5.2 Social movements theories and concepts ... 15
5.3 The use of research methods and the creation and selection of source material ... 17
5.4 Limitations of the methods ... 22
6. Presentation of the empirical material / findings... 23
6.1 Main findings from the interviews ... 23
6.2 Main findings from the content analysis ... 29
7. Analysis... 31
7.1 Influence of the system on the groups ... 31
7.2 Reaction of the groups to the challenges... 33
7.2.1 The use of theory ... 33
7.2.2 Reflection on the role of the own group ... 35
7.2.3 Aiming for transnational cooperation ... 36
7.2.4 Organization as basis for transnational mobilization... 37
7.3 Within Social Movements theories ... 38
8. Conclusion ... 39
8.1 Answer to the research question ... 39
8.2 Suggestion for further research ... 41
9. References ... 42
Appendix ... 47
A.1 Interviewguide ”Autonom organisering” ... 47
A.2 Interviewguide ”Kontrapunkt Malmö” ... 47
A.3 Interviewguide “Interventionistische Linke” ... 47
A.4 Interviewguide “Revolution” ... 47
A.5 Interviewguide ”Socialistiska Psykologer” ... 48
A.6 Interviewguide “India Däck” ... 48
1. Abstract
This paper aims to research how left anti-systemic groups in the European Union meet the challenges a transnational political system creates for them. System critical movements have existed for a long time, but in times of an increasingly transnational multi-level polity it is important to consider how system criticism changes. In a qualitative study of six left
anti-systemic groups from Germany and Sweden, this paper seeks to give insights on left anti-system activism and the role of local groups in connection to transnational social movements. Qualitative interviews with group members, a qualitative content analysis and the connection to Social Movements Theories bring forward a hypothesis of how left anti-systemic groups use political theories, position themselves in the process of political change and what influence they can have on transnational social movements. In order to meet the challenges of (1) the difficulties of defining the political system that the groups are active against (the political system in the EU) (2) more complex and abstract issues that are dealt with (3) the fading importance of the role of the state in the process of political change, the groups adapt by using political literature in an open way and focusing on practical activism. Furthermore, the groups increasingly use
transnationalism as a conception for their activism and therefore perceive their main tasks in providing infrastructure and continuous local organization to enable mobilization for
transnational social movements. The role suggested for local or national anti-systemic groups in transnational social movements is existential, even though the importance of this role is not always reflected upon by the group members.
2. Introduction
The starting point for my research is a combination of two perspectives I hold on the current political situation. I have been a political activist in non-parliamentary left groups for around 4 years, have met members of different groups and seen action tools, approaches and ways of working changing over time. At the same time I have been studying a program of European Studies for the last three years and therefore received a more analytical and academic point of view on political situations.
My urge to find out more about critical and radical movements of the left hit its peak during the Refugee crisis 2015, where I was studying the role of the EU as a global actor, meanwhile spending the rest of my days and nights volunteering at a cultural center that provided help and sleeping places for around 250 transit refugees every night. It was frustrating to experience the contrast between theoretical discussions of EU policies and the practical impact they have. While the EU tried to keep up their values and agreements, such as Schengen, the situation for refugees and volunteers only got worse. The differences between those who are elected politicians and those who practices politics seemed bigger than ever before.
As a result, what I aimed for was finding out more about those who work with new definitions of politics, who are active outside the traditional party system and their role in political and social change. Seeing the EU in a crisis1, how do the left anti-systemic groups react and what does this situation to them and their activism? When looking for material, what I found within the field of European Studies was mainly a picture of the political life based on election results, voting patterns, political parties and policies.2 Those who were, in my eyes, able to act fast and provide help at that point of crisis were hardly ever included. Coming from these two angles, myself as an activist on one side and a European Studies student on the other side showed me some of the gaps
1 A. Hadfield and A. Zwitter, ‘Analyzing the EU Refugee Crisis: Humanity, Heritage and the Responsibility
to Protect’, Politics and Governance, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2015, p.129-134; V. S. Tsianos and D.
Papadopoulus, ‘Crisis, Migration and the Death Drive of Capitalism’, Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and
Enquiry, Issue 31, 2012, p. 4-11
2 S. Hix, Whats wrong with the European Union and how to fix it?, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2008; M. Cini
and A. K. Bourne (ed), Palgrave Advances in EU Studies, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006; C. Hay and A. Menon (ed), European Politics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007; I. Honohan and D.S. Hutcheson, ‘Transnational Citizenship and Access to Electoral Rights: Defining the Demos in European States’, in J. A. Elkink and D.M. Farrell (ed), The Act of Voting, New York, Routledge Publishing, 2015
in European Studies as a research field and led towards an approach that aims towards not only being part of an academic debate but also being practically helpful for activists. What I found was needed were academic tools to reflect upon one’s activism when there is no election poll to use because the active groups work mainly away from the party-political system.
3.1 In the Field of European Studies
The picture European Studies as a research field presents of political processes in Europe is focused on the party system, voters, and the relation between the member-states’ governments or on the EU as a political entity. Even in the debate about the democratic deficit of the EU,
suggested problems and solutions are solely discussed within national state and EU relation or voters rights.3 The groups that are seldom considered as important or even mentioned are those that live politics in differently defined ways. The political activity that takes place outside the frame of traditional party politics is little researched, but when it is mainly within the studies of Social Movements.4
To complement the field of European Studies, it is important to include all groups and factors that are part of the process of political change and of the political system, not only those who work within the system, but also those who oppose it. I therefore argue that the research of left anti-systemic groups that are active in the EU is necessary in getting a more complete picture of the European political system.
Furthermore, the EU has been an ongoing subject of research to find out what it can be described and defined as and what dynamics and influence it has.5 Left anti-systemic groups and their analytical efforts can add on to this debate. Since the EU is a multidimensional political system (working on local, national, transnational and supranational levels), there are influences of the European political system on both the national and the local level. What is to be observed in this
3 S. Hix, Whats wrong with the European Union and how to fix it?; M. Cini and A. K. Bourne (ed), Palgrave
Advances in EU Studies; C. Hay and A. Menon (ed), European Politics; I. Honohan and D.S. Hutcheson,
‘Transnational Citizenship and Access to Electoral Rights: Defining the Demos in European States’, in J. A. Elkink and D.M. Farrell (ed), The Act of Voting
4 D. Della Porta and M. Diani, Social movements - an introduction, 2nd edition, Maldon, Blackwell
Publishing, 2010
case is the influences in both directions, the European politics effect on local and national protest movements and local or national system critical groups suggested role in transnational and European contention.6
3.2 Research problem and working hypothesis
In this chapter, I will summarize the arguments from above in a formulation of the research areas problem as well as the definition of challenges that will function as a working hypothesis. To begin with I will, however, define the terms system and left anti-systemic groups to avoid misunderstandings about the subjects of this research.
