SkriptaTV
Costas Douzinas: Philosophy and Resistance: Greece and the Future of Europe /// 15th May 2013
updated
In episode 51 of Reframing, we spoke to Marxist ecologist John Bellamy Foster, professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, editor of the independent socialist magazine Monthly Review, and author of numerous studies, including the recent major work The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology. The interview was recorded online in August 2020. We talked about the materialist and dialectic aspects of ecology, market efficiency, a just ecological transition, the global reserve army of cheap labour, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the theory of social reproduction. New episodes are airing on Kanal Ri, and the so far published bilingual episodes are available on the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwosfOY0garClaoFKlP_DfZ2At0LQZ78P
The broadcast was first aired on August 19th 2020 at Kanal Ri.
The broadcast is financed with the funds of the Fund for Encouraging Pluralism and Diversity of Electronic Media by the Agency for Electronic Media of the Republic of Croatia.
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U pedesetprvoj bilingvalnoj epizodi emisije Promjena okvira pogledajte intervju s Johnom Bellamyjem Fosterom, marksističkim ekologom i profesorom sociologije na Sveučilištu u Oregonu, urednikom nezavisnog socijalističkog časopisa Monthly Review te autorom brojnih studija, među kojima je i nedavno kapitalno djelo The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology. U intervjuu snimljenom online u kolovozu ove godine razgovarali smo o materijalističkim i dijalektičkim aspektima ekologije, tržišnoj učinkovitosti, pravednoj ekološkoj tranziciji, globalnoj rezervnoj armiji jeftine radne snage, pandemiji COVID-19 i teoriji socijalne reprodukcije. Nove epizode možete pratiti na Kanalu Ri, a dosad objavljene bilingvalne epizode potražite na plejlisti: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwosfOY0garClaoFKlP_DfZ2At0LQZ78P
Emisija je prikazana 19.8.2020. na Kanalu Ri.
Emisija je financirana sredstvima Fonda za poticanje pluralizma i raznovrsnosti elektroničkih medija Agencije za elektroničke medije Republike Hrvatske.
In episode 49 of Reframing, we spoke to philosopher and queer Marxist Holly Lewis, professor at the University of Austin, Texas, and co-founder of the international research platform Sexuality and Political Economy Network. The interview was recorded in January 2020 in Zagreb, where Lewis held a seminar as part of the School of Indispensable Knowledge, organized by the MaMa Multimedia Institute. The subject of our conversation included the differences between traditional and oppositional sexism, heteronormativity, trans-exclusionary radical feminism, sex work, and the anti-capitalist potential of queerness. New episodes are airing on Kanal Ri, and the so far published bilingual episodes are available on the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwosfOY0garClaoFKlP_DfZ2At0LQZ78P
The broadcast was first aired on July 22nd 2020 at Kanal Ri.
The broadcast is financed with the funds of the Fund for Encouraging Pluralism and Diversity of Electronic Media by the Agency for Electronic Media of the Republic of Croatia.
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U četrdesetdevetoj bilingvalnoj epizodi emisije Promjena okvira pogledajte intervju s filozofkinjom i kvir marksistkinjom Holly Lewis, profesoricom sa Sveučilišta u Austinu te suosnivačicom međunarodne istraživačke platforme Sexuality and Political Economy Network. Intervju je snimljen u siječnju ove godine u Zagrebu, gdje je Lewis održala seminar u okviru Škole neophodnog znanja, u organizaciji Multimedijalnog instituta MaMa. S Lewis smo razgovarali_e o razlikama između tradicionalnog i opozicijskog seksizma, heteronormativnosti, trans-isključivom radikalnom feminizmu, seksualnom radu te antikapitalističkim potencijalima kvirnosti. Nove epizode možete pratiti na Kanalu Ri, a dosad objavljene bilingvalne epizode potražite na plejlisti: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwosfOY0garClaoFKlP_DfZ2At0LQZ78P
Emisija je prikazana 22.7.2020. na Kanalu Ri.
Emisija je financirana sredstvima Fonda za poticanje pluralizma i raznovrsnosti elektroničkih medija Agencije za elektroničke medije Republike Hrvatske.
12th Subversive festival "Europe on the Edge – Towards New Emancipatory Imagination"
Moderated by: Stipe Ćurković
Michael Heinrich: Capital and Crisis – the Actuality of Marx’s Critique of Political Economy in the 21st Century
The first volume of “Capital” appeared more than 150 years ago. However, it didn’t just
picture capitalism of 19 th century. Marx didn’t want to present a certain period of capitalist
development, he claimed to present the capitalist mode of production in its “ideal average”,
i.e. the core of capitalist relations, which are connected with any form of capitalism. I will
discuss this claim especially with regard to value, money, crisis and class relations.
Michael Heinrich was Professor of Economics in Berlin. He published several books and
articles on Marx’s Critique of Economics. His Introduction in the three volumes of “Capital”
was translated in many languages, also in Croatian. Last year appeared the first volume of
“Karl Marx and the birth of Modern Society”, a three-volume Marx-biography and study of
the development of Marx’s work, English and French translations of this book will come
soon.
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Michael Heinrich: Kapital i kriza – aktualnost Marxove kritike političke ekonomije u 21. stoljeću
Prvi tom Kapitala objavljen je prije više od 150 godina. Međutim, u njemu nije naprosto prikazan kapitalizam 19. stoljeća. Marx nije želio prikazati određeni period kapitalističkog razvoja, već je tvrdio da predstavlja kapitalistički način proizvodnje u njegovu „idealnom presjeku“, tj. jezgru kapitalističkih odnosa, povezanih s bilo kojom formom kapitalizma. Razmotrit ću ovu tvrdnju osobito s obzirom na koncepte vrijednosti, novca, krize i klasnih odnosa.
Michael Heinrich je profesor ekonomije iz Berlina. Objavio je više knjiga i članaka o Marxovoj kritici ekonomije. Njegov uvod u tri toma Kapitala preveden je na mnoge jezike, između ostalih i na hrvatski. Prošle je godine objavljen prvi od tri toma knjige Karl Marx and the birth of Modern Society, biografije Karla Marxa i studije o razvoju Marxova rada. Englesko i francusko izdanje knjige bit će objavljeno uskoro.
subversivefestival.com/sf19/michael-heinrich-kapital-i-kriza-aktualnost-marxove-kritike-politicke-ekonomije-u-21-stoljecu
12th Subversive festival "Europe on the Edge – Towards New Emancipatory Imagination"
Co-organized by: Centre for Women's Studies Zagreb
Moderated by: Marta Baradić
In her presentation Sara Farris will discuss some of the themes laid out in her recent book, In the Name of Women's Rights. The Rise of Femonationalism (Duke, 2017). Farris' book explores the ways in which feminist ideas are often exploited by anti-Islam and xenophobic campaigns. She coins the term ‘femonationalism’ to describe the practices and claims that, by characterising Muslim men as oppressors and by emphasising the need to rescue Muslim women, these anti-Islam groups use gender equality to justify their prejudice.
Sara R. Farris is a senior lecturer in the sociology department at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is the author of Max Weber’s Theory of Personality. Individuation, Politics and Orientalism in the Sociology of Religion (Brill, 2013) and In the Name of Women’s Rights. The Rise of Femonationalism (Duke 2017).
The lecture was organized in cooperation between Subversive festival and the Centre for Women's Studies Zagreb and is a part fo the one-semester long women's studies educational program at the Centre for Women's Studies Zagreb.
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Sara R. Farris: U ime ženskih prava – uspon femonacionalizma
U predavanju ću se baviti nekima od tema koje sam obrađivala u knjizi In the Name of Women’s Rights. The Rise of Femonationalism (Duke, 2017). U tom djelu istražujem nerijetku praksu da anti-islamističke i ksenofobne inicijative iskorištavaju feminističke ideje, kao i načine na koje se to događa. Uvodim termin „femonacionalizam“, kako bih njime opisala prakse i zagovaračke kampanje u sklopu kojih se, prikazivanjem muslimanskih muškaraca kao ugnjetavača, te naglašavanjem potrebe za spašavanjem muslimanskih žena, ove anti-islamističke skupine koriste rodnom jednakošću ne bi li opravdale svoje predrasude.
Sara R. Farris radila je na Sveučilištu u Rimu „La Sapienza“, Sveučilištu u Amsterdamu i King’s College, te bila stipendistica na Institute for Advanced Study u Princetonu (2012-13), Institute for Advanced Studies u Konstanzu (2011) te na Jan Van Eyck Academy u Maastrichtu (2009-10) prije negoli se zaposlila na odsjeku sociologije na Goldsmithsu 2013. godine, gdje je trenutno viša predavačica. Sarin dosadašnji rad fokusiran je na orijentalističke temelje sociološke teorije, koju je Sara istraživala u svojoj prvoj monografiji o Max Weberovoj sociologiji religije, te na teorije roda, rase i socijalne reprodukcije, osobito kada se primjenjuju na analizu migrantskih žena u Zapadnoj Europi (Max Weber’s Theory of Personality. Individuation, Politics and Orientalism in the Sociology of Religion, Brill, 2013). Kroz ovu teorijsku optiku i interese, razmatrala je teorije rasizma i nacionalizma; specifične orođene forme orijentalističkih/zapadnocentričnih reprezentacija žena u javnom diskursu na Zapadu; mobilizaciju ženskih prava od strane desničarskih nacionalističkih stranaka u sklopu ksenofobnih kampanji (koje Sara u knjizi In the Name of Women’s Rights. The Rise of Femonationalism, Duke 2017, naziva „femonacionalizmom“); višestruke oblike eksploatacije i dominacije koji obilježavaju ženski migrantski rad u skrbi, a osobito u kućanskom sektoru; komodifikaciju skrbi i socijalne reprodukcije te njihove poveznice s procesima rasizacije; dijalog između teorije intersekcionalnosti i marksističkih feminizama. Sara je trenutno članica uredničkog odbora Historical Materialism te međunarodna urednica knjiga za Critical Sociology.
