THE GREAT TRANSITION 2023

The International Conference The Great Transition will take place from May 18-21, 2023. The event is organized by Alternatives and Historical Materialism.

Theme: "Fighting back in Times of Global Crisis: Repoliticizing, Imagining, Achieving"

Bengi Akbulut, the acting director of the Social Justice Centre, will be part of many panels, such as "Dialogue entre décroissance et écosocialisme" (on May 18) and the Panel "Critique of postcapitalist models" (on May 20).

Dialogue entre décroissance et écosocialisme

(Jeudi 18 mai, 11:00 à 12:30 Salle H 1070)

Depuis que John Bellamy Foster, l’un des principaux théoriciens de l’écosocialisme, publie en 2011 sa critique de la décroissance dans la revue de gauche britannique Red Pepper, une critique qui visait principalement quelques écrits de l’objecteur de la croissance français Serge Latouche, les échanges entre les deux courants de pensée ne furent que sporadiques. Au sein de chacun, une compréhension quelque peu réductionniste des analyses et préceptes de l’autre prédominait. De leur côté, les écosocialistes voyaient dans la décroissance un refus d’affronter la question primordiale du capitalisme et de reconnaitre le rôle incontournable d’une lutte de classe dans construction d’un monde plus sain et viable, tandis que les objecteurs de croissance avaient tendance à rejeter l’écosocialisme comme figé dans un paradigme dépassé et considérer ses défenseurs naïvement optimistes quant aux remèdes technologiques à la dégradation sans fin de l’habitat terrestre.

Toutefois, avec l’aggravation de la catastrophe écologique, on observe de plus en plus d’intérêt pour la décroissance dans certains milieux intellectuels. Cette polarisation stérile semble donc s’estomper peu à peu, permettant ainsi d’ouvrir un espace pour un nouveau dialogue. On entend même parler de ‘décroissance écosocialiste’. Notre panel cherchera à comprendre les opportunités et les limites de cette ouverture. Sans minimiser les divergences philosophiques importantes, nous nous pencherons sur ce qui nous rapproche et les possibilités de conjuguer nos efforts analytiques et programmatiques dans l’intérêt de renforcer et de rallier les forces de changement radical.

Panélistes : Bengi Akbulut, Aaron Vansintjan, Andrea Levy, Louis Marion

Symposium New Directions for Democratic Planning?  

Panel 2: Critique of postcapitalist models.

SATURDAY MAY 20, 11 am - 2 pm  

SPEAKERS:

• Bengi Akbulut : Planning for social reproduction? Feminist political economy and democratic planning
• Jan Groos : Planning as an Art of Government
• Adam Balsam : The Pitfalls and Potentials of Idealist Formulations in Economic Relations
• Facilitated by Ellen Russel

In recent years, there has been an explosion of research surrounding the possibility of democratic planning of the economy. Previously restricted to a handful of highly invested economists and activists, discussions on the subject are now embracing an increasingly broad public that is asking a simple question: how can we organize the economy differently? The socio-political context marked by the climate crisis, the ubiquity of new technologies and the failures of globalization has contributed to this growing interest in a democratically planned post-capitalist economy.

This greater interest has a consequence for the field itself. The models and authors that emerged in the 1990s are now surrounded by a variety of often partial, but always challenging, proposals.

This colloquium will attempt to situate the new research priorities of the field by asking five questions:

• Should we continue to build and improve economic models of democratic planning or take a different direction?
  Should new technologies be at the heart of democratic planning or should we be wary of them?
  Should the shrinking of the economy be a goal of democratic planning?
  What existing institutions, organizations or movements support democratic planning?
  What international trade relationships are compatible with democratic planning?

For more information, visit the facebook event for this panel.

General Program : 

• 4 major conferences – simultaneous translation offered

Reconfiguration of the Left Around the World with Elisa Loncon, Chris Smalls, Mustafa Barghouti

Repoliticizing the Climate Question with Matthew Huber, Mohamed Amer Mezianne, Sabrina Fernandes

Beyond the Co-Constitution of Systems of Oppression: the Co-Constitution of Struggles for Emancipation with Silvia Federici, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

How to Think of Post-Capitalism Outside of Eurocentrism? For a Non-Aligned Utopia with Jairo Fúnez, Houria Bouthelja and Ndlovu-Gatsheni

• Standalones with Nabila Mounib, Yuliya Yurchenko, Leopoldina Fortunati … and many more names to come!
• A hundred panels and activities
• Magazine fair
• And more!

For the full schedule of The Great Transition, including the two other panels of our symposium: https://thegreattransition.net/schedule/as well as the facebook event page.