To be able to explain the changes and dynamics I have observed in anti-systemic left groups for years, it is helpful to concentrate on the influence of the changing political system on the groups. In a world of changing political systems and increasingly transnational and cross-border
orientated political work, not only the political system itself changes but also the critics of the system.
What I mean when I say system, now and in the rest of the study, is the framework that politics and life as such takes place in.7 Since this thesis partly aims to find out how left anti-systemic groups define the system, the definition shall stay this broad but will be handled in consideration of the material being conducted solely in EU member states.
In relation to the EU and the political system that we have today in Europe, the term
transnational will be used repeatedly. Transnational in the context of this thesis is used similar to the definition by Della Porta and Tarrow, as description for a political process or contention that is played out on domestic level but an external issue, taking place on a supranational level, repeated in several countries or European collective action.8 A more detailed definition of transnational as a concept in connection to social movements will take place in chapter 5.1.
6 D. Della Porta and S. Tarrow (ed), Transnational protest and global activism, Oxford, Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers Inc, 2005
7 M. Bevir (ed), ‘Systems Theory’, Encyclopedia of Political Theory,
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412958660.n440, (accessed 18 may 2016), Sage Publications, 2016
In relation to the system, there is a need to more clearly define the groups that are being
investigated in this study. I am referring to groups that are all autonomous from the party-system, left wing when it comes to political ideologies or standpoints and radical or system-critical when it comes to their opinion of the political system we are part of now. They will therefore from now be called left anti-systemic groups, a term derived from World System Analysis9.
To be able to understand why a changing system challenges anti-systemic groups in the first place, background information is helpful.
System critical activism, in the ways that are familiar to us now, has existed since there were changing political systems, in the forms of states, basically since the time of the French revolution.10 In the context of Wallerstein's World-Systems Analysis, radical anti-systemic groups are one of three ways used to “grapple” with the process of political change by aiming for “systematic, long-term organization that would prepare the ground politically for fundamental social change.”11
The focus that anti-systemic movements in the 19th and most of the 20th century had was on achieving inclusion as citizens in a particular state and therefore changing social organizations.12 The state-centric idea to transform the state, society, and from there the world by gaining power within the state shifted towards a more socio-cultural topic related approach from 1968.13
Observing this shift of focus related to the state and national borders, a change of political literature and its use in today’s activism appears important to investigate. The question of how system-critique is practiced when the national state-centric political system shifts towards a more transnational one and the strategy of left anti-systemic groups moves away from gaining power within the state is important.
9 I. Wallerstein, World System Analysis - An introduction, Durham and London, Duke University Press,
2004
10 Wallerstein, World System Analysis – An introduction, p. 61 11 Wallerstein, World System Analysis – An introduction, pp. 60-65 12 Wallerstein, World System Analysis – An introduction, p.67 13 Wallerstein, World System Analysis – An introduction, p. 69
This lack information shows how the party system and groups within it are researched frequently, groups and activism outside the traditional and ruling party system are on the contrary researched seldom.
In summary, what creates a problem is the changing political system surrounding anti-systemic groups and their activism as well as the lack of academic research made on left anti-systemic groups and their role within the process of political change within the field of European Studies. This is problematic both from an activist and an academic perspective: It restricts the possibility of reflecting upon and improving tools and approaches for activism and at the same time pays too little attentions to possibly important actors of social and political change.
In order to investigate on the influence of the changing system on the groups, I will define main emerging challenges in the following abstract.
3.3 Challenges of a changing transnational political system
In order to research how left anti-systemic groups react to the described problems, there is a need to define what these challenges are and become clear about their existence. I therefore formulate a working hypothesis that is used to give the necessary context for the work and functions as a basis of it. It is not a hypothesis that will be tested in a deductive way, but it purely provides a common ground for the discussion of the group’s reactions and activism in relation to the political system they live in.
These developments are in connection to the change of the political system and therefore lead me to the working hypothesis that left anti-systemic movements are challenged by the emergence of a complex political system surrounding them.
The challenges that I define as major and will use to discuss with the help of empirical material is (1) the difficulties of defining the political system that the groups are active against (the political
system in the EU) (2) more complex and abstract issues that are dealt with (3) the fading importance of the role of the state in the process of political change.14
Using this working hypothesis as a starting point, a research question and subquestions that shall lead through the analytical part of the study can be formulated.
3.4 Research Question
How do left anti-systemic groups inside the European Union meet the challenges of a changing transnational political system?
To be able to answer the research question with the help of the three points in the working hypothesis presented above, the formulation of subquestions has been helpful:
How do left anti-systemic groups use political literature in their activism?
Which role in the process of political change are the groups currently holding and which are they aiming for?
What function do left anti-systemic groups have in relation to transnational social movements? All of these questions themselves would be worth a study and will therefore not be answered in all possible detail but instead facilitate guiding throughout the thesis to then provide a coherent picture of the researched groups reaction on the challenges of the ongoing changing political system.
3.5 Outline of the thesis
In order to answer the above stated research question, I proceed as follows: Chapter 3 provides an overview of the previous research made on this topic, mainly research on contentious politics, and Social Movements theories as both previous research and theory that is used to guide the analytical parts. The chapter thereafter presents the theoretical framework in more detail and defines important concepts such as social movements and crisis, as well as political opportunity. Chapter 5 presents the methodological choices and why these are the best fit for this research
aim. In the section thereafter the empirical material will be presented and thereafter analysed. That section is divided into two main parts, the reactions of the groups to the challenges and the connection of their groups within transnational social movements. The concluding part will then refer back to the research question and answer it in the best possible way and there will be suggestions for further possible research on this or connected topics.
4. Previous research
In the following chapter I will shortly present earlier research conducted that is relevant for this thesis. I will mainly focus on contentious politics, World System Analysis and Social Movements Studies. The latter theory is the most closely connected to left anti-systemic groups and will therefore function as theoretical framework in this thesis. Its concepts and which role exactly it plays in this research will be presented in the following chapter 5.1, on the theoretical framework.