Predavanje je organizirano kroz suradnju Subversive festivala s Centrom za ženske studije i dio je jednosemestralnog ženskostudijskog obrazovnog programa CŽS-a.
subversivefestival.com/sf19/sara-r-farris-u-ime-zenskih-prava-uspon-femonacionalizma
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju)
Module A – Commons
Location: Kulturni centar Ivan Vitić, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 21th August 2016
Speaker: Pablo Solón
Moderated by: Tomislav Tomašević (Institute for Political Ecology, Croatia)
Logic of State Power: The Example of Bolivia
(talk from 3:03)
What has happened with the process of change in Bolivia? Why has a government that began with proclaiming the need to overcome export-oriented extractivism and respecting nature has ended up reinforcing extractivism and left the rights of mother earth to pure rhetoric?
Progressive movements and leaders wanted to take state power structures to transform society and state power itself. But State power is not a space that can be reshaped according to the will of those that capture power.
Contemporary state power structures have their own logic, their own dynamic that transcend its origins from left or right wing forces. Power as capital is a process that requires constant expansion to reproduce itself. The logic of power and the logic of capital tend to grow without limits, controlling more and new spheres within state structures and society.
Different revolutionary and progressive processes during the last century have been the result of varied forms of transformation (war, insurrections, armed struggles, electoral vote, social mobilization, negotiations, etc.) and their achievements have been significant in many cases (independence, overthrowing of dictatorships, nationalizations, agrarian reforms, expansion of civil and political rights to black and indigenous peoples, constitutional reforms, etc.). However, all the governments that emerged from these experiences - after a period of confrontation with reactionary forces - have been captured by the logic of power that puts in the first place the continuation in power rather than the deepening of the process of transformation at all levels.
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Pablo Solón is a social activist, an analyst and a researcher on the issues of systemic alternatives, climate change, water, the rights of Mother Earth, trade agreements and integration processes.
Pablo Solón served as Ambassador of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to the United Nations from January 2009 to June 2011. As Ambassador to the UN, Solón spearheaded successful resolutions on the Human Right to Water, International Mother Earth Day and Harmony with Nature. He was the chief negotiator for Climate Change of Bolivia and helped organize the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights in 2010.
Between 2002 and 2008 he was Ambassador for issues concerning Integration and Trade. He was Secretary Pro Tempore of UNASUR [Union of South American Nations] during Bolivia’s Pro Temporary presidency (December 2006 – May 2008).
He was the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South in Asia and currently is the Executive Director of Fundacion Solon, an institution was created to preserve and promote the artwork and thoughts of his father, Walter Solón Romero, a renowned Bolivian muralist and social artist.
http://ipe.hr/zelena-akademija/program-zelene-akademije-2016-tipping-points/
Seminar: „Slabosti ljevice“
Baza, Adžijina 11, Zagreb, Croatia, 9.12.2018., 17.15h
Moderator: Marko Kostanić
Druga opća diskusija seminara „Slabosti ljevice“ održana je drugog dana, nakon što su izlaganja održali Milan F. Živković („Socijaldemokratski paradoks i strategija ljevice“) i Vladimir Simović („Protivrečnosti i perspektive političkog organizovanja levice u Srbiji“).
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Weaknesses of the Left
(...) Calls for a critical reexamination of the predominant strategies of the left as well as its theoretical grounding now seem inescapably the order of the day. It seems imperative to understand and counteract the danger of further social and political marginalization. Not for the first time in its history, the left has to face the fact that it has no monopoly on the articulation of the social and political concerns of (all of) the subaltern. In the wake of decades of aggressive neoliberal promotion of an increasingly “generalized culture of insecurity” (Mario Candeias), new/old competitors for the political articulation of the concerns, interests and predicaments of those faced with the destabilizing impacts of harsh neoliberal policies are gaining ground. If it is true, as many have argued, that this loss of terrain is to a significant extent self-inflicted due a historical trajectory away from class politics towards identity politics of one form or another, this necessitates asking: what are the historical, theoretical and political reasons for this process? And, more importantly, how can it be reversed? If, as it has been proposed from various sides, a “new” class politics needs to be pursued, what form should it take and what would be “new” about it? Critics have warned that the return to the comfort of unreconstructed old formulas is both illusionary and dangerous, as it risks denigrating significant historical gains of decades of feminist, LGBT and anti-racist struggles in favor of a simplistic notion of the “fundamental antagonism”. But if the task is to find modes of an integrative politics that would accommodate the lived experience of a multiplicity of overlapping oppressions, what form should this integrative politics take? A merely additive approach seems naïve, insofar as contradictions within the subaltern classes as well as inter-class antagonisms seem to play a large part in processes of political disarticulation and fragmentation, and thus need to be addressed – both theoretically and politically. In response to many of these questions, a debate on the viability and advisability of the formulation of some form of “left populism” has ensued. Yet the very term “populism” is notoriously slippery and highly ambiguous. Contributions have ranged from offensively promoting it to warnings that this may bring the left close to a self-defeating acceptance of the conceptual confines imposed by the right and, possibly, even unwitting concessions to its agenda setting. These and many related questions will have to be worked through, both theoretically and politically, before the left can hope to historically strengthen its position.
The seminar “Weaknesses of the Left” aims at facilitate debate on these crucial issues. Above all, it seeks to introduce local and regional audiences to a broader scope of theoretical and political approaches to these issues than have thus far been circulating in the region, without plastering over existing fault lines, contradictions and impasses. The “hard road to renewal”, to borrow a well-known phrase from Stuart Hall, necessitates open and scrupulous engagement with the full complexities of the current conjuncture, which includes the critical reflection on the deficiencies and weaknesses within our own camp. For the regional left, this entails engagement and communication with complex debates developing beyond its own boundaries.
facebook.com/events/1062029430642145
Program Centra za radničke studije financira Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe. / Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe.
Seminar: „Slabosti ljevice“
Baza, Adžijina 11, Zagreb, Croatia, 9.12.2018., 15.30h
Moderator: Marko Kostanić
Vladimir Simović: Protivrečnosti i perspektive političkog organizovanja levice u Srbiji
Često se govori o slabostima levice, ali se ne tako često, ili nedovoljno, u obzir uzimaju okolnosti u kojima se levica razvija. Kontekst kapitalističke restauracije i raspada Jugoslavije uslovio je potpunu prazninu na levom političkom spektru. Ozbiljnija regeneracija levice u celom regionu, pa i u Srbiji, kreće sa univerziteta i borbe protiv komercijalizacije obrazovanja. Specifična društvena pozicija studentske populacije proizvodila je i specifične protivrečnosti pokreta koji se razvijao u pravcu malih omladinskih aktivističkih kolektiva i nevladinih organizacija. Nedostatak organizacione infrastrukture ograničio je političke domete i mogućnost šireg društvenog uticaja, što je uslovilo i izvesnu autoreferentnost levih aktera. Za promenu situacije nije dovoljan voluntaristički pristup, već materijalistička analiza uslova nastanka i razvoja novih levih političkih aktera, nedostataka i mogućih pravaca daljeg političkog organizovanja levice.
Vladimir Simović je sociolog, član Centra za politike emancipacije. Njegov istraživački rad se koncentriše oko pitanja jugoslovenskog samoupravljanja i teorije sećanja. Tokom poslednjih osam godina piše analitičke tekstove za različite onlajn i štampane medije. Član je i društvenog centra "Oktobar" i aktivno učestvuje u radu Levog samita Srbije.
facebook.com/events/1062029430642145
Program Centra za radničke studije financira Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe. / Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe.
Seminar: „Slabosti ljevice“
Baza, Adžijina 11, Zagreb, Croatia, 9.12.2018., 11h
Moderator: Stipe Ćurković
Milan F. Živković: Socijaldemokratski paradoks i strategija ljevice
Slabljenje direktnodemokratskog entuzijazma i izvjesnost da rasplet recentne ekonomske krize nije značajnije izmijenio odnose moći, uz dugotrajnu eroziju i inherentne slabosti sindikalnog pokreta, ljevicu izaziva na preispitivanje strategije socijaldemokracije, istovremeno i same suočene s nizom elektoralnih razočaranja te neuspjehom da se uvjerljivije suprotstavi jačanju desnice. Evaluacija mogućnosti takva “mainstreaminga” na dnevnom redu antikapitalističke ljevice ne pojavljuje se po prvi put. Tome svjedoči niz ne odveć uspješnih iskustava, poput situacije koja je, sredinom 1980-ih u SAD-u, navela Roberta Brennera da upozori na “paradoks socijaldemokracije”. Riječ je o tome da taj distinktivni društveni i povijesni fenomen, koji Ralph Miliband naziva “parlamentarnim socijalizmom”, svoj uspon može zahvaliti masovnim borbama radničke klase. Unatoč tome, uočava Brenner, kada glavni predstavnici elektoralne socijaldemokracije — sindikalni čelnici, stranački službenici i parlamentarni političari, praćeni afiliranim rukovodstvom identitetskih NVO-a — osvoje vlast ili barem legitimaciju “razumna izbora”, u pravilu se posvete zagovaranju i implementaciji pozicija i politika fundamentalno suprotstavljenih pozicijama, interesima i direktnim akcijama radnika. U kolikoj mjeri je Brennerovu interpretaciju američkog slučaja moguće primijeniti na socijaldemokraciju u Hrvatskoj ili nekoj sličnoj postsocijalističkoj zemlji, podrazumijeva li socijaldemokratski paradoks neki kadrovski propust, psihološki ili moralni deficit socijaldemokrata, koji prema tome može biti i otklonjen, ili se radi o uvjetovanosti, “u neku ruku iza njihovih leđa”... ta i srodna pitanja ponudit će se na raspravu u rasteru određenom potrebom oživljavanja političke strategije ljevice na jednoj i upozorenjima poput Brennerovih, Milibandovih, stoljeće starih Michelsovih ili recentnih Seymourovih na drugoj osi.
