Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T09:16:37.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Collective memory and social movements in times of crisis: the case of Romania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Raluca Abăseacă
Raluca Abăseacă*
Affiliation:
Social Movements in the Global Age (SMAG) and The Center for Interdisciplinary Research Democracy, Institutions, Subjectivity (CriDIS), Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Social movements are not completely spontaneous. On the contrary, they depend on past events and experiences and are rooted in specific contexts. By focusing on three case studies – the student mobilizations of 2011 and 2013, the anti-government mobilizations of 2012, and the protests against the Rosia Montana Gold Corporation project of 2013 – this article aims to investigate the role of collective memory in post-2011 movements in Romania. The legacy of the past is reflected not only in a return to the symbols and frames of the anti-Communist mobilizations of 1989 and 1990, but also in the difficulties of the protesters to delimit themselves from nationalist actors, to develop global claims, and to target austerity and neoliberalism. Therefore, even in difficult economic conditions, Romanian movements found it hard to align their efforts with those of the Indignados/Occupy movements. More generally, the case of Romania proves that activism remains rooted in the local and national context, reflecting the memories, experiences, and fears of the mobilized actors, in spite of the spread of a repertoire of action from Western and southern Europe.

Keywords

mobilizationgenealogyeconomic crisispost-Communism
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 46 , Issue 4: Special Section: Classification , July 2018 , pp. 671 - 684
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alyukov, Maxim, Erpyleva, Svetlana, Zhuravlev, Oleg, and Nevsky, Andrey. 2016. “Social Justice in Post-Socialist Protests: Comparing Anti-Regime Mobilization in Russia and Ukraine.” In Social Movements in Central and Eastern Europe. A Renewal of Protests and Democracy, edited by Sava, Ionel and Pleyers, Geoffrey, 224–234. Bucharest: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti.Google Scholar
Anderson, Lisa. 1999. Transitions to Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Andretta, Massimiliano, and Porta, Donatella della. 2012. “Contentious Precarious Generation in Anti-Austerity Movements in Spain and Italy.” Revista de Ciencias Sociales 10 (1): 37–66.Google Scholar
Ban, Cornel. 2013. Dependențăr și dezvoltare Economia politicăr a capitalismului românesc [Dependency and Development. Political Economy of Romanian Capitalism]. Cluj-Napoca: Tact.Google Scholar
Beissinger, Mark R., and Sasse, Gwendolyn. 2014. “An End to ‘Patience‘? The Great Recession and Economic Protest in Eastern Europe.” In Mass Politics in Tough Times. Opinions, Votes, and Protest in the Great Recession, edited by Bermeo, Nancy and Bartels, Larry M., 334–370. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bielasiak, Jack. 2010. “The Paradox of Solidarity's Legacy: Contested Values in Poland's Transitional Politics.” Nationalities Papers 38 (1): 41–58.Google Scholar
Bran, Mirel. 2012. “Anger Threatens to Topple Romanian President as Austerity Measures Bite.” The Guardian, January 24. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/24/romania-anti-government-austerity-protests.Google Scholar
Center of Studies in Political Ideas. 2017. “Coruptie si Contestare.” February 11. http://cesip.ro/cercetare-proteste-05-02-2017/.Google Scholar
Cesereanu, Ruxandra. 2003. “Fenomenul Piata Universitatii.” Revista 22, December 5. http://www.revista22.ro/fenomenul-piata-universitatii-1990-445.html.Google Scholar
Císař, Ondřej, and Navrátil, Jiří. 2017. “Polanyi, Political Economic Opportunity Structure and Protest: Capitalism and Contention in the Post-Communist Czech Republic.” Social Movements Studies 16 (1): 82–100.Google Scholar
Dalton, Robert. 2006. Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
della Porta, Donatella. 2016. “Mobilizing for Democracy: The 1989 Protests in Central and Eastern Europe.” In Social Movement Studies in Europe: The State of the Art, edited by Fillieule, Olivier and Accornero, Guya, 37–54. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