The study of contentious politics goes back to the 1960’s, with Resource Mobilization Theory explaining the emergence of social movements with the possibilities of mobilizing resources and determined by strategic factors.15 Political Process Theory thereafter attributed more importance to political opportunities and processes as explanations for the emergence of social movements.16 Political Process Theory with the political scientists Eisiger, Lipsky, Piven and Cloward and especially Tilly17 as central contributors, has been dominating the field. These two main views can be seen as the origin of Social Movements Theories, where Tarrow and McAdam are
important writers that, often in reference to Tilly’s work, develop Social Movements theories and its concepts and connections.
15 K. Lang and G. Lang, ‘Collective Dynamics’, New York, Crowell, 1961, pp.563
16 J. C. Jenkins, ‘Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements’, Annual Review of
Sociology, Vol. 9, 1983, pp. 527-553; S Tarrow, Power in movement, Cambridge [England], Cambridge University Press, 1994
17 S Tarrow, ‘Paradigm warriors: regress and progress in the study of contentious politics’; Sociological
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, the field of Social Movements studies widened and perspectives on Urban social movements, social action in societies and the influence of money and social control mechanisms on social movements were elaborated on.18
Left anti-systemic groups in Social Movements theory
Research that has been conducted specifically on left anti-systemic groups is often in the context of extremism, that present the current state and political system as norm and groups that differ in their opinions as extremist, radicalizing and pulling away from the point of norm.19 Instead of approaching the groups from a state or system point of view what I do is looking at the
individuals and how they perceive the system. The idea of radicalisation and extremism is in my opinion problematic because it does not see critical movements as part of the political system and as bringing a benefit in developing it but instead perceives the system as positive and “right” and everything with radical ideas of change as extremists. Apart from that, the term anti-systemic groups derives from World Systems Analysis and its idea of existing World Systems and the political groups and dynamics within it. Anti-systemic groups are characterized as those who oppose the system and work towards changing it.20
Much of Social Movements theories literature in the last fast decades has been collections of case studies on collective action and protest movements that in compilation provide an indication of a certain trend or dynamics in social movements. One example of this are Della Porta and Tarrow who describe the trend of transnationality in social movements. They observe that social
movements act transnationally by either adapting action forms and targets from other countries, playing out external issues on domestic level, targeting supranational actors such as the EU to pressure their own government or, most importantly, in the form of internationally organized
18 M. Castells, The city and the grassroots, Berkely, University of California Press, 1983; A. Touraine, The
voice and the Eye, an Study of Social Movements, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1981; J.
Habermas, The theory of communicative action, 2 Volumes, Boston, Beacon Press, 1984-1987; A. Melucci, ‘Ten Hypotheses for the Analysis of New Movements’, Social Science Information 19, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981
19 C. Mudde, 'Extremist Movements', in P. Heywood, E. Jones and M. Rhodes (eds.), Developments in
West European Politics 2, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2002, pp. 135-148; H. Mc Closky and D. Chong, ‘Similarities and Differences between Right-Wing and Left-Wing Radicals’, British Journal of Political
Science, Vol. 15, No. 3, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985
campaigns against international actors.21 Other examples are Giugni and Grasso 22 who collect a number of different cases and explain the trends of contention in the context of economic crisis and Imig and Tarrow with their work on European contention.23 Imig and Tarrow bring forward the finding that “Europeans increasingly protest EU policies – but on domestic soil and not directly against the institutions that produce them” and analyse the EU’s role as an emerging polity and therefore possibly target for protests.24
This research all relates to the concept of Europeanization that describes increasing European integration as a process including the member states and the EU as combined actors working in “new patterns of partnership” and not simply intergovernmental or supranational.25 The concept of transnational social movements therefore uses transnational in a similar way as it is used in the context of Europeanization, including multiple different connections and cooperation in the EU (and with the EU).26
The majority of the cases used are big protest movements, fitting the definition of social movements27 that Diani brought forward. Actors, individuals, motivations for and identity in collective action always play a role in describing the different trends, left anti-systemic groups however only find little attention. They are described as possible organizations being involved in social movements but never as central actors.28 I therefore aim with this research to complement the field of Social Movements studies by giving an impulse and starting point for continuous research of the role of left anti-systemic groups within Social Movements theories. It is for this reason I investigate the influence of the European political system on these groups, to then place them within the processes described by Social Movements theories.
21 D. Della Porta and S. Tarrow (ed), Transnational protest and global activism, Oxford, Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers Inc, 2005
22 M. Giugni and M. T. Grasso (ed), Austerity and Protest - Popular Contention in Times of Economic
Crisis, Surrey, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2015
23 D. Imig and S. Tarrow, Contentious Europeans, Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc, 2001 24 D. Imig and S. Tarrow, Contentious Europeans, p. 3
25 A. Warleigh-Lack, European Union – the Basis, 2nd edition, London, Routledge, 2009, pp.33-35
26 A. Warleigh-Lack, European Union – the Basis, p. 34; D. Della Porta and S. Tarrow (ed), Transnational
protest and global activism, p.10
27 “[…] social movements are a distinct social process, consisting of the mechanisms through which actors
engage in collective action: are involved in conflictual relations with clearly identified opponents; are linked by dense informal networds; share a distinct collective identity.” M. Diani, Do we still need SMO’s? Paper
for the ECPR Annual Session of Workshops, Upssala, 2004, cited in D. Della Porta and M. Diani, Social movements - an introduction, p.20
5. Methodology
5.1 Theoretical Framework
As explained above, the theories that come closest to taking up left anti-systemic groups as actors of political change are Social Movements theories and World Systems analysis. In the following chapter I will elaborate on the theoretical framework for this research and define important concepts. Starting the research with the aim to find out more about anti-systemic left groups, what I found was Social Movements theories and World System Analysis as presented in Chapter 4.
Research approach and role of chosen theories
The theories that frame this study have been helpful from the very beginning of the research, where they provided a basis for formulating the first research question ideas and interview
questions as well as the challenges defined in the introduction. While World System Analysis has mainly been helpful for defining the researched groups and the challenges they face, Social Movements theories were helpful through providing ideas about political crises and opportunities as well as actors of social movements. Furthermore, Social Movements theories were useful for the definition of the concept of transnationalism and gave the necessary insights about the influence of the EU as a multilevel polity on social movements. The multilayered use of
transnational as a description for different dynamics within Europe made the use of the concept possible, similar to the concept of Europeanisation. Transnational processes are both domestic but with European issues, on a supranational level, in a number of countries or as collective European action.29
The approach to this research is mainly inductive, I started with a vague idea of what the results could be and the role of the theory was not clear from the beginning. Only after the findings were analyzed did it became clear that Social Movements theories provides a framework for the analysis, where the suggested placement of the interviewed groups within the existence of social movements and thereby political change is possible.
