Őzlem Albayrak
Market and Welfare: The Magic Relationship of the Economics
The main goal of "the economics" is to find an answer to the question: How does
a society use its scarce resources to provide and to increase social welfare?
The answer of this question is simple: Perfectly competitive markets. Mainstream
economics, "the economics", does not have any suspicion about existence of
perfectly competitive markets and its power in providing individual and social
welfare. The theoretical relationship between market and welfare connection in a
liberal view has two basic problems. First of them is based on the definition of
welfare and liberalism: They are only interested in economic welfare. The answer
to the question "why are they only interested in economic welfare?" is the
restriction of their theoretical framework to the economic aspect of a society.
Naturally the result of this type of position is to consider a society as an
economy and reduce the social economic welfare to the economic one.
Fawwaz Al-Haq
Linguistic Imperialism and Linguistic Globalization: Understanding the Concepts
and Working Out the Linguistic Challenges
This presentation aims at investigating critically the concepts of "Imperialism"
and "Globalization" at linguistic level. The major objective is to demystify the
concepts, and to find out how they are going to be reflected on the
sociolinguistic profile of Arab countries. The age of globalization signals the
urgent need for Arab nations to re-engineer themselves to encounter the
challenges arising from the integral relationship between linguistic
homogenization and hegemonization, and between globalization, informative
technology and the knowledge economy. Implication from language planning will be
drawn to delineate the problem.
Sorina Chiper
The Roma – truly anti-global or genuinely global?
My presentation will dwell upon the dichotomies that the gypsy/Roma
representations and identity are riddled with. I will mainly focus on Romanian
data, addressing such questions as: to what extent the terms "Gypsy" and "Roma"
are positively or negatively loaded, and whether a change in name can foster a
change in attitude? What have been the consequences of gypsy/Roma migration in
the eyes of the Romanian population? To what degree is the Romanian society
able, or ready to integrate the Roma, or, vice versa, to what degree are they
willing to integrate? Is there a solution to the Roma problem? Is there a Roma
problem in the first place? How to "purge" people's mind from racism, when they
believe they are not racists? How to understand the Roma communities when, as a
non- Roma, as any outsider, one cannot cross the "border" separating them from
other groups or communities?
Barbara Ciccarelli
The Commodification of Exclusion: The "Outsider Art" of Henry Darger
The commodification of exclusion has been a highly debated topic in academia for
years in regards particularly to the exploitation of Jewish suffering by the
Holocaust Industry. A similar case can be made regarding the fascination with
the creative genius of the mentally ill. My paper will focus on Henri Darger's
art and how it draws the public's attention. This is because of the speculations
about the artist's mental illness and the shocking display of naked little girls
engaged in scenes of battle. The outrage just heightens the celebrity status of
the deceased artist, which is reflected in the famous poet John Ashbery choosing
Darger's art as the subject of his book of poems entitled, Girls on the Run.
Darger's artistic production was fueled by the desire to break out of exclusion
and validate his inclusion, his place in culture. Thus, is it not time that we
embrace him and all others who are designated as "outsiders" instead of
commodifying their exclusion in such a way as to validate ourselves as insiders?
The fascination with so-called "outsiders" seems to be a creative possibility
beyond the psychic borders of the western or dominant perspective. This paper
will explore other possibilities for making that psychic break, in particular,
the possibility of intentionally inducing a traumatic moment to generate
creativity for the purpose of social change.
Asli Coban – Aslihan Coban – Senay Eray –
Ela Gökalp – Ayse Gönüllü –
Ceyda
Kuloglu
General Abstract (roundtable):THE ROLE OF THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF THE NEW TURKISH PENAL CODE
Our workshop aims to examine the process of engendering the political agenda of
Turkey during the reform process concerning the New Turkish Penal Code. Turkey
is a country where important reforms concerning gender equality objective have
been put into implementation. Throughout this workshop the Turkish Penal Code
reformation is considered as a marking process with respect to gender equality
movement in Turkey. With the advent of New Turkish Penal Code, the difference
between men and women, the norms about their normal conducts and relations,
gender related presumptions concerning the concrete –standart situations- are
negotiated by involved parties and redefined. In this context, the reformation
process highlights the historical characteristic of Turkish women's movement,
its engagement with international bodies and women's rights regime concerning
gender equality objective and Turkish state's approach to the issue and its
cooperation with other actors. In the roundtable discussion the issue mentioned
above will be examined from four perspectives, respectively:
1. The importance of the Turkish Penal Code Reformation and its Historical
Background with respect to Gender Equality Movement in Turkey, discussed by Aslı
Çoban;
2. The Turkish Women's Movement after 1980's in the Democratization Process of
Turkey, discussed by Ayşe Gönüllü;
3. Impacts of International Gender Equality Mechanisms on the New Turkish Penal
Code, discussed by Ceyda Kuloğlu and Ela Gökalp;
4. The stance of the Turkish State through the New Turkish Penal Code
Reformation Process, discussed by Şenay Eray.
5. Importance of the Turkish Penal Code Reformation and its Historical
Background with respect to Gender Equality Movement in Turkey, discussed by
Aslihan Coban.
