A Socially-Based Redesign of Sustainable Food Practices: Community Supported Agriculture in Italy

Several grassroots initiatives in the last two decades have shown the need for different food practices that should be locally based and founded on ethical goals of social and environmental justice. Among the many “alternative food networks”, the Community Supported Agriculture model is particularly significant and interesting. By redefining meanings and social norms around food practices, this model actualizes significant processes of food re-socialization and re-territorialization. Focusing on Italy, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of the potential of this model. It does so through two investigations carried out in 2019 and 2020, aimed at analyzing, respectively, structural and organizational aspects of CSAs and the features of resilience shown by these initiatives during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. On the whole, the two surveys give us the image of a radically innovative experience, potentially capable of deeply redefining production and consumption practices, being rooted in socially-shared knowledge, motivations, willingness, commitment and sense of community. In addition to being characterized by a determination to pursue sustainability and equity goals, the model shows a remarkable character of resilience thanks to the original arrangements that the common value basis and the strong sense of interdependence and solidarity of its members can provide.

Social and Political Strategies of Young People: Across D.I.Y. and Institutional Patterns

Today’s youth are characterized by the diversification and turnover of collective actors claiming their interests, rights, and needs. ‘Dispersed’ politicization of youth is also manifested in the extending range of socio-political activities, which at the moment may take place not only in the vertical structure of official state institutions, but also in the horizontal plane of autonomous ‘grassroots’ initiatives according to D.I.Y pattern (Do It Yourself), which raises the issue of describing and systematizing these phenomena. The objective of this paper is to compile the outcomes of 2019 studies aimed at creating and testing the tools to describe the current phenomena of institutional and self-organized politicization of youth, namely, to develop the concept of sociological and political strategy and to determine the range of such strategies in the youth milieu. The paper presents the concept of the sociological and political strategy, including a methodological framework, a model and typology of sociological and political strategies of the Russian youth, comprising 10 main types with the focus on the institutional and self-organized patterns of political activities along with the main risks identified. The research methods: the content analysis of statements on the Internet (on thematic resources and social networks), the analysis of essays by students and school pupils (n = 21) regarding the issue of self-determination with respect to politics, interviews comprising the elements of case studies (n = 10) conducted in 2019 as well as the analysis of interview findings for 2017—2018 (n = 17). The diagnostic method – ‘Determination of the youth political strategy type’ was appraised (n = 55). The Delphi approach and brainstorming with elements of technology foresight were used at the phase of developing recommendations to work with the young.

The genetically modified organism shall not be refused? Talking back to the technosciences

Starting from Marcel Mauss’ observation that “one has no right to refuse a gift”, this paper explores the politics of refusal in the context of field trials with genetically modified organisms in Flanders (Belgium). Based on a decade of activist research, and focusing on the genetically modified organism field trials of the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology, we show that the business model of this strategic research center – with its triple mission of carrying biotechnology research, technology transfer, and the promotion of biotechnology through communication and lobby activities – fosters a climate in which innovations in the technosciences have to “be accepted”. The future is laid out without including the possibility of refusal. Consternation is great when this is exactly what happens. Irrational fears and lack of understanding or lack of familiarity are invoked to explain refusal. Language of precision, innovation, safety, and control are deployed to re-assure the public. Refusal is not considered a legitimate option. Yet, if farmers and grassroots initiatives would accept the gift of genetically modified organisms, it would mean the acceptance of their dispossession and the impossibility of diverse food sovereignties. Starting from theoretical work on “the gift” and “the politics of refusal”, we argue that recognizing innovation as the intrinsically plural and divergent process it is, entails including options to refuse particular pathways as a first step to open up others. As we will argue, saying no to genetically modified organisms is part of saying yes to peasant autonomy, agrobiodiversity, and peoples’ food sovereignties.

The “Communist Beast”

This chapter assesses how the week that followed the March 1933 elections was the single most consequential in German history. It featured attacks on Jews as well as Communists and Social Democrats and set the stage for the takeover of Germany's political and administrative structures. The Nazis claimed public spaces, tenement buildings, and private apartments and made life-and-death judgments on the people who inhabited them. The violent actions began with the occupation of space and ended with the seizure of bodies and the incarceration of thousands of Germans in concentration camps. In March and April of 1933, government actions in the capital guided the upheavals, but countless grassroots initiatives also moved them forward. They took place simultaneously, in almost all spheres of life, creating an extraordinary turbulence that increased in both intensity and extent and overwhelmed conventional checks and balances regulating social interactions. The chapter then looks at the extraordinary level of anti-Communist violence throughout Germany in March 1933.

Issues in conserving ‘orphan heritage’ in Asia: WWII battlefield conservation in Hong Kong and Malaysia

