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Four - No pollution and no Roma in my backyard: class and race in framing local activism in Laborov, eastern Slovakia
- Edited by Anne Harley, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Eurig Scandrett, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
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- Book:
- Environmental Justice, Popular Struggle and Community Development
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 27 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 05 June 2019, pp 53-68
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Summary
Introduction
It was the bleak December of 2007. Petitioners were walking door to door to collect signatures. Ultimately, almost 9,000 people decided to sign and stand up against the planned construction of a massive coalburning power plant. It was a rather good achievement in the eastern Slovakian district of Laborov, comprising 100,000 inhabitants. There were also people who did not sign up. Some had hopes of new jobs in the power plant, some declined because of fear and some simply had no particular interest. There were also those who were not asked to sign up local Roma living in segregated neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the town, a community of around 3,500 people. Legally, they were inhabitants of the town, but in everyday life they were unwanted and overlooked by local decision makers and the majority of ethnic Slovaks. Being the subject of long-lasting institutional discrimination and prejudice, they are considered by some to be almost an ‘environmental burden’, a kind of ‘pollution’ on the ‘pure body’ of the town, producing nothing more than waste and problems.
Care for the environment and the fight against pollution have been serious agendas in public policy making in Laborov and have revolved around two main issues. Firstly, air pollution linked to a highly controversial plan to build a coal-burning power plant in the immediate vicinity of the town centre (culminating in years 2006–10). Secondly, the issue of waste management in the town, which came to be increasingly presented in the public debate. While the former could be considered an example of short-term popular mobilisation and community resistance to environmentally irresponsible big capital investment, the latter is an instance of a managerial problem recategorised into an ethnic issue and example of racialisation and reproduction of prejudices and discrimination against local Roma. Thus, this chapter can be seen as a case study of the racialisation and class division of an environmental justice struggle and a contest of framing between ‘environmental justice’ and racial oppression, in which the Roma are cast as no more than equivalent to environmental pollution.
Our study, the fieldwork for which was undertaken in March 2017 and January 2018, is based on available written records (media and documents), interviews and observational research, involving fieldwork in Laborov.
thirteen - Social solidarity, human rights and Roma: unequal access to basic resources in Central and Eastern Europe
- Edited by Marion Ellison, Queen Margaret University Edinburgh
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- Book:
- Reinventing Social Solidarity across Europe
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 01 September 2022
- Print publication:
- 26 October 2011, pp 227-250
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Summary
Introduction
Inhabitants regularly, especially in the summer time, suffer from lack of water and they usually travel to the cooperative farm for water, carrying it back to their houses. This is labor usually performed by women and children. They often take water from streams in the forest, which is of doubtful quality, especially after the rains when the streams contain mud and the water is of yellow or brown color. (Filčák, 2007)
The continuing presence of unequal access to basic resources and widespread socio-economic inequalities in Europe works against the achievement of social solidarity and integration across European societies (Bulpett, 2002; Madanipour et al, 2005; Filčák, 2007). Conversely, it may also be argued that the displacement of ‘social solidarity’ in favour of ‘democracy’ within European integrationist discourse has contributed to the partial eclipse of human rights approaches focusing on ‘equality’ and ‘social inclusion’ within public policy rationales. Previous work has clearly revealed linkages between social inequality and exclusion, and social integration (Barry, 1998; Popay et al, 2006). The examination of social solidarity implies studying processes of integration, or the degree and types of social interactions present within society.
In this chapter, attention is focused on governmental actions influencing living conditions and social differences within society. There are several ways in which governments can influence social differences, cohesion, inequalities and relational levels of social solidarity in society. It can be done via economic policies (such as capital accumulation, investments), fiscal policies (such as taxation) and public policies (such as social and welfare policies), or via the building of legal frameworks such as anti-discrimination policies. For the sake of clear argument, in what follows we abstract from an analysis of the general economic and fiscal attributes of the functioning of society and their link with cohesion or inequalities, and focus our attention on public policies and the way they influence the integration or division of society. We assume that public, especially social, policies in any country may tend to be either residual or universalistic. In reality, the situation is always a mix of these ideal types because, in order to gain support among the broad public that is targeted, social policies are often based on a universal system of social protection (CoE, 2001).