Reclaiming democracy through alternative food economies

How can agrifood alternatives become part of activist strategies, which embody a politics of extending conflict and social struggle to confront the capital-state nexus, rather than just aiming at building difference or autonomy in the cracks of capitalism? Alternative agrifood movements such as organic farming, fair trade, slow food, community-supported agriculture, and local food networks have proliferated since …

The last days of Tua

A large dam is under construction in Portugal's Alto Douro Wine Region UNESCO World Heritage site. Local movements call to stop the dam and safeguard this patrimony #‎savetua‬ #savetua http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzWtNFZsX2c Very soon, hundreds of hectares of farmland, one of Europe’s finest rivers for mountain and white water sports and one of the continent’s oldest railway lines will …

“One for all and all for one”: Lessons from “The Spirit of ‘45”

by Rita Calvario In times of demonising of the welfare-state and the figure of the worker, it’s worth watching Ken Loach’s documentary on the spirit of post-war Britain. Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ’45 starts with the dilemma posed for workers at the end of the Second World War. After having been mobilised to defeat …

Barcelona, the dead city

  Underneath the attractive brand of Barcelona we find corruption, racism and impunity, from the police to the legal and administrative system. In the documentary Ciutat Morta we discover how undesirable citizens are expendable within an urban-touristic model that cannot be disturbed. The documentary Ciutat Morta (Dead City in English) released in 2013 is now …

Building alternative economies of food in a context of institutional violence

During a fieldwork interview with two new farmers engaged in agroecological production and alternative food networks in Bizkaia, a province of Euskadi (Basque Country), one said something like "all our young people are in jail". This was a striking comment, but not necessarily a surprising one. While walking through the territory of Euskadi it was common to …

Radical geography in times of crisis, a Spanish perspective

The Geography Department of Harokopio University, in Athens, promoted until the end of June (see the program here) several seminars on radical geography. Núria Benach, from the University of Barcelona, was the invited speaker at the 11th of April. She reflected on the role of radical geography in the current times of crisis, offering, as she called it, a Spanish perspective. Núria started by questioning if the …

Language (dis)encounters, fieldwork in the land of euskera

For two months I was in Bizkaia, a province of Euskadi (Basque Country), doing my fieldwork. Right in the first days someone told me that Euskadi is not Spain. In fact, this is a territory with a long history of struggle for the right to self-determination, never recognized even after the democratic transition from the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975). I …