ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the complexity of environmental justice in the context of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The region was characterized by state socialism based on a centrally planned economy and rapid industrialization with varying degrees of political openness, and a common historical experience with fascist and Stalinist dictatorships. Historically, under state socialism, environmentalism emerged first in the form of state-led nature conservation, but grassroots mobilizations in the region fuelled the development of environmental dissidence in the 1980s. The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the beginning of post-socialist transformation characterized by mass privatization of land and industries, along with widening socioeconomic inequalities. Contemporary environmental justice mobilizations in CEE grew out of this political and economic transition and reflect this distinctive trajectory. And, while clearly environmental injustice on the basis of class discrimination falls within this trajectory, prejudice along ethnic lines is accentuated as disillusionment with the free market system and democracy creates fertile ground for radical right wing politics.
