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ToolsElswit, Kate (2018) Performing Anti-Nationalism: Solidarity, Glitter, and No Borders Politics with the Europa Europa Cabaret. Theatre Research International, 43 (1). pp. 25-44. ISSN 0307-8833
Abstract
The Europa Europa anti-nationalist cabaret was created in the run up to the 2014 Swedish elections by the Ful collective in collaboration with ‘house band’ the Knife. Part rally and part concert, Europa Europa responds to the Swedish Democrat Party’s anti-immigrant propaganda specifically and the migration policies of the European Union more generally, by enacting a kind of ‘no borders’ politics in a moment of rising nationalisms. The cabaret aims to build a temporary coalition between different but like-minded audiences as an aim distinct from changing minds. This solidarity is also practiced by the performers onstage, who use the ambiguous theatrical positioning of migration stories to challenge conventional imaginaries of heroes and criminals. Through Europa Europa and its inheritances, from historical agitprop to the Macarena, this essay extends performance’s repertoire as a form in which to practice strategic anti-nationalism, and to engage with friction in the process.
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