Milan F. Živković je kazališni redatelj i filmski scenarist iz Zagreba. Bavi se medijskim istraživanjima i medijskom politikom. Zaposlen je u Socijaldemokratskoj partiji Hrvatske kao profesionalni organizator.
facebook.com/events/1062029430642145
Program Centra za radničke studije financira Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe. / Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe.
Seminar: "Weaknesses of the Left"
Baza, Adžijina 11, Zagreb, Croatia, 8.12.2018., 17.15h
Moderator: Stipe Ćurković
The first general discussion in the seminar "Weaknesses of the Left" was held on the first day, following presentations by Panagiotis Sotiris ("Is a 'Left Populism' Possible?") and Danijela Dolenec ("The Left in the European Periphery: From Crisis to Renewal?").
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Weaknesses of the Left
(...) Calls for a critical reexamination of the predominant strategies of the left as well as its theoretical grounding now seem inescapably the order of the day. It seems imperative to understand and counteract the danger of further social and political marginalization. Not for the first time in its history, the left has to face the fact that it has no monopoly on the articulation of the social and political concerns of (all of) the subaltern. In the wake of decades of aggressive neoliberal promotion of an increasingly “generalized culture of insecurity” (Mario Candeias), new/old competitors for the political articulation of the concerns, interests and predicaments of those faced with the destabilizing impacts of harsh neoliberal policies are gaining ground. If it is true, as many have argued, that this loss of terrain is to a significant extent self-inflicted due a historical trajectory away from class politics towards identity politics of one form or another, this necessitates asking: what are the historical, theoretical and political reasons for this process? And, more importantly, how can it be reversed? If, as it has been proposed from various sides, a “new” class politics needs to be pursued, what form should it take and what would be “new” about it? Critics have warned that the return to the comfort of unreconstructed old formulas is both illusionary and dangerous, as it risks denigrating significant historical gains of decades of feminist, LGBT and anti-racist struggles in favor of a simplistic notion of the “fundamental antagonism”. But if the task is to find modes of an integrative politics that would accommodate the lived experience of a multiplicity of overlapping oppressions, what form should this integrative politics take? A merely additive approach seems naïve, insofar as contradictions within the subaltern classes as well as inter-class antagonisms seem to play a large part in processes of political disarticulation and fragmentation, and thus need to be addressed – both theoretically and politically. In response to many of these questions, a debate on the viability and advisability of the formulation of some form of “left populism” has ensued. Yet the very term “populism” is notoriously slippery and highly ambiguous. Contributions have ranged from offensively promoting it to warnings that this may bring the left close to a self-defeating acceptance of the conceptual confines imposed by the right and, possibly, even unwitting concessions to its agenda setting. These and many related questions will have to be worked through, both theoretically and politically, before the left can hope to historically strengthen its position.
The seminar “Weaknesses of the Left” aims at facilitate debate on these crucial issues. Above all, it seeks to introduce local and regional audiences to a broader scope of theoretical and political approaches to these issues than have thus far been circulating in the region, without plastering over existing fault lines, contradictions and impasses. The “hard road to renewal”, to borrow a well-known phrase from Stuart Hall, necessitates open and scrupulous engagement with the full complexities of the current conjuncture, which includes the critical reflection on the deficiencies and weaknesses within our own camp. For the regional left, this entails engagement and communication with complex debates developing beyond its own boundaries.
facebook.com/events/1062029430642145
Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
Seminar: "Weaknesses of the Left"
Baza, Adžijina 11, Zagreb, Croatia, 8.12.2018., 15.30h
Moderator: Marko Kostanić
Danijela Dolenec: The Left in the European Periphery: From Crisis to Renewal?
I start from an analysis of the changing grammar of political conflict in contemporary Europe, with a particular focus on the rise of the new right, usually referred to as right-wing populists. In the second part my analysis focuses on distinct features of the current conjuncture as observed in post-socialist Europe. Drawing on these insights, in the third part I make tentative proposals for Left interventions.
Danijela Dolenec is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Zagreb and an activist in the Zagreb is OURS! political platform. She earned her master's degree in public policy from the LSE (2005) and her PhD in political science from ETH Zurich (2012). Danijela's primary research interest is the crisis of representative democracy in Europe, explored from the perspective of mass politics and challenges to conventional political institutions.
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Weaknesses of the Left
(...)
Calls for a critical reexamination of the predominant strategies of the left as well as its theoretical grounding now seem inescapably the order of the day. It seems imperative to understand and counteract the danger of further social and political marginalization. Not for the first time in its history, the left has to face the fact that it has no monopoly on the articulation of the social and political concerns of (all of) the subaltern. In the wake of decades of aggressive neoliberal promotion of an increasingly “generalized culture of insecurity” (Mario Candeias), new/old competitors for the political articulation of the concerns, interests and predicaments of those faced with the destabilizing impacts of harsh neoliberal policies are gaining ground. If it is true, as many have argued, that this loss of terrain is to a significant extent self-inflicted due a historical trajectory away from class politics towards identity politics of one form or another, this necessitates asking: what are the historical, theoretical and political reasons for this process? And, more importantly, how can it be reversed? If, as it has been proposed from various sides, a “new” class politics needs to be pursued, what form should it take and what would be “new” about it? Critics have warned that the return to the comfort of unreconstructed old formulas is both illusionary and dangerous, as it risks denigrating significant historical gains of decades of feminist, LGBT and anti-racist struggles in favor of a simplistic notion of the “fundamental antagonism”. But if the task is to find modes of an integrative politics that would accommodate the lived experience of a multiplicity of overlapping oppressions, what form should this integrative politics take? A merely additive approach seems naïve, insofar as contradictions within the subaltern classes as well as inter-class antagonisms seem to play a large part in processes of political disarticulation and fragmentation, and thus need to be addressed – both theoretically and politically. In response to many of these questions, a debate on the viability and advisability of the formulation of some form of “left populism” has ensued. Yet the very term “populism” is notoriously slippery and highly ambiguous. Contributions have ranged from offensively promoting it to warnings that this may bring the left close to a self-defeating acceptance of the conceptual confines imposed by the right and, possibly, even unwitting concessions to its agenda setting. These and many related questions will have to be worked through, both theoretically and politically, before the left can hope to historically strengthen its position.
The seminar “Weaknesses of the Left” aims at facilitate debate on these crucial issues. Above all, it seeks to introduce local and regional audiences to a broader scope of theoretical and political approaches to these issues than have thus far been circulating in the region, without plastering over existing fault lines, contradictions and impasses. The “hard road to renewal”, to borrow a well-known phrase from Stuart Hall, necessitates open and scrupulous engagement with the full complexities of the current conjuncture, which includes the critical reflection on the deficiencies and weaknesses within our own camp. For the regional left, this entails engagement and communication with complex debates developing beyond its own boundaries.
facebook.com/events/1062029430642145
Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
Seminar: "Weaknesses of the Left"
Baza, Adžijina 11, Zagreb, Croatia, 8.12.2018., 11h
Moderator: Stipe Ćurković
Panagiotis Sotiris: Is a 'Left Populism' Possible?
This presentation deals with theories and political projects that can be defined as ‘left populism’. It begins with a reading and critique of the work of Ernesto Laclau on the theory of populism and then moves to recent debates about the possibility of left populist movements. In contrast to these positions it attempts to present an alternative theoretical framework based upon Gramscian notions, in order to rethink the notion of the people in ways that do not delink it from class analysis and social relations of production.
Panagiotis Sotiris works as a journalist and editor in Athens. He also teaches at the Hellenic Open University and is an Editorial Board Member of Historical Materialism Journal. He recently edited a collective volume entitled 'Crisis, Movement, Strategy: The Greek Experience' (Leiden, Brill/Historical Materialism Book Series, 2018)
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Weaknesses of the Left
(...)
Calls for a critical reexamination of the predominant strategies of the left as well as its theoretical grounding now seem inescapably the order of the day. It seems imperative to understand and counteract the danger of further social and political marginalization. Not for the first time in its history, the left has to face the fact that it has no monopoly on the articulation of the social and political concerns of (all of) the subaltern. In the wake of decades of aggressive neoliberal promotion of an increasingly “generalized culture of insecurity” (Mario Candeias), new/old competitors for the political articulation of the concerns, interests and predicaments of those faced with the destabilizing impacts of harsh neoliberal policies are gaining ground. If it is true, as many have argued, that this loss of terrain is to a significant extent self-inflicted due a historical trajectory away from class politics towards identity politics of one form or another, this necessitates asking: what are the historical, theoretical and political reasons for this process? And, more importantly, how can it be reversed? If, as it has been proposed from various sides, a “new” class politics needs to be pursued, what form should it take and what would be “new” about it? Critics have warned that the return to the comfort of unreconstructed old formulas is both illusionary and dangerous, as it risks denigrating significant historical gains of decades of feminist, LGBT and anti-racist struggles in favor of a simplistic notion of the “fundamental antagonism”. But if the task is to find modes of an integrative politics that would accommodate the lived experience of a multiplicity of overlapping oppressions, what form should this integrative politics take? A merely additive approach seems naïve, insofar as contradictions within the subaltern classes as well as inter-class antagonisms seem to play a large part in processes of political disarticulation and fragmentation, and thus need to be addressed – both theoretically and politically. In response to many of these questions, a debate on the viability and advisability of the formulation of some form of “left populism” has ensued. Yet the very term “populism” is notoriously slippery and highly ambiguous. Contributions have ranged from offensively promoting it to warnings that this may bring the left close to a self-defeating acceptance of the conceptual confines imposed by the right and, possibly, even unwitting concessions to its agenda setting. These and many related questions will have to be worked through, both theoretically and politically, before the left can hope to historically strengthen its position.
