Nora Räthzel

Transformative environmental education: a collective rehearsal for reality

This paper puts forward an alternative view on sustainable development, arguing that the separation between the economy, the environment and the social in the Brundtland model obscures the societal character of the economy, the economic bases of the social, and the fact that the environment is a societal product. We differentiate between strong and weak sustainability, arguing that the threat of environmental degradation can only be addressed at the level of the relations of production, consumption and political relations. Building on this perspective, we advocate a form of transformative environmental education which engages learners and teachers in a process of self‐reflective transformation. We illustrate this through two examples: action competence and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed.

politicizing biographies : the forming of transnational subjectivities as insiders outside

We take our own life stories as points of departure to look at some of the ways in which women were politicized in Argentina and West Germany (our respective countries of origin), focusing on similarities as well as differences in our politicization processes. We aim at putting present discussions about global political movements into a historical perspective. We want also to illuminate the centrality of political identities in the construction of specific (gendered) subjectivities. Our focus lies on theorizing the ways through which privileged (gendered) identities critically re-read their own position and transform their own understanding of themselves and the world through the field of the political. Methodologically, we want to contribute to ways of re-thinking Feminist methodologies by experimenting with a form of analysis in which we are alternately the subject and the object of our research process. The aim of this intervention is to transgress the binary oppositions between researcher/researched and challenge traditional understanding of social science where researchers provide analysis and informants have ‘experience’. One of our conclusions is that the 68 movement provided subject positions for living alternative normalities as an ‘insider-outside’, that is, for those who belonged to normalized groups in their respective societies, but for different reasons (of which we analyse some concerning our formation as ‘women’) could not identify with the dominant normalities offered to them. At the same time, the dominant male instrumentality of the movement estranged (some) women and allowed them (or forced them into) a kind of distanced engagement that, perhaps paradoxically, provided a basis for sustaining their political subjectivities through transformative experiences of defeat.

From individual heroism to political resistance: young people challenging everyday racism on the labour market

The labour market in Sweden today does not offer a rosy picture for young people. Among them are youth with a migrant background that have the lowest chance of becoming employed. The table below shows the unemployment rates of young people with a migrant background.

Aussiedler and Ausländer : Transforming german national identity

Abstract I analyse the changing conceptions of German national identity since the idea was first articulated after the French Revolution. I distinguish between universalist concepts of national belonging and particularist ones, specifying at the same time their respective class articulations. Within this context, I address both historical and contemporary politico‐legal conditions for German citizenship. These conditions for German belonging entail differential treatment for ethnic Germans coming from beyond the borders of the German state (Aussiedler), whether West Germany before unification or united Germany since, and foreigners living under direct German jurisdiction (Auslander). The claimed bases and inclusionary/exclusionary effects of these differentiations are interrogated, and their contemporary political implications assessed.

The Space of Civil Society and the Practices of Resistance and Subordination

Abstract We argue that the majority of civil society conceptualizations employ a narrow concept of the state and a narrow concept of civil society. The life history of a Brazilian woman demonstrates that as individuals travel through state institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs), they carry conflicting worldviews with them which bear on the practices of CSOs. With Gramsci we recognize civil society as a space where movements and the state struggle for hegemony; beyond him we conceptualize CSOs as contradictory, being simultaneously of and against the state, while the state is simultaneously outside and within them.

Disconnected spaces: introducing environmental perspectives into the trade union agenda top-down and bottom-up

This article compares how visions for integrating environmental issues into the union agenda are articulated from two different positions in the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO). The article is based on an analysis of ‘life history interviews’ and directs attention to the biographical circumstances under which individuals are able to work with environmental issues in unions. The analysis shows that the conditions for integrating environmental issues are weakened by the hierarchical culture of the organisation and by high levels of institutionalisation. LO furthermore lacks routines for mobilising the interests of environmental enthusiasts, and being positioned at headquarters hampers the abilities of union officials to mobilise environmental interests among members. Comparing the experiences from Sweden with the case of Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) in Spain shows that success depends on a relationship between individual engagement and political. Union transformation is contingent on developing issues that connect the immediate interests of workers with their long-term interests as citizens, such that a new workers’ identity can develop and lead to practices that overcome the ‘metabolic rift’.

The Injuries of the Margins and the Restorative Power of the Political: How Young People with Migrant Backgrounds Create their Capacity to Act

This paper presents some ways in which young people of a migrant background in Sweden handle their marginalisation at a time of transition from school to higher education. The stories of two young men are discussed, who develop opposing strategies to cope with the double bind created by a society that promotes meritocracy but acts on the basis of racialised exclusionary practices. One is forced into the position of ‘immigrant’ while wanting to be recognised as Swede. The other has more possibilities to be recognised as Swedish but chooses to define himself as ‘immigrant’ and to understand his experiences through a political analysis of racism in Swedish society. While the conflict in which the former finds himself leads to a state of paralysis, the later is able to de-individualise his position and thus to integrate his different belongings. It is argued that while the celebration of hybridity and multicultural capabilities is crucial, it is also important to recognise how marginalisation and discrimination hamper young peoples capacity to act.

Living Differences: Ethnicity and Fearless Girls in Public Spaces

Its strength (of the book of Jules Verne, Snr) comes precisely from knowing never to invent, but paying acute, almost hypnotic, attention to the real, so as to get it to yield up its secret and reveal its possibilities.(Writings on the City)

Can trade unions become environmental innovators

Lessons can be learned from the actions of the workers and shop stewards at Lucas Aerospace in the 1970s, who fought redundancies by developing a plan for alternative production to turn swords into ploughshares - to transform Lucas Aerospace from a company producing aeronautical and military systems to a company producing socially-useful products. The Lucas Alternative Plan failed for a variety of reasons, but the idea that workers can put forward alternative proposals for sustainable development - for a just transition - are suggestive of new ways for unions to participate in combating climate change. Recent developments of trade union policies towards climate change are discussed, with possible answers offered to some of the conflicts with which unions struggle in their attempt to garner more widespread support for their ambitious environmental policies.The attempt by workers at Lucas Aerospace in the 1970s to develop a plan to convert production in their company from weapons to socially useful goods has recently been invoked in debates on creating low-carbon societies.1 As Hilary Wainwright and Andy Bowman have argued, a renewed Green New Deal that involved a similar level of painstaking attention to grass-roots participation ‘would be a worthy successor indeed’.2 We agree with this view, and we would like to make the additional argument that the Lucas example is particularly helpful for international trade union debates on climate change.

Beyond the nature–labour divide: trade union responses to climate change in South Africa

ABSTRACT We present the life histories of two environmentally engaged unionists in South Africa, who were decisive for formulating the environmental programmes of their respective trade unions. Their experiences of participating in the resistance against apartheid in universities and factories taught them the necessity to connect different struggles and equipped them with the knowledge and ability to connect the fight for workers’ rights with the fight against environmental degradation. Both activists experienced the difficulty of integrating ‘the environment’ politically and practically into a trade union agenda. The labour movement has traditionally experienced nature as a place outside of work to be enjoyed for recreation. While nature constitutes an indispensable condition for labour, it has been privately appropriated by Capital. For environmental policies to form an integral part of union agendas, nature needs to be wrestled away from its appropriation by Capital and understood as an inseparable ally of labour.