Revolution in Dialogue Conversations on transformative environmental activism
19.07.2016
by Janna Jung-Irrgang
Supervisor: Prof. Ulrich Demmer
My motivation for this project was to survey different positions on environmental activism, protest and action. I wanted to understand which perspectives and opinions exist, how they maybe conflict or harmonize with each other and how compatible they are.
The dialogues that I have recorded are semi-fictitious: they represent different argumentative stances on a field of discussion about transformation that are rarely clearly confronted with each other. While someone with close knowledge of the environmental transformation discourse will probably be aware of most of the actors mentioned, I have tried to incorporate a wide range of theories and opinions, reasonings and conflicts into the conversations. Creating an argumentative piece of text without pushing the boundaries of truth and honesty on highly conflicted topics also allowed me a greater openness to the presentation of positions than a more typical scientific paper. Pictures, slogans and sketches of possible mechanisms complement the pure conversational form.
The argumentative basis that the discourse is built on is a perceived need for change, for transformation with an indescribable scope. But abstracting from that one can find positions that follow fundamentally different convictions, while still often coming to the same conclusions. In order to make this project possible I spoke with a lot of different actors involved in the discourse on an (ecological, environmental) transformation: activists undertaking civil disobedience or developing ways of participative artistic protest, practicioners implementing new ways of living, theorists examining the creation of protest groups, or of system-level change. The positions I learnt about offer the framework for a way of thinking about a global transformative movement.