The seminar “Weaknesses of the Left” aims at facilitate debate on these crucial issues. Above all, it seeks to introduce local and regional audiences to a broader scope of theoretical and political approaches to these issues than have thus far been circulating in the region, without plastering over existing fault lines, contradictions and impasses. The “hard road to renewal”, to borrow a well-known phrase from Stuart Hall, necessitates open and scrupulous engagement with the full complexities of the current conjuncture, which includes the critical reflection on the deficiencies and weaknesses within our own camp. For the regional left, this entails engagement and communication with complex debates developing beyond its own boundaries.
facebook.com/events/1062029430642145
Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
11. Subversive festival "Freedom Figthers and Poetic Justice"
Sudjeluju: Juha Suoranta, Ivana Perica, Boris Jokić
Moderira: Petar Jandrić
Okrugli stol: Mogu li se uvesti obrazovne reforme – lekcije iz Finske
Posljednjih desetak godina Finska je postala metom hodočašća tisuća učitelja, istraživača, administratora, i stratega obrazovanja iz čitavog svijeta. Ova je slava Finskoj pripala nakon kontroveznog uspjeha na PISA testovima u prvom desetljeću 21. stoljeća. U predavanju autor će se baviti društveno-historijskim kontekstom finskih obrazovnih reformi u posljednjih pedeset godina, analizom aktualnog stanja u finskom javnom obrazovanju, u kontekstu kojega će iznijeti argumente zašto obrazovne reforme kao društvene činjenice ne možemo razmatrati bez društva u cjelini. Drugim riječima, obrazovne reforme se rađaju iz društvenih i političkih uvjeta koji ih okružuju i koji im prethode, te se ne mogu tretirati kao roba koju je moguće lako uvesti ili izvesti.
Na okruglom stolu sudionici će smjestiti Suorantino predavanje u hrvatski kontekst i postaviti pitanje: mogu li se strane, u ovom slučaju finske, obrazovne reforme uvesti u Hrvatsku? Temeljem povijesnih primjera, i praktičnih iskustava, sudionici će istražiti ovo pitanje iz širokog spektra kritičkih perspektiva.
http://subversivefestival.com/sf18/juha-suoranta-mogu-li-se-uvesti-obrazovne-reforme-lekcije-iz-finske
International conference "Communication, Capitalism and Social Change: Policy, Practice, Praxis"
Parallel session 5B "Capitalism, Ecology, Health"
Participants: Ivana Matteucci, Janaki Somaiya, Diana Jacobsson
Moderated by: Tatiana Mazali
Ivana Matteucci, University of Urbino: "Communication for “Patient Liberation”. The Role of New Media in the Case of CCSVI in Multiple Sclerosis (MS)"
Janaki Somaiya, University of Auckland: "Travel and Enjoy Capitalism: Rethinking Ideology Today in the Context of Social Media"
Diana Jacobsson, Jönköping University: In the Name of Sustainability. A Critical Analysis of the Parallel Shaping of Hyper-Politicized Discourses About Private Enterprise – and the Trivialization of Socioeconomic Challenges in a Swedish Municipal Magazine
Abstracts of lectures and conference programme at:
esarn18zagreb.org/programme
11. Subversive festival „Borba za slobodu i poetska pravda“
Sudjeluju: Stathis Kouvelakis (Popular Unity), Éric Toussaint (CADTM)
Moderira: Dimitrije Birač, Radnički portal
Okrugli stol: Politička ljevica u perifernim zemljama Europe i lekcije Syrize
Osnovni fokus ove rasprave jest djelovanju političke ljevice u perifernim zemljama EU. Kako organizirati političku ljevicu i na koji način njeno djelovanje upogoniti u strategije dolaska na vlast? Kakvu ulogu u razvoju političke ljevice i njezina političkog rada ima marksizam i revolucionarni program? Što uopće danas definiramo pod ovim pojmovima u kontekstu djelovanja ljevice u aktualnom historijskom momentu? Recentni primjer dolaska na vlast lijeve partije u perifernoj zemlji EU dogodio se u Grčkoj sa Syrizom. Danas nas zanimaju uzroci političke izdaje Syrize, u kontekstu njezina dolaska na vlast, odnosno način njezine artikulacije zahtjeva masovnog pokreta. Ključno pitanje za domaću i regionalnu ljevicu, mogu li se, i u kojoj mjeri iskoristiti iskustva Syrize, a posebno iskustva uoči njezine političke pobjede? I na koncu, koji su bili razlozi Syrizina odbacivanja povijesne prilike za intenziviranje klasnog sukoba i političke borbe u revolucionarnom smjeru.
http://subversivefestival.com/sf18/stathis-kouvelakis-i-eric-toussaint-politicka-ljevica-u-perifernim-zemljama-europe-i-lekcije-syrize
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju)
Module – Climate Change and Just Transition
Location: Spomen dom, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 26th August 2018
Speaker: Tomislav Medak (Multimedia Institute/MaMa, Zagreb)
Convenors: Jagoda Munić (FoE Europe), Dražen Šimleša (IPE)
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Climate change is one of the biggest threat to human civilisation and Earth’s ecosystems, as we know them. Nowadays, both science and political decision makers are convinced we need urgent action and consequently, in 2015, at Conference of the Parties under UN Framework Climate Change Convention the “Paris agreement was adopted with an aim to reduce greenhouse gases pollution and curb the climate change. The agreement was a big diplomatic success, but it is based on the “pledges” by states and all together, mitigation ambition is not enough, leading to 2,8 °C increase, instead of 1.5 °C, as written in the agreement itself. Since then, the main issue is how to speed up the transition from the fossil fuel to post-fossil fuel societies, which necessarily requires a fundamental change of the current political, social and economic system.
What this transition requires and how it should be done is a key debate among different stakeholders. Industry and some of the decision-makers, rely heavily on the technology and efficiency to solve the problem. Labour movement demandsjust transition that would provide justice for the workers in the fossil fuel industries. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) created the Just transition Centre to lead on the debate from the perspective of labour unions. Environmental and climate justice organisations are demanding that the burden of transition is not carried by the poorest part of society, that would suffer if the transition costs are automatically transferred in the end costs of services - for example house heating. Others are viewing transition from the perspective of regions, for example, how to change economy of coal dependent regions in order to maintain jobs in the region. We will explore these perspectives and will discuss what does the transition look like in the European periphery.
The Climate justice module has many overlaps with degrowth and commons/municipalisation module, as we need urgently shift from fossil fuels, but the key question is how we will do it and who will pay the costs? To use less and more efficiently resources and energy is the first, very often, the most neglected tool to curb the climate change. The ownership of the production is also very important. For example, community energy projects are ways to enable local communities to produce their own renewable energy and even sell it to the grid. Such decentralised production would provide more resilience in the system and profits would spread more evenly, which would eliminate energy poverty.
In the climate module, we will therefore explore Climate governance and Just Transition from the environmental and social perspective and community energy models.
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Against All Odds: Can We Transform the Global Technosphere to Prevent Extreme Climate Change?
Tomislav Medak is a doctoral student at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures at Coventry University. He is also a member ofthe theory and publishing team of the Multimedia Institute/MAMA in Zagreb, an amateur librarian for the Memory of the World/Public library project, and an artist in the performing arts collective BADco. His research is on technologies, environmental disruption and post-capitalist transition.
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju)
Module – Climate Change and Just Transition
Location: Spomen dom, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 27th August 2018
Speaker: Erik Swyngedouw (University of Manchester, UK)
Convenors: Jagoda Munić (FoE Europe), Dražen Šimleša (IPE)
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Climate change is one of the biggest threat to human civilisation and Earth’s ecosystems, as we know them. Nowadays, both science and political decision makers are convinced we need urgent action and consequently, in 2015, at Conference of the Parties under UN Framework Climate Change Convention the “Paris agreement was adopted with an aim to reduce greenhouse gases pollution and curb the climate change. The agreement was a big diplomatic success, but it is based on the “pledges” by states and all together, mitigation ambition is not enough, leading to 2,8 °C increase, instead of 1.5 °C, as written in the agreement itself. Since then, the main issue is how to speed up the transition from the fossil fuel to post-fossil fuel societies, which necessarily requires a fundamental change of the current political, social and economic system.
What this transition requires and how it should be done is a key debate among different stakeholders. Industry and some of the decision-makers, rely heavily on the technology and efficiency to solve the problem. Labour movement demandsjust transition that would provide justice for the workers in the fossil fuel industries. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) created the Just transition Centre to lead on the debate from the perspective of labour unions. Environmental and climate justice organisations are demanding that the burden of transition is not carried by the poorest part of society, that would suffer if the transition costs are automatically transferred in the end costs of services - for example house heating. Others are viewing transition from the perspective of regions, for example, how to change economy of coal dependent regions in order to maintain jobs in the region. We will explore these perspectives and will discuss what does the transition look like in the European periphery.
The Climate justice module has many overlaps with degrowth and commons/municipalisation module, as we need urgently shift from fossil fuels, but the key question is how we will do it and who will pay the costs? To use less and more efficiently resources and energy is the first, very often, the most neglected tool to curb the climate change. The ownership of the production is also very important. For example, community energy projects are ways to enable local communities to produce their own renewable energy and even sell it to the grid. Such decentralised production would provide more resilience in the system and profits would spread more evenly, which would eliminate energy poverty.
In the climate module, we will therefore explore Climate governance and Just Transition from the environmental and social perspective and community energy models.
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Climate Change Politics as Post-Political Populism
Erik Swyngedouw is Professor of Geography at Manchester University. His research interests include urban political-ecology, hydro-social conflict, urban governance, democracy and political power, and the politics of globalisation. His was previously professor of geography at Oxford University and held the Vincent Wright Visiting Professorship at Science Po Paris, 2014. His forthcoming books are Promises of the Political (MIT 2018) and. co-edited with H. Ernstson, Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropo-obscene (Routledge 2017).
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE)
Location: Spomen dom, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 27th August 2018
Speakers: Jagoda Munić (Friends of the Earth Europe), Vincent Liegey (French Degrowth Movement), Ágnes Gagyi (University of Gothenburg), Andreas Novy (Institute for Multi-Level Governance and Development, Austria), Dirk Holemans (Green European Foundation)
Moderated by: Dražen Šimleša (IPE, Croatia)
This panel will aim to dive deeper into current landscape of various ecological movements and streams in Europe - and beyond - and aim to present their achievements and shortcomings. However, final destination in this conversation is to identify convergencies where potential alliances can be initiated or consolidated strengthening political and social impact of ecological thought and action. From degrowth movement accross environmental militants and activists to transformative cities and other new forms of engagement, we will aim to make step toward successful eco-social agenda for near future.
