Persistent anti-littering activism in a non-Western context: The case of the Nature Cleaners Movement in Iran

Abstract

Persistent activism has mostly been discussed in the context of Western socio-political and religious movements, where it is attributed to organizational and inter-personal networks and the development of identities and solidarities. Studies of persistent environmental activism are rare in countries that lack durable mobilizing structures. This study explores, for the first time, persistent anti-littering activism in an infrequently studied social and political setting, Iran. This allows us to assess the applicability of social movement findings from western cases to a non-western context. Drawing on in-depth interviews with eighteen persistent Iranian anti-littering activists we find that cosmopolitanism, which de-naturalizes pollution and littering, is a key motivating factor. Persistent anti-littering activism involves overcoming the difficulties of participation by finding pleasures in together to generate a pragmatic identity.