29 D. Della Porta and S. Tarrow (eds), Transnational protest and global activism, pp.10-11; D. Imig and S.
This means that the theories are used in two different ways: World System analysis is mainly used to define the groups researched and the challenges they face, the latter in form of a working hypothesis. This working hypothesis will not be tested deductively but functions as a “red thread” for the analysis of the empirical data that I will continuously refer back to, to be able to find answers on the stated research question.
Social Movements theories provides a framework in order to explain parts of the findings and conclude by placing the interviewees groups in it. This, again, is not deductive testing of a theory but rather the theory being used to explain the findings.
The concepts of political opportunities and crisis from Social Movements theories has
furthermore influenced the questions asked in the interviews, by giving the basic idea of crisis being a situation that opens political opportunities for Social Movements.30
These theories shall not be confused with the political theories and literature that the researched groups use. Talking about the use of theory as a challenge for the interviewed groups, meant is the literature used by the groups that therefore are part of the empirical material.
30 M. Giugni and M. T. Grasso (eds), Austerity and Protest - Popular Contention in Times of Economic
5.2 Social movements theories and concepts
To be able to connect examples from the collected data to the Social Movements theory and to generally understand the analysis of the data and its meaning it is necessary to define some basic concepts. There are always several different definitions of concepts - I neither disregard nor ignore these, but focus here on the definition of the concepts that I found most fitting to the research and its aim and will therefore not go into depth covering different kinds of definitions that exist. Additional to the definitions of the concepts I will summarize the parts of Social Movements theories that are most relevant for this research.
Social Movements
Della Porta describes the character of a social movement by three criteria: “[...] social movements are a distinct social process, consisting of the mechanisms through which actors engaged in collective action: Are in involved in conflictual relations with clearly identified opponents; are linked by dense informal networks; share a distinct collective identity”31. Here, social movements actors are in a political and, or social conflict that is articulated against another actor that seeks control over the same topic. The “denseness” of the networks social movements are placed in derives from the mixture of individuals and organizations taking part in it, without any of them claiming to represent the movements as a whole. Permanent negotiations about definitions and strategies go on. What differentiates social movements from purely periodical protests is the collective identity that creates a feeling of togetherness, shared connectedness and linkage between the actors and individuals of the movement.32
Political opportunity
There is a long ongoing debate in the field of Social Movements studies on how to define
political opportunities and their influence, as well as how the concept is used. What most scholars agree on though is the broad idea that political opportunities are "consistent-but not necessarily
31 D. Della Porta and M. Diani, Social movements - an introduction, p. 20 32 D. Della Porta and M. Diani, Social movements - an introduction, p.21
formal or permanent - dimensions of the political struggle that encourage people to engage in contentious politics "33.
Resource Mobilization Theory and Political Process Theory see resources, organization and opportunities in the focus of and as extremely important for the “emergence, development and outcome of social movements”.34
Political opportunities in this thesis are used for describing the situation when “institutional channels” like voting in a political system become inefficient and insufficient, e.g. in times of crisis and political opportunities open up for alternative political movements to enter.35
Crisis (Political)
Political crisis in the way I define it throughout my study even though it can be, is not necessarily of the economic kind, but more generally “political crisis as punctual moment that interrupt the steady state equilibrium of incremental policy-making”36 and therefore open up the possibility for change.37 This means that crisis as a point of possible change therefore opens up windows of political opportunities. Crisis in the definition of World Systems Analysis is when difficulties cannot be resolved in the system but only by going “beyond the historical system of the difficulties are a part”.38 In this process “[...] every small action during this period is likely to have significant consequences”.39 The unusual influx of refugees arriving in Germany and Sweden in autumn 2015 can be defined as a political crisis situation, because the ad hoc
humanitarian accommodation was insufficient and the legal basis of the Dublin Convention and the Schengen Agreement suddenly became unworkable in practice.40 It is therefore an interesting
33 S. Tarrow, Power in Movement: social movements and contentious politics, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 1998, p.20; D. S. Meyer, ‘Protest and Political Opportunities, Annual Review of
Sociology, Vol. 30, 2004, p. 134
34 M. Giugni and M. T. Grasso (eds), Austerity and Protest - Popular Contention in Times of Economic
Crisis, p.6
35 H. Kriesi, ‘Political Mobilization in Times of Crisis’, in M. Giugni and M. T. Grasso (eds), Austerity and
Protest - Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, pp. 19
36 H. Kriesi, ‘Political Mobilization in Times of Crisis’, in M. Giugni and M. T. Grasso (eds), Austerity and
Protest - Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, p. 19
37H. Kriesi, ‘Political Mobilization in Times of Crisis’, in M. Giugni and M. T. Grasso (eds), Austerity and
Protest - Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, p. 20
38 Wallerstein, World System Analysis – An introduction, p. 76 39 Wallerstein, World System Analysis – An introduction, p.77
40 F. Trauner, “Asylum Policy: The EU’s crises and the looming policy regime failure”, Journal of European
Integration, Vol. 31, Issues 3, 2016, pp. 311-325; C. Roos and G. Orsini, “ How to reconcile the EU border paradox? The concurrence of refugee reception and deterrence”, Policy Brief, Issue 2015/4, Institute for European Studies – Vrije University Brussels, 2015; S. Peers, “ EU Free Movement, Immigration and
period of time for the observation of left anti-systemic groups and their activism in relation to Social Movements theories41.
Social Movements theories
Social Movements Theories combine these concepts by asking questions like: What is the relation between social conflicts and social movements? What is it that starts or triggers
collective action? What is it that influences social movements and their success?42 In relation to these existential questions, the role of identity formation, values, communication and
participating actors are often discussed in relation to the emergence of social movements or basis of collective action. What is most relevant for this study is to look at organizations as actors that participate in social movements and what role different groups have in the emergence of social movements, e.g. when political opportunities arise.
