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Patterns of Protest : Swedish Farmers in Times of Cereal Surplus Crisis

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Patterns of Protest : Swedish Farmers in Times of Cereal Surplus Crisis E \\:2^{tt 3Àl THE UNIvERSITY Or AONT,ETNN DEPARTMENT oF AnTTTnOpOLOGY PATTERNS OF PROTEST: Swedish farmers in times of cereal surplus crisis Margareta Olsson April 1993 A thesis submitted to the University of Adelaide, Australia in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy t1 This work contains no material which has not been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and beliefl, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the Universþ Library, being available for photocopyrng and loan. Margareta Olsson lll TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Disclaimer ii Table of Contents - iii Abstract vi Acknowledgements vii Note on Abbreviations and Translations viii Note on Currency xii Table l: Career of policy 15 Map 1: Scandinavia 29 lll4ap 2: Skåne's 33 District Council areas 43 Map 3: Malmöhus County 46 CHAPTER I: TTIE POLITICS OF AGRICULTURE I l. Introduction I (l) Acts of protest as practice 4 (2) Location 5 2. Corporatism l5 3. History 20 4. Events and contexts 26 5. Contents and chapters 35 CHAPTER 2: FARMERS IN TT{E COMMUTERBELT 40 l. Introduction 40 2. Agriculturalists in the minority 4t 3. Community 47 4. Agropolitical networks 57 5. The Union Branch and The Landmen 58 6. Action sets 60 7. Connecting 66 8. Incorporation of young farmers 7l 9. TheLundZone 73 l0.Conclusion 82 CHAPTER 3: MEDIATED ENCOUNTERS 83 l. Introduction 83 2. Communication amongst farmers 86. (1) The regional newspaper 86 (2) The farmers'weekly 93 (3) Motions and letters 100 IV 3. Communicating with the opposition 103 (l) The general public 103 (2) The public sector and Government t07 (3) The labour movement 109 4. Conclusion - tI2 CHAPTER 4. PATTERNS OF PROTEST I: RESISTANCE tt4 l' Introduction tt4 2. Implementation of the Fallow Program tt7 3. Selling the Program 119 4. Forms of resistance t25 (1) Talking 125 (2) Evasion l3l (3) Manipulation r39 (4) Creating personal interpretations t42 (5) Showing polite indifference t46 5. Conclusion r49 CHAPTER 5. PATTERNS OF PROTEST II: DEFENCE l5l l. Introduction 151 2. Negotiation of inputs policy package 156 3. Acts of defence 159 (l) Policy proposal on agrochemicals: Autumn and winter 159 (i) Preliminaries: Everyday conversations 160 (ii) Community building: Telling stories 165 (iii) Networking: Developing counter-arguments 168 (iv) Going public: Letter of defence t74 (v) The Farmers' Federation's position confirmed 178 (2) Wham ban - Part I: Spring l8l (i) Reacting to unexpected news 184 (ä) Lands reaction to the ban 191 (3) Policy negotiations on agrochemicals continued: Spring t92 (i) Defence as structured activity 193 (ii) Defence as unstructured activity t96 (4) Policy proposal on commercial fertilizer: Autumn 202 (i) Reacting with anger 204 (ii) Responding with acts of defence 206 (iii) Delivering extended criticism 209 (5) The ban - Part II: Autumn 2t2 (i) Mediated encounters with distant farmers 212 4. Conclusion 217 CHAPTER 6: PATTERNS OF PROTEST III. ATTACK 220 l. Introduction 220 2. Anunofücial proposal to deregulate the market 223 3. Collective mobilization 233 (l) Oratory 235 (2) Individualism: The limits of protest 241 (3) Collective action 249 (4) Metaphoric expression of fury 253 4. Sustained mobilization of resources 258 5. Grabbing the headlines 261 6. Conclusion 269 CHAPTER 7: REFLECTIONS ON PROTEST 271 APPENDIX A: THIRTEEN ENQUIRIES INTO AGRICULTURE 279 BIBLIOGRAPHY 28t vl ABSTRACT This is a study of protest as practice. Using Ortner's actor-centered approach and Bourdieu's theory of practice I analyze forms of protest observed during ethnographic fieldwork among cereal growing farmers in the south of Sweden from October 1986 to February 1988. Encompassed by the Swedish corporatist political system, at any given time during the 'cereal surplus crisis' in the mid to late 1980's farmers are engaged in oppositional activity to a number of restrictive policies. In the slice of policies presented in this study are offered three concrete examples of how human action in the form of farmers' protests might be considered in its structural context. Acts of protest by farmers form a pattern the characteristics of which are partly constructed by the corporatist political system of Sweden and the individualistic nature of farming enterprises. The main ethnography concerns farmers' response to three policy measures introduced during fieldwork. The study reveals how specific patterns of farmers' protest are associated with the particular place in a policy's development from introduction to implementation. Through a series of case studies, three broad patterns of protest are shown to be linked to stages in a