PROTESTING THE GLOBAL AIR TRANSPORT INDUSTRY: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FIGHTING FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE PLANET

Project Information

PROTEST-AIRT

Grant agreement ID: 101057156

DOI

10.3030/101057156

Project closed

EC signature date 7 June 2022

Start date 1 July 2022

End date 30 June 2024

Funded under

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 173 847,36

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAET POTSDAM
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PROTEST-AIRT (PROTESTING THE GLOBAL AIR TRANSPORT INDUSTRY: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FIGHTING FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE PLANET)

Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2024-06-30

PROTEST-AIRT is a multi-actor and inter-scalar research project aiming at understanding the growing global and European mobilization against the negative impacts of the global air transport industry. Before the pandemic, air transport was expected to growth at a rate of about 4% per year, including both more frequent flyers in developed nations and new markets in the Global South. This future demand was paired with new infrastructural projects, namely new airports and airport expansions. Recently, several social movements have been campaigning in Europe to create awareness about the series of 'side effects' associated to this powerful industry, from aircraft noise to CO2 and non-CO2 emissions that contribute to global warming. Airports have become both the site and target of diverse forms of dissent. As sites of dissent, airports have been the place where activists congregate and exert their democratic rights through claim-making, oftentimes engaging in 'radical' and performative protest acts. As targets of dissent, the narratives about airports and airlines as spaces/companies of interconnection and development have been challenged by these dissenting collectives and individuals, proposing alternative readings of airports and airlines as spaces of destruction, exclusion and overconsumption. The PROTEST-AIRT project focuses on selected cases of European environmental and climate activism that target the global air transport industry, including collectives such as Schiphol Watch in the Netherlands, Am Boden Bleiben in Germany, Extinction Rebellion in United Kingdom, Zeroport in Spain and the umbrella organization Stay Grounded, which connects action groups from all over the world. The scientific goals of the PROTEST-AIRT project will be based on the analysis of media texts, in-depth interviews, visual documentation of acts of dissent through participant observation, analysis of social media data (in specific of X/Twitter as political platform) and secondary literature produced by airports, airlines and social movements alike. The project will study the ongoing debate apropos potential solutions for the aviation industry and their limits.

The two main objectives of the project are:

• To understand the role of airports as spaces of dissent and targets of dissent (including airlines), while considering the economic and social relevance that global air transport has for the neighbouring cities/Nation-states.
• To understand how the externalities/benefits of global air transport are discussed in the local, regional (European) and global public sphere, by following the narratives/discourses related to the emergence of social movements critical of the aviation industry.

The cases in study are airport conflicts in Bristol (United Kingdom), Barcelona (Spain), Berlin (Germany) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands).

The scientific findings of the project include the documentation of over 120 protests events that took place at airports in Europe for the period 2019-2024. These protests events included a wide diversity of tactics, ranging from blockades to pilgrimages. The spatial and contested nature of airports has been explored in a theoretical way, and this political use of key (national/regional) infrastructure has emphasized the need to study non-traditional spaces of democratic performance (beyond the street and the square). In relation to the second main objective of the PROTEST-AIRT project, the externalities and benefits of global air transport have been identified in the four airport conflict cases. While activists might highlight the negative impacts of airports/airlines on local communities and the planet, they also recognize that the industry creates benefits for some sectors (although many dissenting collectives consider these benefits to be temporary or limited). In relation to airport authorities and the national governments, it appears that the global air transport industry is perceived exclusively in a positive manner, and any negative environmental and social impacts are only mitigated through technological solutions. These discourses and counter-discourses are highly complex and in the specific case of Germany, the media texts tended to oversimplify the issues, and therefore failed to inform the public about the real impact of global air transport (both passengers and cargo).

In summary, specific tasks linked to the scientific findings of the PROTEST-AIRT project include:

• Participant-observation and visual documentation of protest events in Germany and the Netherlands, and attendance at other protests events on the general theme of the climate emergency.
• In-depth interviews with spokespersons and/or activists from the collectives campaigning for air transport degrowth in the Netherlands, Germany and United Kingdom.
• Qualitative analysis of news stories (in German, English and other languages) covering the protest events organized by the German collective Am Boden Bleiben between 2018 and 2024, as well as analysis of the press releases published by the group.
• Visual analysis and documentation of hundreds of photographs taken at protest events organized by the collective Am Boden Bleiben (for the period 2018-2024), as well as audiovisual analysis of some short videos produced by the activists.
• Continuous tracking of the social media accounts of more than 40 collectives campaigning against global air transport in Europe and at the global level (including the network organization Stay Grounded).
• Documentation and analysis of over 120 unique protest events contesting global air transport in Europe between 2019 and 2024 (including airport conflicts in France, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Belgium, Albania, Switzerland, Ireland and Austria).
•. Scientific publications regarding a) a historical analysis of airports as public spaces of dissent, b) the political campaigning of the German collective Am Boden Bleiben and c) the motives, perceptions and goals of engaging in environmental activism and political campaigning (as a result of in-depth interviews with activists in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany).

The main results of the PROTEST-AIRT project are:

• A historical review of airports as spaces of dissent and the proposal of a typology of political events that utilize airports as sites for political campaigning. In some cases, these types of protests are intertwined, addressing multiple issues within the same political event (for example, protests against climate change that also denounce deportation flights or low salaries in the sector).
• The documentation and analysis of over 120 protest events at airports in Europe between 2019 and 2024. This scientific finding demonstrates that activists are actively drawing attention to the environmental and social impact of global air transport, attempting to re-signify the social value of flying, and motivating both national and supranational authorities to implement effective policies to regulate the sector. A specific target of this political campaigning is private jets, which are perceived as a highly polluting and unequal mode of transport.
• A detailed historical analysis of the protest events organized by the collective Am Boden Bleiben in Germany, which used a political campaigning strategy that combined a wide diversity of tactics (including direct action and civil disobedience, digital activism, and playful protests). The collective Am Boden Bleiben dissolved in 2024, and their activism included other airports in Germany (for example, Leipzig/Halle Airport) as well as solidarity campaigns with other airport conflicts in the Global South.
• An empirical analysis of the role played by media organizations in reporting the protest events involving the Am Boden Bleiben collective, which highlights how these media organizations responded to the playful performances by the group (in specific, the use of the figure of the penguin) and how there is an oversimplification of the conflict in the majority of media stories covering the events.
• A study of the perceptions of dissenting collectives in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany (as well as the network organization Stay Grounded at the European level) on their own political actions, on the importance and impacts of air transport (both benefits and externalities), and on potential solutions for the sector in the context of the climate crisis. This analysis includes a brief empirical exploration of the emotional and psychological dimensions of climate activism.

A banner by the collective Am Boden Bleiben in Germany (July 2022)

A protester holds a sign about the environmental impact of long haul flights (Nov 2022)

Activists demonstrating at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands (November 2022)

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PROTEST-AIRT (PROTESTING THE GLOBAL AIR TRANSPORT INDUSTRY: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FIGHTING FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE PLANET)

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