della Porta, Donatella, and Marco, Diani. 1999. Social Movements: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
della Porta, Donatella, and Mattoni, Alice. 2014. “Patterns of Diffusion and the Transnational Diffusion of Protests in Movements of the Crisis.” In Spreading Protest. Social Movements in Times of Crisis, edited by Porta, Donatella della and Mattoni, Alice, 1–18. Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Dobry, Michel. 2000. “Les voies incertaines de la transitologie: choix stratégiques, séquences historiques, bifurcations et processus de path dependence.” Revue française de science politique 50 (4–5): 585–614.Google Scholar
Flesher Fominaya, Cristina. 2015. “Debunking Spontaneity: Spain's 15-M/Indignados as Autonomous Movement.” Social Movement Studies 14 (2): 142–163.Google Scholar
Flesher Fominaya, Cristina, and Cox, Laurence. 2013. “European Social Movements and Social Theory: A Richer Narrative?” In Understanding European Movements. New Social Movements, Global Justice Struggles, Anti-Austerity Protest, edited by Fominaya, Cristina Flesher and Cox, Laurence, 7–30. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gagyi, Agnes. 2013. “The Shifting Meaning of Autonomy in the East European Diffusion of the Alterglobalization Movement: Hungarian and Romanian Experiences.” In Understanding European Movements. New Social Movements, Global Justice Struggles, Anti-austerity Protest, edited by Fominaya, Cristina Flesher and Cox, Laurence, 143–157. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gille, Zsuzsa. 2000. “Legacy of Waste or Wasted Legacy? The End of Industrial Ecology in Post-Socialist Hungary.” Environmental Politics 9 (1): 203–231.Google Scholar
Howard, Marc. 2003. The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ishchenko, Volodymir. 2011. “Fighting Fences vs. Fighting Monuments: Politics of Memory and Protest Mobilization in Ukraine.” Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe 19 (1–2): 369–395.Google Scholar
Jacobsson, Kerstin. 2015. Urban Grassroots Movements in Central and Eastern Europe. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Karolewski, Ireneusz Pawel. 2016. “Protest and Participation in Post-Transformation Poland: The Case of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD).” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 49 (3): 255–267.Google Scholar
Kriesi, Hanspeter, Bochsler, Daniel, Matthes, Jorg, Lavenex, Sandra, Biilhmann, Marc, and Esser, Frank. 2013. Democracy in the Age of Globalization and Mediatization. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kubal, Timothy, and Becerra, Rene. 2014. “Social Movements and Collective Memory.” Sociology Compass 8 (6): 865–875.Google Scholar
Macovei, Monica. 2014. “Program Politic.” http://macoveipresedinte.ro/program-politic/.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug. 1989. “The Biographical Consequences of Activism.” American Sociological Review 54 (5): 744–760.Google Scholar
Meardi, Gugliemo. 2005. “The Legacy of Solidarity: Class, Democracy, Culture and Subjectivity in the Polish Social Movement.” Social Movement Studies 4 (3): 261–280.Google Scholar
Mudde, Cas. 2003. “Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe. Lessons From the ‘Dark Side.‘ In Uncivil Society? Contentious Politics in Post-Communist Europe, edited by Kopecky, Piotr and Mudde, Cas, 157–185. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nez, Héloise. 2012. “Among Militants and Deliberative Laboratories: The Indignados.” In From Social to Political: New Forms of Mobilization and Democratization, edited by Tejerina, Benjamin and Peruggoria, Ignacia, 123–138. Bilbao: Universidad del Pais Vasco.Google Scholar
Nistor, Laura. 2016. “Social Movements in Pre- and Post-December 1989 in Romania.” In Social Movement Studies in Europe: The State of the Art, edited by Fillieule, Olivier and Accornero, Guya, 419–437. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Nugent, David. 2012. “Commentary: Democracy, Temporalities of Capitalism and Dilemmas of Inclusion in Occupy Movements.” American Ethnologist 39 (2): 280–283.Google Scholar
Obradović-Wochnik, Jelena, and Wochnik, Alexander. 2014. “Invalid Ballots and the ‘Crisis of Representative Democracy’: Re-Inventing Protest at the 2012 Serbian Elections.” East European Politics and Societies 28 (4): 808–835.Google Scholar
