Who Are ‘We’ in a Nuclear Disaster?

The Politics of Eco-performance in Late 1970’s Sweden

Abstract

This article explores a major but largely forgotten event at the intersection of the environmental movement and the movement of independent theatre groups in Sweden. Eko-positivet, a ritualistic mass-performance about nuclear power, was performed in Stockholm in May 1977 by 300-400 participants in front of around 4 000 spectators. In contrast to the discourse on class that dominated the political theatre of the time, the mass-spectacle enacted other kinds of collective, political identities, e.g. populist and biological ones. The established independent theatre groups did not participate in the event. In the article, it is argued that this reluctance can be explained by conflicting views on the political ‘we’.