Organizations of the more loose and radical way, as well as subcultural places, are described as promoting and sustaining collective action. They hold functions as “inducing participants,
defining organizational aims, managing and coordinating contributions, collecting resources from their environment, selecting, training and replacing members.”43 This defines them as essential actors during protest movements but also as element of continuity in times of harder
mobilization.44
5.3 The use of research methods and the creation and selection of source material
In this thesis I use semi-structured interviews as my method of data collection.45 I set criteria to choose groups with similar basic political values and then interviewed in each group one of their members. The interview will be divided into three (thematic) parts: Firstly, the group's aims and
Asylum law: 2014 in review”, EU Law Analysis, 2014, http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.se/2014/12/eu-free-movement-immigration-and-asylum.html, (accessed 17 May 2016)
41 M. Giugni and M. T. Grasso (ed), Austerity and Protest - Popular Contention in Times of Economic
Crisis; A. Hadfield and A. Zwitter, ‘Analyzing the EU Refugee Crisis: Humanity, Heritage and the
Responsibility to Protect’, Politics and Governance, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2015, p.129-134; V. S. Tsianos and D. Papadopoulus, ‘Crisis, Migration and the Death Drive of Capitalism’, Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and
Enquiry, Issue 31, 2012, p. 4-11
42 D. Della Porta and M. Diani, Social movements - an introduction, p. 5-6 43 D. Della Porta and M. Diani, Social movements - an introduction, p.137
44 D. Della Porta and M. Diani, Social movements - an introduction, p.137, p. 52 - 57 45 A Bryman, Social research methods, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012, p.471
ways of working, secondly, questions concerning the use of political theory in the group and in connection to its practical activism and, thirdly, questions concerning the activities of the groups during autumn 2015.
The approach is mainly synchronic, because the focus of comparison is more on the group’s behavior in autumn 2015 or general and a diachronic approach observing the activities over a period of time (summer 2015, autumn 2015, winter 2015/2016) is used, but not the main focus of the work. It became apparent that a cross-sectional design is fitting the best, where I conduct qualitative interviews at only one point of time, to get deeper insights and a general idea on the topic to then deepen the research with a qualitative content analysis of a set of documents. In contrast to quantitative interviews, qualitative interviews provide in depth analysis through personal interactions and the build-up of trust with the participants and allows small numbers of participants.46
Even though content analysis is often used for quantitative data collection, the research design is fitting for unstructured or semi-structured interviews in qualitative research as well.47 As a basis for the content analysis I use abductive reasoning, where key words and terms that reoccur or are of importance in the interviews define the parameters of the content analysis. It is therefore an inductive research with an abductive reasoning perspective included.
In summary, I can say that semi-structured interviews are most fitting to the approach, because flexibility in the process ensures the collection of as much relevant material as possible.48 The chosen and interviewed groups are the following: Autonom Organisering (AO) is a group based in Lund that aims to create a European political movement and therefore mainly works with building contacts to other groups and mobilizing.49 Kontrapunkt Malmö (KP) is a social- and cultural center situated in Malmö that aims to change the society with culture towards a fair and equal society with deeper democracy where citizens are active and have power.50 India Däck (ID)
46 J. W. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, 2nd
edition, Thousand Oaks, Sage publications, 2003, p.470
47 A Bryman, Social research methods, p. 62
48 J. W. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, p.186 49 Interview A.1, Autonom Organisering, ’Plattform’, autonomorganisering.org, 2015, accessed: 30 march
2016, from now on: Document B.1, Autonom Organisering
50 Interview A.2, Föreningen Kontrakultur, ’Kontrakultur Manifest’,
http://www.kontrapunktmalmo.net/kontrakultur/manifest/, 2012, accessed: 13 march 2016, from now on:
is a socialist book-café in Lund that provides space, literature and a contact platform for Lunds left movement.51 Interventionistische Linke (IL), interventionist left, is a fusion of radical left groups in Germany, the interviewed group-member is part of the local group from Berlin, that aims to form a broad left movement with capacity and power to act.52 Revolution (MR) is a Marxist group that publishes a paper and strives for a socialist revolution in Sweden, Europe and the World by promoting Marxist ideologies with the paper and in student groups.53 Socialistiska Psykologer (SP), socialist psychologists, is a group of psychologists based in Malmö that work with combining psychological practices and tools with Marxist ideologies and activism.54
In addition to the interviews, I analyze chosen documents the groups publish in the internet in a qualitative content analysis as complementation to the qualitative interviews. The publications complement data from the interviews with collectively discussed and thought through
information of the groups and thereby add a group perspective on to the individual member’s perspective conducted in the interviews.55 The chosen publications are all texts where the groups describe themselves and their values, visions and aims.56
The interview-design arose from the idea of finding out which theory a group uses and how to then use the “moment of crisis” as a measurement for their success. Nevertheless, all questions aim for information about the group’s way of working within social movements and possibly as part of one or several.57
51 Interview A.3, India Däck
52 Interview A.4, Interventionistische Linke,‘IL im Aufbruch – Ein
Zwischenpapier‘,http://www.interventionistische-linke.org/positionen/il-im-aufbruch-ein-zwischenstandspapier, 2015 accessed: 13 march 2016, from now on: Document B.4, Interventionistische
Linke
53 Interview A.5, Revolution, ’Om oss’, http://www.marxist.se/om-oss, 2016, accessed 4 april 2016, from
now on: Document B.5, Revolution
54 Interview A.6, Socialistiska Psykologer, ’om oss’,
https://www.facebook.com/Socialistiska-Psykologer-849823281714733/?fref=ts, 2016, accessed 6 april 2016, from now on: Document B.6, Socialistiska
Psykologer
55A Bryman, p.561; Creswell, p.187 56 B.1, B.2, B.3, B.4, B.5
Data recording
The data is recorded in two ways: through audiorecording and in notes written recorded during the interview to ensure the complete recording of all data.58 After the interview, these are then transcribed into written form.59 Interviews are conducted in three different languages that are both official languages in the countries they take place, namely Swedish and German, and English as the language of the study conducted and internationally used third language. Due to the extensiveness of the interviews and the documents, a translation to English will not take place, all six interviews and five documents are in their original language provided in the
attachment and I translated important parts that I used as citation or paraphrased myself.60 Rather than setting time on translating all interviews in the best possible way to a language that is not my mother-tongue, I found it more fitting to ask the interviewees to choose a language they feel comfortable with and if possible use English so that the data could directly be used in the
research instead of risking misunderstanding or wrong interpretation from the researcher’s side. The material of the content analysis is derived through the information gathered in the interviews. Several of the participants have mentioned certain publications or documents of the groups that are then included, other documents were found by researching on the websites and Facebook sites of the groups.