policy's career. The location of a policy in its career has a bearing on the constellation of relations between the Farmers' Federation and Government, a factor which determines the form protest takes at grassroots level. The configuration undergoes shifts, from conflict in the embryonic stage of the policy's career, to hostility during the negotiation stage, to consensus in the implementation stage of the policy's life. At each stage, and thus with each constellation, farmers' acts of protest undergo corresponding shifts. Thus, resistance, which occurs at the implementation stage of policy, when the Farmers' Federation and Government have reached agreement on the implementation of the new Fallow 87 Progranq is the most covert form of protest. The aim of resistance is to evade or manipulate the program. By contrast, defence is openly argumentative, the aim being to water down the fìnal version of new policy. Defence occurs when the Farmers'Federation and Government are still in the process of negotiating the contents of new policy on agricultural inputs. Attack, finally, occurs at the embryonic stage of a policy proposing deregulation of the cereal market, when the Farmers'Federation and Government have not yet begun negotiation. Attack is the most vocal and public form of protest, the aim being to persuade Government to shelve new proposed policy altogether. The political systems of numerous western industrialized nations are variants on corporatism, with its established procedures for regular and considerable input by interest orgartrzations in the policy-making process. These countries tend to have planned agricultural economies, and one or more farmers' organizations to represent the interests of self-employed rural producers in policy development. The patterns of protest which emerge amongst farmers in the south of Sweden may be characteristic of this manner of organzing agricultural commodity production and farmer-State relations in late-capitalist societies. vll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the following people: alt the farmers, their wives and children whose hospitality I enjoyed during fieldwork, as well as the many support staffin the agricultural economy who gave so generously of their time my supervisor, Adrian Peace, for feedback and guidance throughout the shaping of this thesis my pro tem, John Gray, for reading and commenting on the last draft fellow students Charmaine McEacherr¡ Leanne Merrett, Deema Kanefi, David Wood, Mchael Maeorg, and Christine Lovell for many stimulating discussions Erika Martens for editorial comment Charmaine McEachern for prooÊreading Colleen Solly for administrative assistance Rosslyn Mitchell for transcribing tapes Deane Fergie, Rod Lucas, and Peter Burns for unfailing moral support and friends and family in Australia, Sweden, the United States and Hong Kong for continued encouragement. To everyone I acknowledge my debt vlil NOTE ON ABBREVIATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS None of the personal names which appear in the text are real names, except for those of prominent leaders. The names of the two parishes mentioned are pseudonyms. Whenever referring to Lantbruknrnas Riksförbund, LRF, I have used the English translation the National Farmers' Federation, the Farmers' Federation, or simply the Federation. I have also translated the names of frequently referred to Swedish bureaucratic structures into English. In some cases, I have used the translated acronyms throughout the text. The name of the regional newspaper, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, has been translated as the South Swedish Daily to make the text easier to read. The farmers' weekly l-qnd has been left as is throughout the text as this name translates as 'land' in English. The names of commodity processing plants, banks, educational institutions, and so on have also been translated, again to make the text easier to read. However, I have referred to the Swedish labour movement by its Swedish acronym LO tlvoughout the text, as this is less cumbersome than the Confederation of Blue Collar Workers'Trade Unions. The following is a list of most of the institutions mentioned in the text THE FARMERS' FEDERATION LRF - the Swedish National Farmers'Federation (Innt b ru kar n a s Ri ksfa r b u nd) - the Provincial Federation of the Union Branch (S lrån e s p r ov i n sför b un d) - the Lund Zone of the Union Branch (Lundatr aH e n s or t sför bu nd) - the Local Divisions of the Union Branch (Lokalföreningarna) - The Landmen (introduced as the Grain Growers' Cooperative) lx (I-antmrinnen) - the Districts of the Landmen (Inn t m rinn e n s för s ci lj n i n g s o m r å de n) - the Farmers'Medical Centre (Lantbrulrshcilsan) REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS CAB - the (Malmöhus) County Agricultural
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