Contesting Austerity and Free Trade in the EU: Protest Diffusion in Complex Media and Political Arenas

193 Pages·2020·2.473 MB·English

by  Julia Rone

CONTESTING AUSTERITY AND
FREE TRADE IN THE EU
The book explores the diffusion of protest against austerity and free trade
agreements in the wave of contention that shook the EU following the 2008
economic crisis.
It discusses how protests against austerity and free trade agreements manifested
a wider discontent with the constitutionalization of economic policy and the way
economic decisions have been insulated from democratic debate. It also explores
the differentiated politicization of these issues and the diffusion of protests across
Western as well as Eastern Europe, which has often been neglected in studies of
the post-crisis turmoil. Julia Rone emphasizes that far from being an automatic
spontaneous process, protest diffusion is highly complex, and its success or failure
can be impacted by the strategic agency and media practices of key political
players involved such as bottom-up activists, as well as trade unions, political
parties, NGOs, intellectuals, and mainstream media.
This is an important resource for media and communications students and
scholars with an interest in activism, political economy, social movement studies,
and protest movements.
Julia Rone is a Wiener-Anspach postdoctoral researcher at the University
of Cambridge and the Université libre de Bruxelles. She has a PhD from the
European University Institute in Florence with a thesis on mobilizations against
free trade agreements. Julia has taught and supervised at the University of
Cambridge, University of Florence, the University of Sofia, and the Heinrich
Heine University in Düsseldorf. Her current research explores contestations over
sovereignty in the UK, Poland, and Belgium. She has written on hacktivism,
digital disobedience, and more recently, the rise of far right media in Europe.
Media and Communication Activism: The
Empowerment Practices of Social Movements
Series editors: Claudia Magallanes Blanco, Alice Mattoni,
and Charlotte Ryan
This Routledge series edited by Claudia Magallanes Blanco, Alice Mattoni, and
Charlotte Ryan grapples with recurring issues facing practitioners, teachers, stu-
dents, and scholars of communication activism; it addresses challenges to commu-
nication activism as well as emancipatory practices that build culturally resonant,
richly networked, multi-faceted, movement communication systems. Core series
themes include:
• The power structures of media and communication activism;
• Rights in the framework of media and communication activism;
• Outcomes, learning and sustainable futures in media and communication
activism.
This is a global series published in English, and the editors welcome submissions
from authors who work primarily in other languages.
Beyond Prime Time Activism
Communication Activism and Social Change
Charlotte Ryan and Karen Jeffreys
Contesting Austerity and Free Trade in the EU
Protest Diffusion in Complex Media and Political Arenas
Julia Rone
For more information about the series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Media-
and-Communication-Activism/book-series/MCA
CONTESTING
AUSTERITY AND FREE
TRADE IN THE EU
Protest Diffusion in Complex Media
and Political Arenas
Julia Rone
First published 2021
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Julia Rone
The right of Julia Rone to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-53343-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-08152-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To Milena, Julia, and Elena

CONTENTS
List of figures ix
List of interviews x
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
Democracy in Danger: What’s Wrong With Austerity and Free
Trade Agreements? 6
Comparing the Diffusion of Protest Against Austerity and
Against Free Trade Agreements 9
Complex Media and Political Arenas 11
Chapter Description 13
1 Studying Protest Diffusion 20
1.1. Hard to Be a God: Diffusion in Protest Cycles 20
1.2. Diffusion Studies: From Hard Tomatoes to Sit-Ins and
Occupations 24
1.3. Players and Arenas in Protest Diffusion 26
1.4. Key Players 30
1.5. Conclusions 35
2 Quiet, You Might Wake Up the Greeks: The Diffusion
of Protests Against Austerity 42
2.1. Lo Spread 42
2.2. A Brief History of the Economic Crisis and Austerity
Measures in the EU 43
viii Contents
2.3. The Diffusion of Anti-Austerity Protests in Southern
Europe: The Main Players and Their Media Practices 52
2.4. The Curious Absence of Anti-Austerity Protests in
Eastern Europe 72
2.5. Conclusions: Go East! Go West! Forge New
Connections 82
3 ACTA La Vista Baby: The Diffusion of Protest Against
the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement 94
3.1. What ACTA Is and Why It Is Important to Study the
Diffusion of Protest Against It 94
3.2. The Politicization of IP 97
3.3. The Diffusion of Protests Against ACTA: The Main
Players and Their Media Practices 100
3.4. This Protest Is Not Available in Your Country: Why
Spain Did Not Protest Against ACTA 115
3.5. Takeaways for Activists: How to Follow Up on Issues and
Avoid Depoliticization 118
4 TTIP-ing Over Democracy: The Diffusion of Protests
Against TTIP and CETA 125
4.1. TTIP and CETA: “A Symbolic and Practical Assertion
of Western Renewal”? 125
4.2. “Protectionists and Scaremongers Are Winning in
Germany”: The Spread of Anti-TTIP Protests 133
4.3. The Diffusion of Opposition to TTIP and CETA From
the Green Left to the Far Right 145
4.4. The Failed Diffusion of Protests Against TTIP and
CETA in Eastern Europe 151
4.5. Conclusions: Avoid Appropriation by the Far Right! 154
Conclusions 162
Index 171
FIGURES
0.1 Protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership in Berlin, October 9, 2015 6
2.1 Greek protesters at Syntagma Square, Athens 57
2.2 Indignados March 64
3.1 Planned protests against ACTA for February 11, 2012 96
3.2 Directional map of who quoted whom in the mobilization
against ACTA 114
4.1 250,000 people protest against TTIP/CETA in Berlin,
October 10, 2015 144