managing crises from below?

civil society initiatives and social movements in the context of the current crises in Europe

The perspective of the workshop is geared towards 'crisis management from below'. In the workshop, we shall examine the solution approaches and the practices of civil society initiatives and social movements with regard to multiple crises. By multiple crises we mean “a historically specific constellation of various interactive and interrelated crises in neoliberal financial market capitalism”.[1] The central crisis areas are: the economy, the environment and social issues (for example: reproduction, education, health, gender equality, migration) together with politics (democracy). The crisis researcher Professor Dr. Ulrich Brand states that multiple crises cannot be tackled using a 'business-as-usual' approach. Instead, in his view, 'another' comprehensive policy is required, the aim of which is the development of a sustainable, supportive and democratic means of production and way of life.[2]

Since the beginning of the 21^st century, EU countries have been increasingly affected by multiple crises, however there are differences in EU countries with regard to the crisis areas, their form and their extent. Spain and Catalonia are on the one hand particularly affected by multiple crises but on the other hand there are numerous large movements there that have arisen or have grown in strength (the historical memory movement from 2000, the anti-austerity “15-M” movement from 2007, the independence movement from 2010 and the feminist movement from 2016). The effects of multiple crises are, by far, less serious in Germany, however they pose new challenges for society. Accordingly here social movements have emerged a new or have consolidated themselves (tenant groups from 2010, groups welcoming refugees from 2015 and Fridays for Future from 2019).