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JAGODA MUNIĆ is an environmental activist, with masters in ecology and environmental sciences from Zagreb and Manchester Universities with more than 20 years of experience in environmental campaigning on various issues from nature protection and GMOs to fossil fuel resistance. She was a President of the Zelena akcija - Foe Croatia (2001-2006) and Chairperson of Friends of the Earth International (2012-2016). She has coordinated environmental CSOs networking ad capacity building projects in the Western Balkans that supported many organization in nature protection and dirty energy campaigns (2009-2017). From late 2017. she is the director of the Friends of the Earth Europe.
VINCENT LIEGEY is an engineer, spokesperson for the French Degrowth Movement and the Degrowth Party (PPLD: Parti Pour La Décroissance). Coordinator of the Budapest Degrowth Conference and co-author of the book A Degrth Project-Manifesto for an Unconditional Autonomy Allowance. He is also coordinator of the degrowth-inspired Cargonomia, a social cooperative centre for sustainable logistical solutions and local food distribution by cargobikes in Budapest.
ÁGNES GAGY is a social scientist, working presently as a researcher at the University of Gothenburg. Her work focuses on on Eastern European politics and social movements from the perspective of the region's long-term world economic integration. She is member of the Budapest-based Working Group for Public Sociology "Helyzet".
ANDREAS NOVY is a socioeconomist who has worked in the field of urban development, international political economy, social innovation and social-ecological transformation. He is associate professor and head of the Institute for Multi- Level Governance and Development at the Department of Socioeconomics at WU Vienna and president of the International Karl Polanyi Society.
DIRK HOLEMANS is coordinator of Oikos, the Flemish green Think tank for social-ecological change. Oikos organizes lectures and conferences and publishes books on ecological challenges. Dirk is also editor-in-chief of Oikos’ eponymous journal. He has previously been Member of Parliament for the green party. Currently he is member of the city council of Ghent and within the European Green network, he is member of the Board of Directors of the Green European Foundation.
DRAŽEN ŠIMLEŠA finished his MA and PhD work at the University of Philosophy, Department of Sociology. Works as research associate at Institute for Social Science Ivo Pilar in Zagreb where he runs a project iPRESENT - Installation Project for REsearch about Social ENTrepreneurship funded by Croatian Science Foundation and is a project leader of EU Intereg CE project INNO-WISEs. Main field of work and interest are globalization, sustainability, social and solidarity economy and permaculture. Within those areas he wrote six books and several scientific papers and studies. Last books are Ecological footprint how development runs over sustainability and in 2016 Good Economy. Member of EMES (International Research Network on Social Economy and Social Enterprises) and Coordination Committee member in RIPESS (Solidarity Economy Europe Network).
Predavač: Toni Prug
Moderira: Velibor Mačkić
Predavanje se održava u sklopu kolegija Politička ekonomija rasta i otvoreno je za sve zainteresirane. Izlaganje drži gostujući predavač Toni Prug, doktorirao 2014. na Queen Mary, University of London.
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Društveni razvoj ekonomskih ideja
Više od stoljeća, ekonomisti svoju disciplinu uspješno predstavljaju kao objektivnu, znanstveno utemeljenu i politički nepristranu. No, uvid u razvoj ekonomskih ideja otkriva disciplinu kao politički angažiranu u službi legitimacije kapitalističke proizvodnje kao najboljeg i prirodnog oblika stvaranja bogatstva i raspodjele viškova.
Počevši od prvih makroekonomskih teorija iz 17. stoljeća, izlaganje će kroz niz primjera predstaviti argumente u korist teze da nije moguće razumjeti karakter ekonomskih ideja i discipline u cjelini, a da se pritom ne uzme u obzir društveni kontekst njihovog razvoja. On uključuje i pitanja koja su se postavljala kako bi se razvile nove ideje te motivacije i političke ciljeve institucija koje su često financirale razvoj.
Izložit će se i povijesni razvoj kritika neoklasičnih teorija distribucije prihoda i rasta koje tvrde sljedeće. Prvo, osnove na kojima su izgrađene neoklasične teorije rasta su razvijene u obliku aksiomatskih postulata koji nisu empirijski provjerljivi. Drugo, te osnove su nastale kao odgovor na porast obima i snage radničkog pokreta, sindikata i socijalističkih ideja u drugoj polovici 19. stoljeća.
Ako kritike stoje, neoklasična ekonomija ostaje bez mnogih centralnih elemenata koji su potrebni da bi se moglo govoriti o ekonomskoj teoretskoj školi. Izlaganje će se dotaknuti i načina na koji se ekonomske ideje nekritički i bez društvenog konteksta razvoja prezentiraju u udžbenicima ekonomije. Ukazat će se na vezu između politički motiviranog nastanka ekonomskih ideja i načina na koji se prezentiraju studentima.
facebook.com/events/2073230546288710
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju)
Location: Hotel Biševo, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 29th August 2018
Speaker: Sebastián Torres (economist, Uruguay)
Moderated by: Danijela Dolenec
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Economic Development and Sustainability – Lessons from the Uruguayan Experience
Sebastián Torres is an economist with over 15 years of experience in public policy, agro-industrial development strategies and prospective studies. He holds a Post-Doc from the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), a PhD from University of Leicester, an MA from the Institute of Social Studies (The Hague) and BA from University of the Republic of Uruguay. In addition, he has received professional training from Harvard, MIT, University of Cambridge. In the past decade he has served in two Latin American left governments, in Uruguay, between 2010 and 2015 he was National Director of Industry and Director of National Research and Innovation Agency (ANII). In Ecuador, between 2017 and 2018 he was Rector of the National Institute of Higher Studies (IAEN). He has also been a Visiting Research Fellow at LSE and at the Development Institute of Fudan University.
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju), Human Rights Film Festival
Location: Spomen dom, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 26th August 2018
Speaker: Pablo Sanchez Centellas (European Water Movement)
Moderated by: Jelena Miloš
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A Talk with Pablo Sanchez Centellas after the film:
Up to the Last Drop: The Secret Water War in Europe
directed by: Yorgos Avgeropoulos
year: 2017.
country: Greece
duration: 59’
As Europe is going through a crisis that is not solely economical but also a crisis of moral values, millions of European citizens demand a response to a crucial question: is water a commercial product or a human right? Up To The Last Drop follows the money and the corporate interests during a period of four years in thirteen cities of six EU countries. It’s a film about water that reflects contemporary European values and the quality of the current European democracy.
http://www.uptothelastdrop.com
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju)
Location: Hotel Biševo, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 27th August 2018
Speaker: Andrew Cumbers (University of Glasgow, UK, Scotland)
Moderated by: Jelena Miloš
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Democratic Public Ownership and the Just Transition
Andrew Cumbers is professor of regional political economy at the University of Glasgow and Editor in Chief of the journal Urban Studies. His current research focuses on economic democracy and public ownership. His ongoing projects include research on constructing an index of economic democracy and work on the global remunicipalisation trend. His book, Reclaiming Public Ownership: Making Space for Economic Democracy (Zed) was awarded the 2015 Gunnar Myrdal Prize for outstanding contributions to political economy.
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju)
Module – Commons and Municipalism
Location: Hotel Biševo, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 26th August 2018
Speaker: Debbie Bookchin (Institute for Social Ecology)
Convenors: Danijela Dolenec, Tomislav Tomašević (IPE)
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“Democracy was born at local level, and that's where we can win it back”
In June 2017 around 600 participants from 180 cities around the world came together in Barcelona for the International Municipalist Summit entitled “Fearless Cities”. The summit was organized by the political platform “Barcelona en Comu”, which won local elections in 2015 by proposing decentralized. locally rooted and emancipatory ways to repoliticize citizens, rethink Left-Green politics and take up the challenge of direct democracy. Since 2016 municipalist platforms Zagreb je naš! (Zagreb is Ours) and Ne da(vi)mo Beograd (Don't Let the Belgrade D(r)own) emerged in Southeast Europe.
Municipalism stands for political and economic democratisation at the local level. Municipalist platforms aim to steer some of the energy of progressive social movements into political organisations that run for elections. At the same time, these platforms aim to serve as vehicles for further institutional democratisation through creating direct and participatory democracy models for residents in cities and towns. They aim to bridge contentious and institutional politics by not simply redirecting protest energy from the streets into formal political institutions, but by creating a double political front best described as “a foot in the institutions and a thousand in the streets”. Taking this on board, this module explores municipalism as a progressive political ideology, maps municipalist platforms in Europe and discusses challenges that they face in their political work.
In addition, this module relates municipalism to critical theory of the commons, as a body of academic and activist work that has been explored through several previous Green Academies. Elinor Ostrom's theory of the commons has been developed by critical scholars who understand the commons as a relational social practice and include normative criteria to defining the commons. According to these conceptions, political struggles against privatisation and etatization of common resources are constitutive to the commons political paradigm. This module will explore such critical theories of the commons as well as bring out examples of progressive commons governance in cities.
In summary, this module aims to connect the municipalist political agenda and contemporary struggles for institutional democratisation with commons theory and experiments in governing urban resources for radical democratisation of society. It is comprised of lectures and workshops. Introductory lectures on municipalism and on the commons will be followed with a lecture on ways in which these political paradigms and initiatives relate to challenges of contemporary democracy such as right wing populism. There will also be lectures on gender and the commons, and a Global South perspective on progressive transformation of cities. Finally, we are planning a workshop on campaign design, focusing on the topics of water as a common good.