All collected material is available in the Appendix, the questions in the interviews numbered equally as in Table C and the color-coding is explained in the end of the document.61
Data analysis
After the collection and transcription of the data, an excel table with all interview questions and the main results is compiled. In this table the answers of every question are coded into three categories and tagged according to three reoccurring themes.62 This compilation is chosen to, firstly, analyze the interviews with all groups on the basis of the same criteria and, secondly,to
58 T. May, Social Research: issues, methods and processes, fourth edition, New York, Open University
Press, 2011, pp. 151-152
59 J. W. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, p. 190 60 Appendix, Interview A1- A6, Documents B1- B5
61 Appendix C, D 62 Appendix C, D
code them on themes that might provide an overview over similarities and connections between the themes.63
Case selection
In order to be able to request interviews for the research, I have been sampling by defining criteria for group that I would include and request. The groups are supposed to be, in some way, critical towards the current political system in Europe, the EU or the country they are situated in. Additionally, the groups should have a connection to asylum politics, human rights activism or anti-racist activism64 and be autonomously active outside of the party system or critical towards it. All groups should be situated in Sweden, Germany or Denmark, simply due to my limited ability to travel further in the time frame of the study and in order to ensure a comparability of the political systems the groups are working within or against. I explicitly excluded groups that are focused on feminism or climate-change issues, because even though they might connect that to system-criticism, the focus of the study would be distracted by more dimensions entering and having to be considered. Subsequently, in the frame of these criteria, I aimed to find as many different approaches to system-critique and political activism as possible and chose different sizes of groups to give the largest possible variety. This is to support the research aim that has been stated above, to open up the topic around these groups and to get the best possible overview and information. This is meant to be achieved by collecting deep and qualitative knowledge and being open for all kinds of results and patterns that might be observable.
The sampling of the participants from the groups has, on the opposite, been totally random and left for the group to decide upon. I have only asked for a person that has been active since
summer 2015 or before and is still active in some way. I chose to rather conduct more interviews with groups that fit well to the criteria than asking them for specific persons within their group. The chance that a representative or a spokesperson has time and agrees on a meeting is less likely than a voluntary member of the group. That person is meant to participate and talk about
subjective ideas and perceptions on questions. That appeared easier to me than asking a person for answers that apply to the view of every group’s member.
63 J. W. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, p. 194 64 The definition of this has been handled quite open, it could either be simply announcing to be an
anti-racist, anti-discrimination group, or a left activist group or actively having chosen asylum politics or one of the named topics as agenda and aim of the group.
5.4 Limitations of the methods
As already mentioned above, one major limitation is the subjectivity of the data collected in the interviews. This is due to the unclear position of the participant in the group and the lack of in-group observation or several participants of the same in-group that might enable comparison. Furthermore, the statements cannot be taken as common opinions of the groups. They shall instead be seen as individual approaches that give a picture of how activists see their work and, in combination with the content analysis, become relevant results. A similar limitation is created by the selection of publications for the content analysis. Analytical texts would have given
additional insight on the groups perspectives but would also add on too many layers to the analysis that complicate the process of comparison.
Additionally, I consider that I as a researcher have pre-knowledge in the topic and am to some extent biased by being active in one of the groups myself. I, therefore, know some of the
interviewees personally or know about some of the group’s activities. I will try to be as objective as possible, but also continuously consider the fact that the reader and someone unfamiliar with the topic might have different approaches to the topic. I will, however, try to use my
pre-knowledge in a positive way for the data collection. By presenting my history of activism and my wish to approach the topic from an activist perspective, it is easier to earn trust and get contacts for interviews.
Also, it provides me a better understanding of the group’s size, influence and activities, because I have been active in their field in the last years. That, however, can also be seen as limiting. I might unconsciously have a preconception of the groups behavior and activism. Therefore, I will work consciously with this fact and analyze the collected data as objective as possible rather than including my personal experiences or ideas of the groups activities.
Furthermore, the set time frame limits the number of interviews, analyzed publications and selected groups and, thereby, the possibility to generalize from the results. This thesis does not intend to prove the influence of anti-systemic left groups on transnational social movements, but instead suggest how they can be understood using Social Movements Theories.
It should also be considered that, due to the inductive approach to the topic I chose, the interview questionnaire had been designed fitting to my guesses of possible outcomes. Therefore, it has
been much more directed towards the use of political theories and literature. This has been helpful and it provided relevant information, but knowing the outcome, there could have been more questions asked that would point in different directions and might have provided even more information. Adding more questions or meeting the participants again has not been able due to the time frame of the research.
6. Presentation of the empirical material / findings
6.1 Main findings from the interviews
The interviews have been approximately one hour each and resulted in about ten pages of text for every interview. Therefore, it is hard to summarize the results entirely or mention all aspects. Nevertheless, in the following parts I describe the main findings and the most important results. To ensure a reading flow, I will use the introduced abbreviations for the groups the interviewees are members of. Furthermore, I will only call them by the group’s name, but thereby in no way ignore the fact that these are individual members’ positions rather than a group’s perspective. The data collected in the interviews has been coded in two different ways: At first, with letters that indicate the reference to issues or political work on a local level (l), a national level (n), an international level (i), the importance of political literature (‘imp’ for important, ‘less imp’ for less important, and ‘big imp’ for big importance) and the notion of the group towards the system with either ‘anti’ for negative, ‘neu’ for neutral or ‘pro’ for positive.
In a second process of coding, some important parts of the answers have been transferred to a separate document65 and coded with colors depending on their indication of the influence of the complex system on the groups, the function of the group as infrastructure or resource and
influence of the group’s activism on transnational protests. I will first give a short summary of the data collected on every group to continue with trends appearing in certain questions and
throughout the coding.