“Ocuparea UBB Cluj are accente PCR -iste: Activitărţi socio-culturale asociate și Şedinţele plenare.” 2013. Stiri de Cluj, March 29. http://www.stiridecluj.ro/social/ocuparea-ubb-cluj-are-accente-pcr-iste-activitati-socio-culturale-asociate-si-sedintele-plenare.Google Scholar
Ost, David. 2006. The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Post-Communist Europe. New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Ovidiu. 2004. “1 mai.” Indymedia Romania, April 2. http://admin.romania.indymedia.org/ro/2004/05/132.shtml.Google Scholar
Pagoulatos, George. 2004. “Believing in National Exceptionalism: Ideas and Economic Divergence in Southern Europe.” West European Politics 27 (1): 45–70.Google Scholar
Petrova, Tsveta, and Tarrow, Sidney. 2007. “Transactional and Participatory Activism in the Emerging European Polity: The Puzzle of East Central Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 40 (1): 74–94.Google Scholar
Pleyers, Geoffrey. 2015. “Alter-Europe: Progressive Activists and Europe.” In Subterranean Politics in Europe, edited by Kaldor, Mary, Selchow, Sabine and Murray-Leach, Tamsin, 200–238. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Romanos, Eduardo. 2013. “Collective Learning Processes within Social Movements: Some Insights into the Spanish 15-M/Indignados Movement.” In Understanding European Movements: New Social Movements, Global Justice Struggles, Anti-Austerity Protest, edited by Fominaya, Cristina Flesher and Cox, Laurence, 203–219. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rosenhek, Zeev, and Shalev, Michael. 2013. “The Political Economy of Israel's ‘Social Justice’ Protests: A Class and Generational Analysis.” Contemporary Social Science 9 (1): 31–48.Google Scholar
Sommier, Isabelle, Fillieule, Olivier, and Agrikolianski, Eric. 2008. “Les altermondialismes en Europe entre national et global.” In Généalogie des mouvements altermondialistes en Europe. Une perspective comparée, edited by Sommier, Isabelle, Fillieule, Olivier and Agrikolianski, Eric, 11–39. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Stan, Lavinia. 2013. Transitional Justice in Post-Communist Romania. The Politics of Memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stark, David. 1996. “Recombinant Property in Eastern European Capitalism.” American Journal of Sociology 101 (4): 993–1027.Google Scholar
Stoica, Cărtărlin Augustin. 2012. “Fatetele multiple ale nemulțumirii populare: o schițăr sociologicăr a protestelor din Piata Universitărții din ianuarie 2012” [The Multiple Faces of Popular Discontent: A Sociological Schema of University Square Protests of January 2012].“ In Iarna vrărjbiei noastre: protestele din România, ianuarie – februarie 2012, edited by Stoica, Cărtărlin Augustin and Mihărilescu, Vintilăr, 19–79. Bucharest: Editura Paideia.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney. 2010. “Dynamics of Diffusion. Mechanisms, Institutions, and Scale Shift.” In The Diffusion of Social Movements. Actors, Mechanisms and Political Effects, edited by Givan, Rebecca Kolins, Roberts, Kenneth M. and Soule, Sarah A., 204–220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 1999. “Social Movements Here and Elsewhere, Now and Then.” Center for Social Organization Research Working Paper, paper number 580. University of Michigan. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/51344.Google Scholar
Varzaru, Alex. 2013. “Rosia Montana: Eco-anarhistii lui Maior, in presa internatioanala.” Ziare. October 1. http://www.ziare.com/media/presa/rosia-montana-eco-anarhistii-lui-maior-in-presa-internationala-1259920.Google Scholar
Verdery, Katherine. 1995. National Ideology Under Socialism: Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceausescu's Romania. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California.Google Scholar
Wertsch, James V. 2008. “Collective Memory and Narrative Templates.” Social Research 75 (1): 133–156.Google Scholar
Zamponi, Lorenzo, and Daphi, Priska. 2014. “Breaks and Continuities in and Between Cycles of Protest. Memories and Legacies of the Global Justice Movement in the Context of Anti-Austerity Mobilizations.” In Spreading Protest. Social Movements in Times of Crisis, edited by Porta, Donatella della and Mattoni, Alice, 193–226. Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar