The EU's 'Eastern enlargement' has not ended the historical exceptionality of Western Europe's wealth and power. EU member states might be part of the same union, still there is a general divide in the lived socioeconomic realities of people with a 'capitalist' and 'socialist' past. The fact that the enlarged EU has not brought an end to core-periphery relations – west-east in Europe – necessitates clear awareness of yet another global divide – north-south – and its translation to inner-European affairs. The preservation of the discrepancy of opportunities for people in 'traditional' and postsocialist EU member states has resulted in various forms of discontent with the EU and its underlying narratives of modernity, which implies the invariability of East Central and Southeast European 'otherness'. I look at attempts to establish an alternative (to) postsocialist modernity and how remembering diverging (socialist) pasts and postsocialist transitional experiences in Europe impact such quests. This actor-centred research project aims to examine what the various alternative realities and envisioned futures after postsocialist de-industrialisation are and how they have come about. To analyse the influence of historical differences within East Central and Southeast Europe on 'non-conformist' visions of the future, I concentrate on the southeast and northwest of postsocialist Europe: Bulgaria and what used to be the GDR. The postsocialist 'Bulgarian passive revolution' has led to the country being the poorest member state of the EU. On the contrary, people in the former GDR still benefit from being in Germany, no matter how high the 'costs of unification' have been. I expect that this study on initiatives in Bulgaria and the former GDR that oppose the capitalist TINA ('There Is No Alternative') doctrine can shed more light on the colonial nature of postsocialist transition. I have two main categories of interest that might overlap: agricultural and postindustrial 'landscapes'. Given the crucial role of heavy industries in socialist economies, the latter are not merely former plants, but also the memory discourses that surround(ed) de-industrialisation. Both in Bulgaria and the former GDR, there are multiple examples of attempts at re-industrialisation in localities that were de-industrialised during the first phases of postsocialist transition. Members of multiple households in Langenchursdorf, a village not far from Chemnitz, have joined forces against re-industrialisation and for 'non-industrial solidary agriculture'. In Sofia, the independent social space Fabrika Avtonomia presents a different response to TINA by reinvigorating the factory as a space suited for self-organisation, self-government, and (cultural and discursive) production. I encourage my interviewees to reflect on the relation of their projects to the notions of 'becoming Western' and 'modernity' – including their (potential) rejection. I am well-aware that these notions might be absent in their daily concerns, however, their vocabulary and conceptual apparatus can give valuable insights on where their quests for an alternative (to) postsocialist modernity come from and might lead to.
