Lecture from the lecture series of the Research Centre for Social Ecology and Climate.

June 23, 2022, 10:00

Abstract:

The emergence of the Fridays For Future and Extinction Rebellion movements in 2018 has reshaped the agenda of climate activism but the Covid-19 pandemic radically changed the agenda of contemporary climate groups. This presentation aims to explore how the pandemic years affected the mobilising power and discourse of contemporary Hungarian climate movements. Drawing on the literature of ecological activism, the research presents the history, context and distinctive characteristics of the 2018-2019 climate strikes. It then records eight semi-structured interviews involving two representatives of Greenpeace Hungary, Fridays For Future Hungary, Extinction Rebellion Hungary and Zöld Fiatalok Pécs Egyesület. The interviews are analysed thematically according to the methodology of Braun and Clarke (2006) and statistical data is collected to complement the approach. When examining mobilising power, the study stresses the importance of a diverse range of activities, well-communicated results and structured operation and points out that none of the researched organisations, apart from Greenpeace Hungary, have been able to adapt successfully to the new reality of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the discourse of domestic climate activism, the paper identifies three thematic units – (1) the relationship between the pandemic and the ecological crisis, (2) the economic impacts of the pandemic and (3) its social effects – and finds that while the interconnections between globalisation and vulnerability and the importance of local and global cooperation are similarly valued by the selected climate groups, different perspectives emerge on the theoretical approaches to the post-pandemic economic recovery and the impact of the pandemic on solidarity and international solidarity. This study is the first piece in the literature to deal with the relationship between contemporary climate activism and the Covid-19 crisis in a Hungarian context. Possibilities for further research include the comparison of Hungarian climate movements with their foreign counterparts and the inclusion of co-authors.

 

Discussants: Szabina Kerényi, Dániel Mikecz

Date and time: June 23, 2022, 10:00

Language: Hungarian

Venue: Meeting Room at the Institute for Political Science (1097 Budapest, Tóth Kálmán u. 4.)

Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81839895566?pwd=VGhad3EzUW0rZnJDdmZlNXBLdEVHQT09