On the evenings of October 5, 6, and 7, the “Allied Grounds” conference invites the general public to attend talks. Scholars, activists, and cultural workers from more than 25 countries will discuss the political-discursive concerns of the “Allied Grounds” project from three thematic perspectives: “Agents of System Change,” “Resisting Green Jobs,” and “Politics of Translation.” All sessions will take place at 7 p.m. in the Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte, Greifswalder Straße 4, 10405 Berlin. Admission is free.
“Agents of System Change” · October 5 · 7 p.m.
The moral force of the environmental movements in the Global North seems undeniable: they are right about the destruction of the planet and its disastrous consequences for the majority of the world’s population. But are these movements actually capable of becoming agents of fundamental change, namely the transition from capitalism to feminist eco-socialism? This opening public talk of the “Allied Grounds” conference on Thursday, October 5, will invite us to 1) re-evaluate the struggling global proletariat, especially informal and subsistence workers turned ‘fugitive laborers,’ as agents of systemic change and 2) discuss the allied grounds necessary for that change. Speakers: Jennifer Kamau, Florin Poenaru. Moderation: Claudia Núñez.
“Resisting Green Jobs” · October 6 · 7 p.m.
‘Green jobs’ are a project of the ruling classes to create new opportunities for excessive profiteering. Challenging this means, not least, taking a look at workers’ organizations as different as mainstream unions and the offspring of anarcho-syndicalism: Are they succumbing to the promises of green capital, or are they fighting for truly sustainable workplaces? The second “Allied Grounds” public talk on Friday, October 6, will discuss recent cases of working-class environmentalism in South and Eastern Europe and explore 1) how climate activists are endeavoring to build allied grounds with workers and 2) how researchers can contribute in this context. Speakers: Svjetlana Nedimović, Paola Imperatore, Francesca Gabbriellini. Moderation: Rositsa Kratunkova.
“Politics of Translation” · October 7 · 7 p.m.
Workers of all kinds are taking over their workplaces and organizing them according to horizontal, sustainable principles: without bosses, without the compulsion to make a profit, without the separation between production and reproduction. At the same time, capital’s value chains are changing and expanding in ways that make it more difficult to identify and build connections between revolting workers. The third and final “Allied Grounds” public talk on Saturday, October 7, will ask what a politics of translation might look like that allows struggles and solidarities to be articulated and brought into conversation across different spaces, scales, and subjectivities. Speakers: Dario Azzelini, Lorenzo Feltrin, Brett Neilson. Moderation: Anna Saave.
To warm up for the conference, watch a video talk by Harsha Walia on internationalist and multiracial workers’ struggles against eco-apartheid. More material can be found on the “Allied Grounds” project website.