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New Municipalism in US and Europe
Debbie Bookchin is an author and award-winning investigative journalist who has written for The Atlantic, The Nation, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Roar Magazine and numerous other publications. She has been a featured speaker focusing on radical municipalist politics at various universities and conferences including The Left Forum in New York City, The Network for an Alternative Quest in Hamburg, Germany, and the Fearless Cities summits in Barcelona 2017 and New York City 2018. Bookchin served as press secretary for U.S. Congressman Bernie Sanders from 1991-1994. She coedited a recent book of essays on municipalism by her father, Murray Bookchin, called The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy (Verso 2015) and is coauthor of the book The Virus and the Vaccine (St. Martin’s Press 2004).
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju)
Module – Commons and Municipalism
Location: Hotel Biševo, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 26th August 2018
Speaker: Tomislav Tomašević (IPE)
Convenors: Danijela Dolenec, Tomislav Tomašević (IPE)
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“Democracy was born at local level, and that's where we can win it back”
In June 2017 around 600 participants from 180 cities around the world came together in Barcelona for the International Municipalist Summit entitled “Fearless Cities”. The summit was organized by the political platform “Barcelona en Comu”, which won local elections in 2015 by proposing decentralized. locally rooted and emancipatory ways to repoliticize citizens, rethink Left-Green politics and take up the challenge of direct democracy. Since 2016 municipalist platforms Zagreb je naš! (Zagreb is Ours) and Ne da(vi)mo Beograd (Don't Let the Belgrade D(r)own) emerged in Southeast Europe.
Municipalism stands for political and economic democratisation at the local level. Municipalist platforms aim to steer some of the energy of progressive social movements into political organisations that run for elections. At the same time, these platforms aim to serve as vehicles for further institutional democratisation through creating direct and participatory democracy models for residents in cities and towns. They aim to bridge contentious and institutional politics by not simply redirecting protest energy from the streets into formal political institutions, but by creating a double political front best described as “a foot in the institutions and a thousand in the streets”. Taking this on board, this module explores municipalism as a progressive political ideology, maps municipalist platforms in Europe and discusses challenges that they face in their political work.
In addition, this module relates municipalism to critical theory of the commons, as a body of academic and activist work that has been explored through several previous Green Academies. Elinor Ostrom's theory of the commons has been developed by critical scholars who understand the commons as a relational social practice and include normative criteria to defining the commons. According to these conceptions, political struggles against privatisation and etatization of common resources are constitutive to the commons political paradigm. This module will explore such critical theories of the commons as well as bring out examples of progressive commons governance in cities.
In summary, this module aims to connect the municipalist political agenda and contemporary struggles for institutional democratisation with commons theory and experiments in governing urban resources for radical democratisation of society. It is comprised of lectures and workshops. Introductory lectures on municipalism and on the commons will be followed with a lecture on ways in which these political paradigms and initiatives relate to challenges of contemporary democracy such as right wing populism. There will also be lectures on gender and the commons, and a Global South perspective on progressive transformation of cities. Finally, we are planning a workshop on campaign design, focusing on the topics of water as a common good.
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Introduction to the Commons Theory and Practice: Case of South East Europe
(publication Commons in South East Europe: Case of Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia, referred throughout the lecture, is available on: http://ipe.hr/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IPE_COMMONS_ENG_web.pdf )
Tomislav Tomašević works as program coordinator in IPE. He completed BA and MA in Political Science at the University of Zagreb and MPhil at the University of Cambridge. His research interests are related to commons, transformation of public services, critical urban theory and social movements. For the past 20 years he was activist in Croatian Youth Network, Zelena akcija / Friends of the Earth Croatia and Right to the City. Currently is member of the Zagreb City Council for municipalist platform Zagreb je NAŠ!
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE)
Location: Spomen dom, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 25th August 2018
Speakers: Debbie Bookchin (Institute for Social Ecology, USA), Alexandra Strickner (Attac Austria), Iva Marčetić (Zagreb je NAŠ!, Croatia), Ksenija Radovanović (Ne davimo Beograd, Serbia)
Moderated by: Danijela Dolenec (IPE, Croatia)
Initially we would like to try to identify common grounds that link these contemporary political platforms that self-identify as municipalist: on what principles do they ground their practice, how they understand their relationship to social movements on the one hand, and their engagement with political institutions such as elections, city assemblies on the other.
Another question that we want to address is why we are witnessing a proliferation of municipalist platforms now? Which features of the current social or political conjuncture seem relevant or conducive to their appearance?
Which features seem relevant for their success? Where they have been successful, what is the character of the change that they bring to local communities and/or local political institutions?
Also, it would be important to address the ‘feminization of politics’ that has occurred within the practice of municipalist platforms. What does this mean, through some concrete examples? How do we explain this? What are the implications of this for the future of political organization? Furthermore, in what way is a politics centered on the city particularly relevant for the Left? What possibilities does this open, as well as how does it delimit the goals of municipalist platforms? To what extent is municipalism linked to resistance to neoliberal transformations of cities? Finally, how do municipalist platforms relate to national and European level political struggles? How do you see the limits of municipalism, for better or worse? Should we maintain autonomy and distance between these struggles, or aim for them to converge?
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DEBBIE BOOKCHIN is an author and award-winning investigative journalist who has written for The Atlantic, The Nation. The New York Times. The New York Review of Books. Roar Magazine and numerous other publications. She has been a featured speaker focusing on radical municipalist politics at various universities and conferences including The Left Forum in New York City, The Network for an Alternative Quest in Hamburg, Germany, and the Fearless Cities summits in Barcelona 2017 and New York City 2018. Bookchin served as press secretary for U.S. Congressman Bernie Sanders from 1991-1994. She coedited a recent book of essays on municipalism by her father, Murray Bookchin, called The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy (Verso 2015) and is coauthor of the book The Virus and the Vaccine (St. Martin‘s Press 2004).
ALEXANDRA STRICKNER holds a masters degree in political economy of the Vienna University of Economics and Business. She is co-founder of Attac Austria. She is actively engaged in the development and promotion of economic alternatives to neoliberal globalization. She has co-organised two congresses around "The good life for all" in 2015 and 2017. She is one of the co-founders of the Austrian Platform "Anders Handeln" (www.anders~handeln.at), the post Stop-TTIP platform that works towards alternatives to neoliberal trade and investment policies.
IVA MARČETIĆ is architect and activist. For more than a decade she has been part of the collectives and movements fighting against privatization of public goods and resources. She works in Right to the city, Zagreb as a community organizer and researcher for housing politics and urban planning. She is a part Zagreb je NAŠ municipal platform and coordinated its neighborhood groups. She lives and works in Zagreb.
KSENlJA RADOVANOVlĆ is architect by profession, she is a member of the Ministry of Space, a do-thank from Belgrade that connects social activists, socially engaged artists, architects, and citizens, who strive together to claim their ”right to the city”. She is also an activist of the Don't Let Belgrade D(r)own initiative, formed in 2014 originally in reaction to the imposition of the ”Belgrade Waterfront" project. She was active in the 2018 local election, in which the initiative won 28.000 (3.4%) votes - not enough to enter the City of Belgrade Assembly, but more than enough to inspire them to continue their struggle for a more just distribution of common resources and active inclusion of citizens in the development of their environment.
DANIJELA DOLENEC is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Zagreb and President of the Managing Board of IPE. She earned her master's degree from the LSE (2005) and her PhD in political science from ETH Zurich (2012). Some of her recent writing focuses on the Right to the City movement in Croatia, the Green party ORaH and the political impact of veteran organizations in Croatia.
11. Subversive festival „Borba za slobodu i poetska pravda“
Sudjeluju: Franko Belas (Stožer za obranu brodogradnje- Uljanik), Filip Šaćirović (Marksistička organizacija Crveni), Goran Marković (Novi plamen), Bojan Nonković (BRID)
Moderira: Luka Resanović, Radnički portal
Panel: Radničko i partijsko udruživanje
Ideja panela jest predstaviti radničke stožere kao dobre primjere novih oblika radničkog organiziranja u Hrvatskoj, zatim ukazati na uspješnu suradnju lijevih sindikalnih udruga i borbenih sindikata, ali i na nužnost osnivanja lijevih političkih partija koje bi se trebale usko povezati sa spomenutim organizacijama, čime bi se klasna borba podigla i na političku razinu. Konačno, cilj panela jest i pojasniti potrebu bliske suradnje ljevice na Balkanu.
Radnički stožeri u Hrvatskoj sve se češće pojavljuju u većim poduzećima (Petrokemija Kutina, Rafinerija Sisak, Uljanik Pula) kao autohtoni pokreti iz same radničke baze, kojima se nastoji nadići sindikalna razjedinjenost, oportunizam i neefikasnost. U tom pogledu, stožeri su nadsindikalna tijela koja klasnu borbu na radnom mjestu podižu na višu organizacijsku razinu i to na načelima radničke demokracije i potpune transparentnosti. Radnički pokret treba se širiti i izvan radnih mjesta kako bi se osvijestio cjelokupni položaj koji radnici zauzimaju u društvu. U borbi protiv jakog saveza poduzetnika i njihove države, potrebno je uspostaviti savez između radničkih organizacija, lijevih udruga i političkih partija. Kao ni sam kapitalistički sistem, ni radnički pokret ne smije poznavati granice, stoga je važno stvarati čvrste veze izvan nacionalnih granica.
http://subversivefestival.com/sf18/radnicko-i-partijsko-udruzivanje
integralni intervjui sa sudionicama:
http://slobodnifilozofski.com/2017/11/administracija-klasnog-sukoba.html
http://slobodnifilozofski.com/2017/12/dopustena-margina-talasanja.html
Epizoda je premijerno prikazana 4.8.2017. na Tv Istra.
Emisija je financirana sredstvima Fonda za poticanje pluralizma i raznovrsnosti elektroničkih medija Agencije za elektroničke medije Republike Hrvatske.