Wars and conflict have existed since the beginning of time. Most battlefield conservation work is done for battlefields that lie in the borders of the nations that were involved, thus fostering citizens’ personal ties with the site and their national identities. However, some areas of the world suffer from conservation neglect because of the distance and separation between the battlefield’s location and the country to which it is relevant, thus creating a dislocated appreciation of heritage described by Price (J Confl Archaeol 1:181–196, 2005) as ‘orphan heritage’. This paper questions the extent to which post-colonial nations are willing to protect and conserve World War II battlefields on their soil. It examines two battlefields in Asia—the Gin Drinkers’ Line in Hong Kong, China, and the Green Ridge battlefield in Kampar, Malaysia—that have been the subject of campaigns to recognise their transnational heritage value. Both battles involved multinational Allied forces led by the British against Japanese troops. A combination of political and economic factors has influenced how the two battlefields are understood and appreciated by citizens and local governments in the host nations. The paper delineates how these two Asian battlegrounds, which are relatively unknown to the general public, have been brought to the public’s attention and by whom as well as how the local governments have handled the demand to safeguard the battlefields. We argue that the global nature of WWII makes its commemoration geographically challenging and politically contentious. The WWII battlefields in Asia attest to the historical authenticity of past conflicts and thus should be conserved as neutrally as possible. The successful protection of battlefields in Malaysia and Hong Kong thus far can be largely attributed to grassroots initiatives, pressure from stakeholder countries, such as the UK, and academic research whereby the significance of the battleground is made known to people in Hong Kong and Malaysia. With public support, responsible government leadership and a shared understanding of their importance as transnational heritage, WWII battlefields can help calm bitter resentment and promote reconciliation.

Urban Activists from the Perspective of Anti-Corruption: A Framing Approach

This work proposes to investigate anti-corruption by examining how corruption and the strategies to counteract it are framed by urban activists. I argue that the increasing importance of urban initiatives in strengthening citizenship and keeping local authorities accountable in Russia deserves the attention not only of social movements scholars but also those studying corruption. In fact, more institutionalized organizations, whose goal is the promotion of anti-corruption and democratic principles, struggle to position themselves as mediators between civil society and the authorities due to the lack of trust from citizens and government laws that limit their activities. In this context, informal grassroots initiatives, as in the case of Kaliningrad analysed below, are particularly important, as they can become 'laboratories' where citizenship is strengthened and implemented, and knowledge is produced. Applying a framing perspective, this study shows how corruption is perceived and framed by activists not only as the abuse of power for private gain, but also as immoral behaviour. Here the lack of competence and the lack of respect towards citizens are also framed as corrupt behaviour. The strategies and activities to make the authorities more accountable, such as increasing transparency and citizen engagement in the policy-making process, are directly linked with the way corruption is framed. In fact, activists legitimize their activities as a professionalized and qualified response to the incompetent approach of authorities and their unethical behaviour, emphasizing the educational role they play.

Ciudades santuario y solidarias en América Latina: una revisión de literatura

The literature on urban sanctuary and solidarity in the context of the Global North is robust and rapidly expanding. However, there remains a gap in the literature regarding how these concepts may apply to the Global South. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review of academic and grey literature on urban sanctuary and solidarity policies and practices in Latin America. We focus on the connection between top-down urban policies and bottom-up grassroots initiatives and practices of migrant and refugee solidarity and sanctuary. Our findings reveal that the academic literature lags behind in some contexts in acknowledging the connection between top-down and bottom-up approaches.

Knowledge and Education in Digital Era

The article describes the crisis experienced by the education system during the development of the digital economy. The main presupposition of the crisis rests upon the following paradox: although the modern economy is based on the accumulation, processing and dissemination of knowledge, a fragmented perception of knowledge as such is being formed nowadays in the whole of society. The urgency of this crisis is especially noticeable against the background of the unfolding pandemic, which exacerbated many serious problems in the academic structures both in Russia and in foreign countries. This crisis of education is supplemented (and enhanced by) the crisis of science as a source of authority in postmodern era. In particular, expansion of social networks within the digital economy leads to the crisis of rational discourse in the society, because of the tendency of individuals to form closed interest communities, based not only on free discussion, but also rather on common misunderstandings, conspiracy theories and esoteric, contra-scientific forms of knowledge. The purpose of the article is to highlight the most important features of this crisis, as well as to outline its specificity within the Russian context. The main conclusion of the article is, although the education crisis in Russia is in many ways more severe than in developed countries, there are still opportunities to overcome it, not only within the framework of an academic system as a whole, but also through a wide range of grassroots initiatives related to with the promotion of scientific knowledge to a mass audience, covering wide sectors of society.

Globalization of Peace

Conventional scholarship on peace and peacebuilding fail to consider how the capitalist world-system is implicated in the structural violence that fuels violent conflicts around the world. This helps to account for the widespread failures of state-led peacebuilding interventions. Although social movement and civil society actors are deemed critical to successful peacebuilding, they are typically denied meaningful roles in shaping these processes. Yet subaltern groups are critical agents pressing for attention to latent conflicts before they escalate into violent confrontations, and they work to reduce violent conflicts and their harmful effects on communities. By shifting our gaze from the realm of states and the interstate system, we see an array of forces working “from below” to articulate projects to transform social relations in ways that Oliver Richmond calls “peace formation.” Global human rights discourses have provided a unifying framework and focal point for these grassroots initiatives, which eschew mainstream notions of rights as formal protections for individuals while advancing new foundations for transformative peacebuilding based upon “people-centered human rights.”

Starting grassroots initiatives to progress equity, diversity, and inclusivity in the Chemistry Department at the University of Alberta

The University of Alberta Working for Inclusivity in Chemistry (UAWIC) group was formed in 2017 to bridge the gap in support for underrepresented groups between youth recruitment initiatives and professional organizations. UAWIC tailors its events and initiatives to the needs of the Department of Chemistry. With the goals of fostering a community amongst department members and retaining a diverse graduate student population, UAWIC has created initiatives addressing equity, diversity and inclusivity issues, professional development, and promoting visibility of diversity within the department. Training students how to overcome systemic barriers and providing platforms to share experiences will help aspiring chemists prepare for future career paths and develop a network of mentors and colleagues.