Democracy without growth: The political ecology of the Indignados movement PhD Thesis Viviana Asara Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Ph.D. Programme in Environmental Science and Technology May 2015 Supervisors: Giorgos Kallis (ICTA-UAB) Joan Martinez Alier (ICTA-UAB) Barbara Muraca (Oregon State University) Doctoral dissertation Democracy without growth: The political ecology of the Indignados movement Viviana Asara May 2015 Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) Ph.D. Programme in Environmental Science and Technology Ecological Economics and Environmental Management Supervisors: Dr. Giorgos Kallis Dr. Joan Martinez-Alier Dr. Barbara Muraca UAB UAB Oregon State University Table of contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Resumen .................................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 10 List of acronyms ..................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1: Introduction......................................................................................................... 14 1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 14 1.2. Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................ 20 1.2.1. Degrowth ............................................................................................................................. 22 1.2.2. Political ecology of the new movements for real democracy .............................................. 33 1.2.2.1. Democracy .................................................................................................................................. 33 1.2.2.2. Social movements ....................................................................................................................... 43 1.2.2.3. Political ecology .......................................................................................................................... 47 1.2.2.3.1. Ėcologie Politique & Ecologism ......................................................................................... 48 1.2.2.3.1. (Urban) Political ecology .................................................................................................... 51 1.2.3. Research questions .............................................................................................................. 53 1.3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 55 1.3.1. Participant observation ........................................................................................................ 58 1.3.2. Document analysis .............................................................................................................. 59 1.3.3. In-depth interviews and mini-focus groups ......................................................................... 60 1.3.4. Frame analysis ..................................................................................................................... 63 1.3.5. Thematic analysis ................................................................................................................ 64 Chapter 2: Degrowth, Democracy and Autonomy .............................................................. 66 2.1. Introduction: Degrowth and Democracy. .............................................................................. 66 2.2. Contrasting views on democracy and degrowth: the Fotopoulos-Latouche debate ........... 68 2.2.1. Fotopoulos and the Inclusive Democracy proposal ............................................................. 68 2.2.2. Latouche’s vision ................................................................................................................ 69 2.2.3. The debate between Latouche and Fotopoulos.................................................................... 71 2.3. Castoriadis’ intellectual edifice ............................................................................................... 73 2.3.1. Imaginary, Institution and Autonomy ................................................................................. 74 2.3.2. Democracy and revolution .................................................................................................. 76 2.4. A Castoriadian critique of Latouche and Fotopoulos ........................................................... 79 2.4.1. Social imaginary .................................................................................................................. 79 2.4.2. Pseudoconcrete utopia and doxa ......................................................................................... 80 2.4.3. Autonomy and politics ........................................................................................................ 81 2.5. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 84 Chapter 3: The Indignados as a socio-environmental movement. Framing the crisis and democracy ............................................................................................................................... 88 3.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 88 3.2. The cultural turn and the cognitive praxis............................................................................. 90 3.3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 92 3.4. Historical excursus: framing through transformative events .............................................. 93 3.4.1. The Declaration of Minimal Demands and the eviction attempt ......................................... 96 4 3.4.2. The GA, content commissions and the INCS ...................................................................... 97 3.4.3. The post-acampada phase .................................................................................................... 98 3.5. Framing analysis....................................................................................................................... 99 3.5.1. Motivational framing: indignation ...................................................................................... 99 3.5.2. Diagnostic framing: economism, the counter-revolution, and the crisis of values............ 100 3.5.3. Prognostic framing ............................................................................................................ 102 3.5.3.1. Real democracy ......................................................................................................................... 102 3.5.3.2. The imperial mode of living and degrowth ............................................................................... 103 3.6. Collective identity and frame disputes ................................................................................. 105 3.7. The role of ideologies ............................................................................................................. 106 3.8. Post-materialism and the environvironment ....................................................................... 109 3.9. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 112 Chapter 4: Prefigurative territories: The creation of alternatives by the Indignados movement .............................................................................................................................. 114 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 114 4.2. Prefigurative territories ......................................................................................................... 119 4.2.1 Prefigurative politics .......................................................................................................... 119 4.2.2 Free spaces in social movement studies ............................................................................. 123 4.2.3 Social movements and the production of space.................................................................. 124 4.2.4 Prefigurative territories ....................................................................................................... 128 4.3 Case studies .............................................................................................................................. 130 4.3.1 The Square: Plaza Catalunya .............................................................................................. 130 4.3.1.1. The acampada garden ................................................................................................................ 133 4.3.2 The urban gardens of Barcelona ......................................................................................... 135 4.3.3. Recreant Cruïlles ..............................................................................................................