Organized by: Institute for Political Ecology (IPE, Institut za političku ekologiju)
Module C – Degrowth / Social Limits of Growth
Location: Hotel Biševo, Komiža, Vis, Croatia
Date: 21th August 2016
Speaker: Ulrich Brand
Moderated by: Mladen Domazet (Institute for Political Ecology, Croatia)
Growth and Domination – Shortcomings of the (De-)Growth Debate
(talk from 15:45)
The growth critical debate could be more fertile if economic growth were considered more
carefully in its connection with the ruling capitalist and patriarchal modes of production
and living. In this way, we can understand economic growth as a social relation which
is intrinsically linked to societal domination and, hence, reproduces social structures.
Moreover, societal domination is the basis of unsustainable societal nature relations. After
a quick overview of the debate, my argument is developed with reference to feminist and
(neo-)Marxist debates as well as linking to insights from political ecology. Democracy, I
conclude, is absent or merely mentioned in contributions to the growth critical debate.
This is surprising, since democracy is the precondition for a society which is liberated from
the compulsion of capitalist economic growth with all its implications for social dynamics
and structures as well as societal nature relations.
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Ulrich Brand, political scientist, university professor of International Politics at University
of Vienna. Brand is focused on critical approach to political economy behind capitalist
globalization, resource and environmental policy and Latin America. Since emergence of
financial crisis he also got involved in research on socio-ecological transformation. From
2012 to 2014 he was head of the Institute for Political Sciences at University of Vienna.
http://ipe.hr/zelena-akademija/program-zelene-akademije-2016-tipping-points/
10. Subversive festival „Europska ljevica protiv novog svjetskog (ne)reda“
Moderira: Martin Beroš
Mira Bogdanović: Liberalizam 19. stoljeća kao ideološko utemeljenje poretka nejednakosti u 21. stoljeću
Restauracija građanskog društva, ‘pokošenog’ socijalističkom revolucijom, drugim riječima, restauracija kapitalizma, zahtijevala je i (re)konstrukciju njegova ideološkog temelja. U Srbiji još nije napisana integralna povijest domaćeg liberalizma. Noviji opus Latinke Perović revitalizira nedemokratski, aristokratski, liberalizam 19. stoljeća koji se boji ‘tiranije većine’ i nastoji suzbiti realizaciju načela jednakosti ustoličenih u Francuskoj revoluciji. Povezan s Perovićinim elitističkim pristupom društvenoj slojevitosti, ideologija liberalizma koju ona naknadno bez kritičke distance promiče, svjedoči o jednom autoritarnom shvaćanju politike. U ovoj čisto ideološkoj viziji prilagođenoj zatečenom stanju ili stanju u nastanku, nestaje emancipatorni potencijal kako liberalizma, tako i (realnog) socijalizma.
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Mira Bogdanović studirala je sociologiju u Beogradu, gdje je i magistrirala. Doktorirala je povijest na Gorningenskom sveučilištu u Nizozemskoj. Objavljuje u domaćim i stranim publikacijama. Važniji radovi: Srpski radnički pokret – Naličje legende, Konstante konvertitstva – Hod u mjestu od Đilasa do Đilasa i Elitistički pasijans: Povijesni revizionizam Latinke Perović – O nemislicama, nedomislicama, dvomislicama i besmislicama.
http://subversivefestival.com/sf17/mira-bogdanovic-liberalizam-19-stoljeca-kao-ideolosko-utemeljenje-poretka-nejednakosti-u-21-stoljecu
Epizoda je premijerno prikazana 2.5.2018. na Tv Istra.
Emisija je financirana sredstvima Fonda za poticanje pluralizma i raznovrsnosti elektroničkih medija Agencije za elektroničke medije Republike Hrvatske.
International Conference: "For Labour Rights! - Trans-National Solidarity, Common Goods and Perspectives of Organising"
Location & date: Hotel Palace, Belgrade, Serbia, 29.10.2017.
Speakers: Siniša Miličić (Regionalni industrijski sindikat), Sam Nelson (Jobs with Justice), Goran Lukić (Delavska svetovalnica), Florian Wilde (RLS)
Moderator: Luka Matić (RLS SEE)
Panel I: "Reaching the Un- and Under-organized"
source:
http://www.rosalux.rs/sites/default/files/attachments/current_events/RLS_program_WEB.pdf
kratki izvještaj s panela:
http://slobodnifilozofski.com/skripta-tv/do-neorganiziranih-podorganiziranih-panel
"Two lectures: On Fascism and Islamophobia"
BAZA, Božidara Adžije 11, Zagreb, 24.11.2017., 18h
Moderator: Stipe Ćurković
Madlen Nikolova: On the Political Stakes of Today's Islamophobia in Bulgaria
Bulgarian governments have been introducing repressive policies against Bulgarian Muslims, justifying them by the threat of ‘terrorism and radical Islam’. Mainstream intellectuals and political actors project fantasies of potential revolutionary terror onto Muslim communities due to their marginalised state. ‘Radical muslims’s’ resolve is compared to ‘communist fanaticisim’. This is enabled by dominant analyses of totalitarianism, suggesting it is invoked by radicalised masses. Liberal interpretations hold that the far-right’s constituencies of poor and disenfranchised masses bring about those repressive practices. In this presentation I would show that elitist liberal interventions imagine a force formally similar to and equally intangible as the threat of radical Islam and assign it to disenfranchised ethnic majority masses. These masses are seen as potentially fascist and intrinsically racist. The racialised “White” far-right Jihadists are the mirror image of the racialised “terrorist” Muslim. Nevertheless, notions of “the totalitarian twins” remain speculative and not based on empirical studies. Despite the fact that far-right political parties keep getting the same number of votes at elections in the past decade, it is only in 2017 that the United Patriots first entered into a formal government coalition with the center-right GERB. What is more, far-right voters are mostly located in larger cities, as opposed to poorer small towns and villages. I will also address a wider misrecognition of the class divisions along ethnic lines. I will not look for the key to the current government coalition in supposed growing popular racist and conservative trends. I claim such interpretations function as a justification of useful for the current political-economic order repressive and austerity measures. The latter are aimed at an imagined ‘totalitarian’ potential of ethnic and religious minorities’, supposedly demanded by threateningly democratic potential of ethnic majorities.
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facebook.com/events/519847215041407
The discussion on the lecture by Aleksandar Matković: Making Europe: On the Political Economy of Fascism (youtube.com/watch?v=klaezM0SVe4) is continued here.
Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
"Two lectures: On Fascism and Islamophobia"
BAZA, Božidara Adžije 11, Zagreb, 24.11.2017., 17h
Moderator: Stipe Ćurković
Aleksandar Matković: Making Europe: On the Political Economy of Fascism
The crisis of 2008., the story goes, seals the breakdown of the post-war order and the fragile power balance that were the European social-democracies. On the other hand, the ensuing upsurge of far-right nationalism only aggravates fears of fascism “2.0”.
In contrast to both, this lecture will address the political economy of fascism in light of its contemporary aftermath. While most theories of proto-fascism in liberalism (Ishay Landa, Gaspar Miklos Tamas, Domenico Losurdo, Tomaž Mastnak, Adam Tooze, etc.) rest on the use of analogies, this lecture will attempt to ground their relation beyond purely historical method. A self-reflection of Marxism is thus in order before one can fully analyse the contemporary tendencies of neoliberal Europe.
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facebook.com/events/519847215041407
The discussion is continued after the lecture by Madlen Nikolova: On the Political Stakes of Today's Islamophobia in Bulgaria (youtube.com/watch?v=WXIf2ACvR_A).
Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
Seminar: "Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right"
MAZ, Hatzova 16, Zagreb, 19.11.2017., 11h
Moderator: Marko Kostanić
Nikola Vukobratović: The Rise of a Nationalist Europe?: A Balkans Perspective
In the early 1990s, the Balkans and especially former Yugoslavia have often been presented as a hotbed of ethnic nationalism and the far-right. As the rest of the continent was seemingly moving towards cosmopolitan unity, abandoning ethnic and national selfishness, as well as the false promises of ideology, the Balkans looked like an exception from the rule. The fall of Yugoslavia and the wars of its succession were interpreted as petty bickering of local tribes not yet fully integrated in the post-nationalist World. The solution was therefore sought in humanitarian interventions and (sometimes) forced processes of "Europeisation". However, even before these processes were fully completed, nationalism started to look less as an atavism in the least developed parts of the continent, and more as a real danger in the very heart of Europe. Not just in the "more successful" post-socialist countries (Central Europe), but even in "Old Europe", it was noticed that nationalism was once again taking center-stage. This new context presents a challenge of reinterpreting the role of nationalism in Europe, and especially in the periphery of the EU and the Balkans. What are the similarities and differences between nationalist politics and tendencies in the Balkans, Central Europe and the West? To which systemic contradictions are they trying to produce an answer to? And what are the possible democratic and socialist answers to it? These will be some of the questions raised in the presentation.
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Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right
The political landscape of Europe (and beyond) in the years since the financial and economic crisis of 2007/2008 has been marked by the rise of right-wing forces. Public debates around astronomic public rescue packages for private financial institutions and the austerity measures accompanying them did, counter to what many on the left may have expected, not shift public opinion significantly towards left positions. Rather, it was often the populist right that proved increasingly successful in articulating economic and social anxieties into a discourse of conceptually vague anti-elitism combined with xenophobia, aggressive social chauvinism and – especially in the eastern parts of Europe – the reassertion of regressive social norms regarding women's rights and the rights of sexual and ethnic minorities. The outbreak of the so-called "refugee crisis" strengthened this trend, effectively turning the crisis narrative into one of besieged national and cultural identities, threatened by the influx of foreign – predominantly Muslim – populations. The electoral successes of parties such as Front Nacional in France and AfD in Germany signify the increasing normalization of formerly fringe political options within the parliaments of central core countries of the EU.
