"An attempt to look out of the ecxological depression" : Samizdat and alternative ecological journalism in communist Czechoslovakia, 1969-1989

The aim of this joint contribution is the analysis of ecological samizdat and grey zone ecological journals in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s. On one hand, samizdat journalism dealing with ecological issues expressed people's frustration with the devastation of nature; on the other hand, it criticised the inaction of the state apparatus. Ecological samizdat journalism was a response to the communist government and its censorship of environmental data which were very often considered top-secret, even though they were provided e.g. as part of international monitoring of air pollution or collected as part of global environmental programmes.

The paper will describe the role of the alternative publishing spheres as the important communication channels and sources of expertise and data, also testifying to the different forms and plurality of Czechoslovak environmentalism and the ecological movement (from conservationists to “green underground”), their mutual crossovers and interactions, as well as their transnational connections. [Publisher's text]