Alternative citizenship organisations are created by, or in collaboration with, citizens who collectively and locally experiment with new ways of producing, living, eating, and consuming in response to social and environmental challenges. As alternatives to industrial and technological capitalism, these initiatives share a common denominator: peaceful resistance to dominant power structures.
Beneath the surface of cheerful citizen participation, how are citizens truly organising themselves? Do they have the means to bring their transformative projects to life? Or are they being co-opted by institutional mechanisms that produce the illusion of participation while keeping them on the margins?
These are the questions this volume seeks to explore, through fourteen case studies from France, Morocco, and Tunisia. The organisations featured diverge from the well-trodden paths of the prevailing capitalist, extractive, and individualistic system. They operate within the interstices of the city—spaces where affected and engaged individuals can still find room to express their desires, deliberate collectively, make choices, take action, and build shared meaning.
These narratives illustrate the construction of concrete utopias through the actions that sustain them:
Building the alternative as a matter of common sense
Structuring citizen participation in support of the alternative
Operating within—and reshaping—the gaps of institutional frameworks
Engaging collectively to transform the wider ecosystem
Edited by Amina Béji-Bécheur and Audrey Bonnemaizon,
With contributions from:
Hélène Beraud, Salomon Bernier-Khedache, Barbara Blin-Barrois, Inès Bouden, Yasmine Boughzala, Emanuela Dalmasso, Asmae Diani, Amal Sofia Dyntsikou, Ghassan Waïl El Karmouni, Hajar El Karmouni, Éric Fiat, Éric Gautier Laurent, Sylvia Gossmann, Hamed Haddouche, Fabien Hildwein, Gilles Hubert, Evelyne Lhoste, Meriem Maazoul, Marion Maignan, Sarra Mokaddem, Sabrina Nassih, Lorreine Petters, Alix Poels, and Sandra Renou.
Illustrations by Léna Marty and Camille Messager.