Many on the left have interpreted these phenomena as symptoms of the crisis of neoliberal hegemony. But even if we accept this as a broad diagnosis, the question remains as to why these reactions so often take such reactionary forms. Much like the rise of fascism in the interwar period, the current rise of right-wing forces presents a significant challenge to Marxist (or more broadly – materialist) approaches, insofar as these assert the explanatory centrality of class for social and political processes. Current political developments seem to once again drive home the fact that theoretical invocations of class as unifying social category do not necessarily correlate to a unifying experience of class subjects. The fact that the class experience of the crisis and its reverberations has proven to be fractured along "identitarian" fault lines or, at the very least, allowed its political articulation in divisive and deeply regressive terms presents both a theoretical and political challenge the left cannot afford to ignore. The challenge to theoretically come to terms with the rise of a new, aggressive right, entails the challenge of critically reassessing the explanatory instruments of the left, above all the question of the complex relation between structural factors, lived experience and political articulation.
(read more at facebook.com/events/165211720742207 )
Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
Seminar: "Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right"
MAZ, Hatzova 16, Zagreb, Croatia, 18.11.2017., 17.15h
Moderator: Stipe Ćurković
The first general discussion in the seminar "Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right" was held on the first day, following presentations by Joachim Becker ("The Different Currents of the Nationalist Right") and Jan Rettig ("Nation Trumps Economy: Performance, Interaction and Impact of Two Discourse Communities of Far Right Parties Across Europe").
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The political landscape of Europe (and beyond) in the years since the financial and economic crisis of 2007/2008 has been marked by the rise of right-wing forces. Public debates around astronomic public rescue packages for private financial institutions and the austerity measures accompanying them did, counter to what many on the left may have expected, not shift public opinion significantly towards left positions. Rather, it was often the populist right that proved increasingly successful in articulating economic and social anxieties into a discourse of conceptually vague anti-elitism combined with xenophobia, aggressive social chauvinism and – especially in the eastern parts of Europe – the reassertion of regressive social norms regarding women's rights and the rights of sexual and ethnic minorities. The outbreak of the so-called "refugee crisis" strengthened this trend, effectively turning the crisis narrative into one of besieged national and cultural identities, threatened by the influx of foreign – predominantly Muslim – populations. The electoral successes of parties such as Front Nacional in France and AfD in Germany signify the increasing normalization of formerly fringe political options within the parliaments of central core countries of the EU.
Many on the left have interpreted these phenomena as symptoms of the crisis of neoliberal hegemony. But even if we accept this as a broad diagnosis, the question remains as to why these reactions so often take such reactionary forms. Much like the rise of fascism in the interwar period, the current rise of right-wing forces presents a significant challenge to Marxist (or more broadly – materialist) approaches, insofar as these assert the explanatory centrality of class for social and political processes. Current political developments seem to once again drive home the fact that theoretical invocations of class as unifying social category do not necessarily correlate to a unifying experience of class subjects. The fact that the class experience of the crisis and its reverberations has proven to be fractured along "identitarian" fault lines or, at the very least, allowed its political articulation in divisive and deeply regressive terms presents both a theoretical and political challenge the left cannot afford to ignore. The challenge to theoretically come to terms with the rise of a new, aggressive right, entails the challenge of critically reassessing the explanatory instruments of the left, above all the question of the complex relation between structural factors, lived experience and political articulation.
With the seminar "Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right", the Centre for Labour Studies wishes to facilitate debates on these and related matters in a regional context that is itself marked by the resurgence of aggressive right-wing forces. By providing a platform for critical debate between regional activists and theorists as well as relevant international scholars, we hope to contribute to a both theoretically and politically more adequate response to these worrying processes.
facebook.com/events/165211720742207
Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
Seminar: "Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right"
MAZ, Hatzova 16, Zagreb, 18.11.2017., 15.30h
Moderator: Stipe Ćurković
Jan Rettig: Nation Trumps Economy: Performance, Interaction and Impact of Two Discourse Communities of Far Right Parties Across Europe
The European far right is, undoubtedly, on the rise. The most visible expressions are certainly the electoral victories of a plethora of far right parties in several national contexts. Also on the European level success increases, electorally and - probably paradoxically - in terms of cooperation. Currently, there are three far right euro-parties officially registered by the EU-authorities and partially funded by the EU-budget. Especially the many different forms of cooperation raise the questions what the conditions are that favour their cooperations and how they come to terms with each other ideologically.
The presentation will outline the meaning and impact of discourse communities encompassing several far right parties. This will be elaborated along two distinctive discourse communities: neoliberal political economy on the one hand and identitarian-essentialist nationalism on the other. I will show to what an extent ideological and programmatic discourse positions converge or diverge over time and if and how this is relevant for their mutual understanding and interaction. Finally, the issue of nationalism and its place in contemporary right-wing performance will be considered as a major factor in explaining the contemporary 'popular appeal' of far right parties.
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Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right
The political landscape of Europe (and beyond) in the years since the financial and economic crisis of 2007/2008 has been marked by the rise of right-wing forces. Public debates around astronomic public rescue packages for private financial institutions and the austerity measures accompanying them did, counter to what many on the left may have expected, not shift public opinion significantly towards left positions. Rather, it was often the populist right that proved increasingly successful in articulating economic and social anxieties into a discourse of conceptually vague anti-elitism combined with xenophobia, aggressive social chauvinism and – especially in the eastern parts of Europe – the reassertion of regressive social norms regarding women's rights and the rights of sexual and ethnic minorities. The outbreak of the so-called "refugee crisis" strengthened this trend, effectively turning the crisis narrative into one of besieged national and cultural identities, threatened by the influx of foreign – predominantly Muslim – populations. The electoral successes of parties such as Front Nacional in France and AfD in Germany signify the increasing normalization of formerly fringe political options within the parliaments of central core countries of the EU.
Many on the left have interpreted these phenomena as symptoms of the crisis of neoliberal hegemony. But even if we accept this as a broad diagnosis, the question remains as to why these reactions so often take such reactionary forms. Much like the rise of fascism in the interwar period, the current rise of right-wing forces presents a significant challenge to Marxist (or more broadly – materialist) approaches, insofar as these assert the explanatory centrality of class for social and political processes. Current political developments seem to once again drive home the fact that theoretical invocations of class as unifying social category do not necessarily correlate to a unifying experience of class subjects. The fact that the class experience of the crisis and its reverberations has proven to be fractured along "identitarian" fault lines or, at the very least, allowed its political articulation in divisive and deeply regressive terms presents both a theoretical and political challenge the left cannot afford to ignore. The challenge to theoretically come to terms with the rise of a new, aggressive right, entails the challenge of critically reassessing the explanatory instruments of the left, above all the question of the complex relation between structural factors, lived experience and political articulation.
With the seminar "Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right", the Centre for Labour Studies wishes to facilitate debates on these and related matters in a regional context that is itself marked by the resurgence of aggressive right-wing forces. By providing a platform for critical debate between regional activists and theorists as well as relevant international scholars, we hope to contribute to a both theoretically and politically more adequate response to these worrying processes.
facebook.com/events/165211720742207
Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
Seminar: "Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right"
MAZ, Hatzova 16, Zagreb, 18.11.2017., 11h
Moderator: Marko Kostanić
Joachim Becker: The Different Currents of the Nationalist Right
The nationalist right is not a monolithic bloc. It consists of different currents – a neoliberal, a national-conservative and a fascist current. The lecture will provide a typology for analysing the nationalist right. Against the background of a typology, a brief map of the main nationalist right-wing forces and their respective social base will be provided.
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Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right
The political landscape of Europe (and beyond) in the years since the financial and economic crisis of 2007/2008 has been marked by the rise of right-wing forces. Public debates around astronomic public rescue packages for private financial institutions and the austerity measures accompanying them did, counter to what many on the left may have expected, not shift public opinion significantly towards left positions. Rather, it was often the populist right that proved increasingly successful in articulating economic and social anxieties into a discourse of conceptually vague anti-elitism combined with xenophobia, aggressive social chauvinism and – especially in the eastern parts of Europe – the reassertion of regressive social norms regarding women's rights and the rights of sexual and ethnic minorities. The outbreak of the so-called "refugee crisis" strengthened this trend, effectively turning the crisis narrative into one of besieged national and cultural identities, threatened by the influx of foreign – predominantly Muslim – populations. The electoral successes of parties such as Front Nacional in France and AfD in Germany signify the increasing normalization of formerly fringe political options within the parliaments of central core countries of the EU.
Many on the left have interpreted these phenomena as symptoms of the crisis of neoliberal hegemony. But even if we accept this as a broad diagnosis, the question remains as to why these reactions so often take such reactionary forms. Much like the rise of fascism in the interwar period, the current rise of right-wing forces presents a significant challenge to Marxist (or more broadly – materialist) approaches, insofar as these assert the explanatory centrality of class for social and political processes. Current political developments seem to once again drive home the fact that theoretical invocations of class as unifying social category do not necessarily correlate to a unifying experience of class subjects. The fact that the class experience of the crisis and its reverberations has proven to be fractured along "identitarian" fault lines or, at the very least, allowed its political articulation in divisive and deeply regressive terms presents both a theoretical and political challenge the left cannot afford to ignore. The challenge to theoretically come to terms with the rise of a new, aggressive right, entails the challenge of critically reassessing the explanatory instruments of the left, above all the question of the complex relation between structural factors, lived experience and political articulation.
With the seminar "Nationalism, Populism, and the New Right", the Centre for Labour Studies wishes to facilitate debates on these and related matters in a regional context that is itself marked by the resurgence of aggressive right-wing forces. By providing a platform for critical debate between regional activists and theorists as well as relevant international scholars, we hope to contribute to a both theoretically and politically more adequate response to these worrying processes.
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Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe
International Conference: "For Labour Rights! - Trans-National Solidarity, Common Goods and Perspectives of Organising"
Location & date: Hotel Palace, Belgrade, Serbia, 29.10.2017.
Speakers: Peter Scherrer (ETUC), Anannya Bhattacharjee (Asia Floor Wage Campaign), Tomislav Kiš (Novi sindikat), Roland Kulke (RLS Brussels)
Moderator: Wenke Christoph (RLS)
Panel III: "Organizing Transnational Labour Solidarity"
source:
http://www.rosalux.rs/sites/default/files/attachments/current_events/RLS_program_WEB.pdf