Autonom Organisering
The Lund based group AO works with creating a connected European movement to reach a “classless society without capitalist categories such as gender, ethnicity, money, borders, etc.” The group mainly works on building networks, cooperating with other groups and mobilizing in form of local demonstrations and with publications on current political topics. Political theory is in their opinion important to enable organization and an ideological and structured movement and is used to analyze current political situations. In the process of political change, the group sees itself as currently preparing and mobilizing for future social movements that will profit from today’s organization and learnings. In autumn 2015 there where little changes in the group’s activities observable. Instead of focusing on the refugee-influx situation, the group held a
conference with groups from all over Europe called “Connecting European struggles” that mainly related to the economic crises.66
Kontrapunkt Malmö
KP is working on building structures to replace those in society that they see as not working. The group sees its space as a platform to “collect and combine knowledge from society” and fill the vacuum the current political system creates.67 As critique of the current political system, they bring forward the passivation of citizens and want to be a space to encourage people to engage themselves instead and actively create a society that meets their needs. In the process of political change KP presents role as a mobilizing and organizing counter-power that builds and takes over structures in society. Political theory is presented as less important than practical activism but used for guiding the organization within the group. Most used is the own political manifest that formulated visions, reflects upon the groups role in society and is the basis for different
activities.68 The activities of the group at KP changed completely during autumn 2015 when the cultural center became an acute-accommodation for refugees and paused their usual activities of concerts, soup-kitchen and similar events. In connection to the refugee-support activism, the group connected with similar groups in Europe therefore defines the crisis situation as an opportunity.69
66 Appendix A.1, B.1, Autonom Organisering 67 Appendix A.2, Kontrapunkt Malmö
68 Appendix, B2, Kontrapunkt Malmö 69 Appendix A2, B2, Kontrapunkt Malmö
Interventionistische Linke
IL is a German-wide group and the member I interviewed part of the Berlin-group that works on intervening in political processes and conflicts to radicalize and mobilize. This happens mainly by building alliances and collecting knowledge and experiences to make the movement stronger and bigger. Political theories are therefore used in form of a corridor to profit from different analytical viewpoints and avoid too detailed analytical discussions. Nevertheless, the group has a very developed self-reflection document and perspectives on different political actors including the EU.70 Throughout autumn 2015, the group’s activities adjusted to current topic of refugee support and build transnational contacts in order to organize specific actions. The group has reflected upon the influence of the crisis situation on their activism and focus.71
Revolution
MR is a Marxist group with the goal of spreading knowledge about Marxist ideologies and aims for a socialist revolution of the Swedish society, in the case of the Swedish group and finally Europe and the world. Their activism consists of publishing a paper called “Revolution”, working in student-groups and supporting workers-conflicts such as strikes. Their analysis of the political situation and ways towards a socialist revolution is all-encompassing and basis of their activism. The Swedish group is on a level where they mainly work with propaganda and see themselves as more important in a later step when there are more workers-conflicts to support and there is possibly a revolutionary party to found. Their activities have therefore not changed focus during autumn 2015 but stayed completely the same.72
Socialistiska Psykologer
Socialist psychologists is a group of professional psychologists and psychology students who are Marxist and aim for connecting their profession with activism. By offering psychological
supervision for activist groups and taking a stand in current political debates, the group uses their professional tools to influence activism and uses their expertise for publishing academically
70 Appendix, B3, Interventionistische Linke 71 Appendix, A3, B3, Interventionistische Linke 72 Appendix, A.4, B.4, Revolution
reasoned texts.73 The group doesn’t have a concrete political or ideological agenda, even though a socialist revolution is named, the focus of their activism is mainly reacting on current happenings and using the given expertise and position in society rather than following an agenda to reach formulated goals.74
India Däck
The socialist book café India Däck is situated in Lund and provides space, coffee and left
literature to the Lunds left scene. The group running the café has not formulated political visions or longer term goals but instead aims to provide a physical space and infrastructure and thereby supporting revolutionary groups. The groups active at ID are then working with political
ideologies, analysis and longer term goals. The perception the group has of itself is to function as an infrastructure and recruiting space for the left movement and thereby “facilitating change”. This shows that the group has reflected upon their role within the movement although there is little reference to them providing political literature. There have been no changes noticed or reflected upon by the group during autumn 2015, the continuity of providing the space has been in the focus.75
Perspectives on the political system and reoccurring themes
As results I can present that all groups in some way indicate that they are negative towards the system and, in direct or indirect ways, refer to political issues and activism on all local, national and international levels. All groups, except for MR, refer little to the use of political theories or the importance of certain literature for their work.
In the formulation of their short- and long term goals, IL, ID, AO and KP bring up answers that illustrates them as an infrastructure for the movement. This topic is also brought up by ID, MR and KP on the question why their activism is needed and by ID, AO and KP when asking for their role in the process of political change. Statements as “we want to create a combined
73 Socialistiska Psykologer, Karin Boson, 9 march 2016,
https://louisedane.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/51_socialistiska-psykologer.pdf, (accessed 15 april 2016)
74 Appendix A.5, B.5, Socialistiska Psykologer 75 Appenidx, A.6, India Däck
European movement”76 or “[…] the ability to organize, to safe knowledge, to share knowledge, organization as an archive, a knowledge-archive for social movements […]”77 show, that the groups aim for being a transnational infrastructure for a movement and that means at the same time, that they define themselves as part of a “social movement”.
The influence of the European political system on the groups is mostly (in-/directly) referred to in the parts, where the groups are asked to relate to their countries’ government, their political system and institutions of the European Union, as well as in the part, where questions about the activities in autumn 2015 have been asked.
Even though most of the groups answer on their perspective towards the EU that this is not the focus of their work or the relation to it has not been commonly defined, all groups see themselves as antagonistic to either the EU or EU institutions as a whole or specific policies. Interesting to observe is that even though the position towards the EU is not clearly defined or seen as the focus of their work, all groups show signs of influences of an European system in their activism. ID for example describes their perspective on the EU or European Institutions as “also Antagonistic, a little less just because of practical reasons, but ideologically we are also antagonistic towards to EU, any kind of government really.”78
A group that argues not to have a specific opinion about it and sees both positive and negative sides is KP that supports knowledge-sharing projects of the EU “but if we build a Fortress Europe, that’s so obviously a bad thing. [...] There is nothing we have against it, it goes together with our political analysis that politics and social change shall at least be something inclusive and develop, not the creation of differences between people and borders.”79 The group with the most developed analysis of their perspective towards the EU is IL, who explain that there is conflicts about it within the group. There is agreement upon the fact that the EU is just as any other government is an instrument of power and a neoliberal project, which results in a critical
76 Appendix, A.1, Autonom Organisering
77 Appendix, A.3, Interventionistische Linke, (translated from german:„[…]die Fähigkeit von Organisierung,
Wissen zu speichern, Wissen weiterzugeben, Organisationen als Archiv, Wissenarchiv von sozialen Bewegungen bezeichnet)
78 Appendix A.6, India Däck
79 Appendix A.2,Kontrapunkt Malmö (translated from swedish: „men om vi bygger en Fort och stänger ut
resten av världen så är det så uppenbart en dålig sak. Så att det är ju ett stort byråkratiskt monster liksom. Men det är ingenting som vi har emot det, det går ihop med varan politiskt analys, att politik och social förändringar åtminståne ska vara nånting som inkludera och utveckla och inte att skapa skillnader mellan människor och gränser osv.”)
