The 'People's Movement'
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The ‘People’s Movement’ ‘EU Critical Action & Irish Social Activism’ Peter Lacey PhD. Anthropology and Development NUI Maynooth Department of Anthropology October 2013 Dr. Mark Maguire, Head of Department Dr. Chandana Mathur, Research Supervisor Abstract This thesis focuses on ‘EU critical’ social movement activity in Ireland through the lens of one social movement group against the backdrop of three referenda on European treaties over a four year period. I illustrate how grievances are produced and focus on the underlying factors which motivate individuals to engage in collective action against the European Union and its reform treaties. In addressing this issue, I provide an ethnographic account of a group of Irish activists called the ‘People’s Movement’ who campaigned against the introduction of the Treaty of Lisbon in Ireland and who subsequently challenged the European Fiscal Treaty. I examine how the People’s Movement organisation collectively engage with the EU, the State, civil society and other social movement actors in their struggle for recognition and to communicate the organisation’s message. My ethnographic research is undertaken with reference to broader contextual issues, such as modern social movements, globalisation, Europe, meaning and discourse. I illustrate how the main contentious issues being debated by Irish social activists on the streets of Dublin against EU reform resonate with global social activists. I contend that Irish left-wing social activism, as a micro-movement, forms part of a greater collective and a globally networked movement of modern protest against the discontents of global capitalism. Social activist struggles in Ireland against the introduction of the EU reform treaties, while local and national in its form, can be transnational and paradoxically ‘European’ in its nature. In examining where local forms of Irish ‘activism’ are situated within modern social movement theory, I debate whether local Irish activism against the EU is post materialist in its nature, forming part of what Alberto Melucci termed as ‘new social movements’, or whether such activism against the EU is grounded in traditional class and labour struggles. I also address the historicity of such activism and reveal how such struggles form part of a fluid and continuous ‘movement’ of the Irish Left. Contents Introduction ……………………………………………………..….. 1 Social Movements ………………………………………………….... 3 Methodology .............................................................................. 7 Participant Observation …………………………………………….... 7 Data Collection ………………………………………………………. 9 Contextual Analysis …………………………………………………. 11 Qualitative Interviewing and Analysis ……………………………… 14 Objectivity ………………………………………………………...… 15 PART I Chapter 1 Collective Action and Resource Mobilisation ……. 20 Modern Social Movement Theory ………………………………..… 21 Resource Mobilisation Theory ……………………………………… 22 Other Theories ………………………………………………………. 24 Chapter 2 New Social Movements ……………………………. 29 New Social Movements and Identity ………………………………. 32 New Social Movements: Culture, Politics & Structure …………..... 34 Post-materialism ………………………………………………….…. 37 The ‘Old and ‘New’ Social Movements ………………………...….. 39 From New Social Movements to Global Activism …………………. 43 Chapter 3 A New Europe ……………………………………... 48 Europe – A fragmented past to political unity ……………………... 49 Europe – A new economic model ………………………………….. 54 Ireland and globalisation ………………………………………….... 59 Europe and globalisation – An anthropological perspective ……….. 64 Social activism – The nation state and the EU ……………………... 70 Global social activism …………...…………………………………. 73 Chapter 4 Europe and Identity – ‘Imagined and Invented’ ... 84 Anthropology and European identity ………………………………. 85 From Politics to Culture ………………………………………...….. 93 Globalisation and cultural homogenisation ……………………….... 95 Memory and Nostalgia …………………………………………...… 98 Chapter 5 The Politics of Meaning …………………………... 108 Meaning and Culture ……………………………………………….. 109 Framing …………………………………………………………….. 112 Master Frames ……………………………………………………… 113 Concepts of Framing ……………………………………………….. 115 PART II Chapter 6 The People’s Movement ………………………….. 127 Social Movement or Political Agitator ……………………………. 128 Members …………………………………………………………... 130 New Group, Same Movement …………………………………….. 137 Members and Other Groups ……………………………………….. 144 Movement Symbols ……………………………………………….. 148 Organisational Structure: Leadership & Meetings ………………... 150 Chapter 7 Communication and Networks ………………….. 160 Communication ……………………………………………………. 160 Networks …………………………………………………………... 163 Movement Dynamics and Identity ………………………………… 171 Transnational Linkages ……………………………………………. 174 Chapter 8 Civil Society and Irish Politics ………………….. 