Left-wing Social Movements between Strong European Identities and the Challenges of Transnational Activism. The Case of DiEM25
Abstract
DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement 2025) is a key contemporary example of left-wing transnational mobilization. In this chapter, we analyze how DiEM25 activists identify with 'Europe' and how they assess the practice of transnational activism.
Our findings contribute to three important debates on contemporary social movement activism. First, we provide novel evidence that 'anti-nationalist Europeanism' constitutes a cornerstone of the political identity of many contemporary left-wing activists.
Despite the criticism of and disappointment with the real-existing EU among DiEM25 activists, they strongly hold on to European integration, while being critical of the nation-state, often equated with nationalism. Second, our findings underline the difficulties of 'Europeanization from below': despite DiEM25's strong transnationalism on an ideational level, the actual practices of transnational activism involve many challenges, both offline and online.
Third, we link to more general debates on the transnational strategies of left-wing actors in Europe, questioning the feasibility of such an approach, not only because of the challenges to effectively organize transnationally, but also because of the immunization of the EU against left-wing reform. Methodologically, we make use of novel data collected for the research project that forms the basis of this book: semi-structured interviews with DiEM25 activists.