perspective of the group towards it. Nevertheless, there are discussions, if the abolishment of the EU is a solution or would only be a step back to nationalist states.80
These statements indicate that the groups have a political analysis that is including more than the national state they are situated in. Even though their analysis of the EU might be much less developed than the ones of their own government, it is part of their analysis and describes the EU as similar to “every other government”. What appears to be missing is their direct influence on the EU or a practical “meeting each other”, what makes it harder for the groups to see their interaction with European Institutions. This becomes clear by the statement of SP: “[…] we know that we can affect the EU very little so it’s not like a priority to us.”81
Referring back to the working hypothesis, it becomes visible here that the connection of the diminishing role of the state and the hardly definable EU challenges the groups when trying to formulate their position on the EU. In the case of the KP citation on the EU above, but also for all other groups, we can even observe the complexity and abstractness of the EU and EU policies as a challenge, where a clear opinion or strategy of the groups is hard to formulate.
An indication of the groups being part of transnational movements is given by all groups except for SP. This happens most often in reference to the role of the group in political change and their activities during autumn 2015. The groups describe themselves as being an element of the whole movement, facilitating change and being an infrastructure for the movement, creating networks and being a basis for bigger protests in the future.82
The connection that becomes visible here is that all groups that see themselves as part of a bigger movement, working to make protests or mobilization possible, are also describing themselves as an infrastructure. Groups that work like this can be possibly divided into roughly two categories, the groups that have their own place, and thereby on a very practical level provide space for movements (KP and ID), and those who work without a place, but a focus on protest,
mobilization, civil disobedience and have a strong political analysis (or aim for one) compared to the other groups (IL and AO).
SP is the only group that has little reference to any of the named categories, all other groups answer in ways that show a connection to the themes and sometimes in between the themes.
80 Appendix A.3, Interventionistische Linke 81 Appendix A.5, Socialistiska Psykologer
82 Appendix A.1, Autonom Organisering; A.2, Kontrapunkt Malmö; A.3, Interventionistische Linke; A.6,
6.2 Main findings from the content analysis
The data in the qualitative content analysis has been collected by creating 5 categories and 10 terms that have been investigated throughout the texts. The 10 terms I have been looking for, in a direct or indirect way, are: Definition of the system, Europe or the European Union, Revolution, Transformation (Umbruch), all of these four belonging to the category that aims to give
information about how the groups define “system” for themselves with a special focus on if it includes a local, national, European or international conception of the system. Furthermore I looked for the terms: Alliance(s), archive or memory, local as a basis for bigger protests and summarize these three terms in a category that indicates the group functioning as infrastructure and basis for bigger movements. The last three terms are each a category themselves: The influence of the changing system on the groups, direct reference to political theories or literature and reference to issues that are “crossing” national borders.
One first and general finding that needs to be presented is the absence of any kind of analytical or self-defining texts of ID and an extremely short and general description for SP. Those two groups do therefore basically have no published definitions or opinions on any of the concepts or
categories I searched for. All other groups have a published document that outlines their aims, visions and missions and often how they try to reach these. While MR and KP have a text of only 2 Pages, AO’s text is around 5 Pages and IL is the most developed text with around 17 pages. This indicates the differences of self-positioning and focus on analytical work as a whole. Reasons the groups named for having none to little published material is that they either work as a place for political groups rather than acting politically outwards83 or formulate their opinions on certain topics but apart from that focus on practical work84.
Definitions of the system that have been put forward are either “capitalism”, a “global
capitalism”, a “capitalist system”, a “class-society” and “parliamentarism”. Capitalism has been referred to as both a global and national or global and local system.
The only group that refers to Europe specifically is IL, which describes Europe as “deadly European border-regime” and “imperialistic Europe”, but also as a “room of possibility for
83 Appendix A.6, India Däck
transnational movements, along mutual conflict- and resistance-lines” and “[...] our Europe - far from the institutional and geographical borders of the EU - a horizon of decision for the practice of the collective”85. While none of the other groups situate themselves to the EU, IL creates a clear division between the institutional EU and Europe as a geographical area. Referring back to the defined challenges, the absence of the EU, European institutions or Europe in nearly all documents shows the difficulties defining it or Europe being a too abstract issue to be defined in connection to aims of the group’s activism.
Revolution is mentioned as term or indirectly only by MR, both in their name as such and when they refer to a socialist revolution in the connection to aiming for nationalizing banks,
monopolies and mines. In the description of “Umbrüche”, transformation, IL clarifies that they always aim for a solution for the whole and that the abolition of the conditions we have not can only be thought on a global perspective.86
Summarizing the part focusing on the definitions of the System, we can see that all groups that describe the system in some way define it as “global”, “the whole”, or “capitalism”. There is no group that refers solely to a local or national system. If they do, it is only in connection with a global definition or a “complete” change that is needed. All four groups indicate that they seem themselves as part of a bigger, transnational or European or international movement or
movements, that will develop in the future. However, only IL and KP refer to their role as archive or memory of the movement and the building of alliances: “Kontrapunkt shall channel
knowledge, capital and power for a sustainable development of the local grassrootsmovements”87 and “[…] We try to learn from [our history] and avoid recognized faults.” “Experienced can be kept, so that continuity and strategy enables different movements and cycles of movement can be connected."88
85 Appendix B.3, Interventionistische Linke (translated from german: “[..] ein Möglichkeitsraum
transnationaler Bewegung entlang gemeinsamer Konflikt- und Widerstandslinien” ; “unser Europa – jenseits der institutionellen und geografischen Grenzen der EU – den Entscheidungshorizont für eine Praxis des Gemeinsamen”)
86 Appendix B.3, Interventionistische Linke
87 Appendix B.2, Kontrapunkt Malmö (translated from swedish: ”Kontrapunkt ska kanalisera in kunskap,
kapital och kraft för en hållbar utveckling av de lokala gräsrotsrörelserna”)
88 Appendix B.3, Interventionistische Linke (translated from german: „Wir setzen uns mit dieser
Geschichte auseinander, wir versuchen, aus ihr zu lernen und erkannte Fehler zu vermeiden.“; „Erfahrungen können festgehalten werden, sodass sie Kontinuität und Strategie ermöglichen und verschiedene Bewegungen und Bewegungszyklen miteinander verbinden können.“)