185 Irish Politics ……………………………………………..………… 186 Civil Society – Independence and Co-option …………..…………. 191 Civil Society Actors ……………………………………………….. 195 Independent Civil Society and Social Activism …………………... 200 Chapter 9 Discourse and Meaning ………………………..… 207 Money Talks ………………………………………………………. 209 Language and Rhetoric ……………………………………………. 211 ‘Yes’ Rhetoric ……………………………………………………... 214 Constructing Negativity …………………………………………… 220 Identity …………………………………………………………….. 226 ‘No’ Rhetoric ……………………………………………………… 229 Chapter 10 Strategy and Tactics …………………………….. 237 The 1st referendum ………………………………………………… 237 People’s Movement and the Media …………….…………………. 239 Solidarity and Resources …………………………………………… 243 Activist Meetings and Public Debate ………………………………. 247 Postering …………………………………………………………… 251 Public Interaction ………………………………………………….. 252 Forms of Protest ……………………………………………………. 257 Creating Identity ……………………………………………………. 261 Chapter 11 New Challenges …………………………………… 268 Sustainment ………………………………………………………… 270 The Permanent ‘Austerity’ Treaty …………………………………. 276 An Economic Treaty for an uncertain economy …………………… 282 Post EU Fiscal Treaty ………………………………………………. 290 Chapter 12 Looking to the Future …………………………….. 299 Activist Disillusionment …………………………………………….. 300 Reconstructing Identity ……………………………………………… 303 Conclusion ………………………………………………………….. 310 Bibliography ………………………………………………………... 314 Appendices ………………………………………………………….. 347 Introduction This thesis is multi-faceted in its focus. It looks at collective action and social movements and analyses how and why individuals collectively join in opposition to further EU political and economic development. In addressing these issues, it takes as its unit of analysis a small group of Irish activists called the People’s Movement who campaign “against any measures that further develop the EU into a federal super-state and works to defend and enhance popular sovereignty, democracy, and social justice in Ireland”.1 During the period of my research (2008-2013), the group actively campaigned against three referenda in which the Irish public was asked to vote on further EU political and economic reform. In 2008 and 2009, the group campaigned against the introduction of the Treaty of Lisbon2 and in 2012 against the EU Fiscal Compact (otherwise referred to as the ‘Austerity’ Treaty).3 When I first began writing this thesis I was overwhelmed by the amount of literature available. While the main focus of this thesis is collective action and social movement opposition to EU referenda, it is simply not possible to provide an accurate assessment or ethnographic account of social movement actors without first contextualising their forms of protest against the backdrop of both local and global economic and political developments. I have divided this thesis into two parts. Part I looks first at social movement theory and modern social movements, but more importantly it discusses a broad range of topics which provide an important setting for my ethnographic research and findings in Part II. As my ethnographic analysis relates to social activism in Ireland with reference to a specific social movement organisation, the People’s Movement, the topics I refer to within Part I of this thesis provide a structural framework for the reader to understand and make sense of this ethnographic analysis. Within Part I, I make references to such matters as social movement theory, globalisation, neoliberal economic reform, contemporary Ireland, Europe and social 1 See www.people.ie website. 2 See Appendix A 3 See Appendix B 1 theory on meaning and discourse. As the subject of my ethnographic analysis is the People’s Movement who are engaged in collective action against the EU and its institutions, it is important for the reader to understand how grievances are produced and the underlying factors which motivate individuals to mobilise. These issues which are addressed in Part I of my thesis are macro issues, that is, they are discussed to indicate broader and wider theoretical understandings and a placing of the movement organisation in a broader context of relevant studies. I shift from a macro to a micro analysis in Part II of this thesis, that is, I focus on the movement organisation itself and engage in a deeper ‘on the ground’ ethnographic analysis. I focus on how the group was formed and developed, its members, networks and communication, campaign activity and discourse, protest strategy and tactics. While certain chapters are specific to the campaign against the Lisbon Treaty, in my final chapter I focus on the post Lisbon period, the EU Fiscal Treaty and sustainment issues for the organisation in the absence of referenda. Notwithstanding the division of this thesis into two parts, I also make repeated reference throughout to the views