Aslihan Coban
– European Union and the Borders of European Identity
As we all could agree with the idea that, establishment of European Union (EU)
in 1991 was a project of European integration after the cold war period. In this
study, the project of European integration will be discussed through the
conception of European identity together with the tension between Eastern and
Western Europe. The major problem of this work is to investigate the dynamics of
Europe's identity construction and the changing definition of "Europe",
"Europeanness" during and after the collapse of Soviet Block. In order for a
proper focus on the Eastern enlargement which has enlarged the "borders of
Europe" to the twenty five countries with the join of ten post Soviet countries
on 1st May 2004, I think, one should consider the statement that, "Europe as a
cold-war construct was subordinated to the wider opposition of West versus East"
(Delanty, 1995). This makes us to ask that, what about the contradiction between
European identity and Eastern enlargement of EU? In short, regarding the new
borders of EU, I would like to contest the borders of "Europeanness" and discuss
the role of East-West tension considering the ideal of "overcoming the divisions
in Europe" and the "unity of Europe".
– Importance of the Turkish Penal Code Reformation and its Historical Background
with respect to Gender Equality Movement in Turkey
The reform process is a crucial historical moment to examine the women's
activism in Turkey, and its relations with the international bodies, and state's
approach to gender equality objective and struggle. In 2004 a penal code reform
has been passed in the Turkish parliamentary and issued to be enforced on the
1th April (it has been postponed to 1th July). Throughout the process when draft
law was prepared, voted and legislated, women's movement in Turkey have raised
its voice through lobbying, conducting discussion meetings, report-preparing and
organizing mass street-meetings in order to influence the process and pushed for
a new code breaking with its historical patriarchal philosophy. Most of the
debated articles did not change completely in a way women's activism demanded.
We argue that this failure in some critical articles stemmed from both
weaknesses in the Turkish women's movement and weaknesses of its relations with
the international agencies (UN, EU) and also Turkish state's instrumentalist
approach to the gender related concerns in the reform. Still these are not the
weaknesses came about first in this specific occasion but reflective of the
historical characteristic of the gender equality struggle in Turkey and
relations between women's movement, international agencies, and the state as the
actors involved.
Patrick Cuninghame
Maquiladoras, identity and gender on the US-Mexican Border
This presentation's point of departure is that the local and global
configurations of identity in the US-Mexican border community of "El Paso del
Norte" (Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas) are determined by processes
of economic globalisation, whose main manifestation is or has been until
recently the maquiladora assembly plant. Previous studies on border identities
have emphasized more socio-cultural processes and have not analysed economic
processes sufficiently as decisive in the construction of identities. Deploying
an interdisciplinary approach based on recent theories of cultural and economic
globalisation and of gender and hybrid identities, the paper's objective is to
identify and problematise the salient characteristics of the identities of
maquiladora women workers on both sides of the border and to ascertain if
transnational and hybrid identities are emerging because of the impacts of
globalisation. This question and others raised by gendered border theory are
only too pertinent in the context of the internationally notorious failure of
the local and national Mexican judiciary to halt the continuing 'feminicide' of
over 400 women in Ciudad Juarez and in the state of Chihuahua since 1993, most
of them maquiladora workers and internal migrants. The paper also seeks,
therefore, to explore the nexus of globalisation, gender, border, work and
violence and the forms of resistance of women workers.
Esra Elmas and
Ayse Erek
Marketing the borders: Establishing a Cultural Identity
The metropolitan city of Istanbul, with its constant flux- unlike other cities
in Turkey- has been and is a zone of cultural contestation. On the eve of Turkey
joining the EU, Istanbul today can be regarded as an emerging market for the new
economy of cultural identity, namely 'Europeanness.' Throughout the city,
spaces, from billboards to university emblems and company logos, act as a medium
of exchange where it is possible to locate, describe, and metaphorize
Europeanness. Within this multidimensional space exists a perspective, held by
market participants, which can be defined as the already 'Europeanized' gaze.
The space, as representation itself, is an active space in which the borders of
'Europeanness' are intersected and reworked. In our work in progress, we will
try to trace how marketing the borders becomes a political strategy of cultural
identity through verbal and visual representations. How social change becomes
possible through rethinking and redescribing boundaries will be followed by
several examples we face in our everyday lives in Istanbul.
Senay Eray
The Stance of the Turkish State through the new Penal Code Reformation Process
This presentation focuses on the Turkish State as an actor in the process of the
Turkish Penal Code reformation. The presentation examines which groups and
organizations were effective in the early discussions about the idea of changing
the Turkish Penal Code into the New Turkish Penal Code, and whose demands were
considered during the later developments. A second focus is on the response to
the women's movement and the requirements of the E.U.; I will examine whether
the government acted on the demands of one or the other. Thirdly, I will look at
the different opinions on gender equality that emerged from within the
government. Finally, the reasons for the postponement of the New Turkish Penal
Code will be analyzed.
Anna Feigenbaum
Transdisciplinarity and/as a Methodology of the Oppressed
This roundtable engage the research and activist work of participants to
investigate the political potential and limitations of transdisciplinarity
and/as a Methodology of the Oppressed (based on Chela Sandoval). Paying
particular attention to how disciplinary borders and boundaries function as
mechanisms of control, the roundtable will investigate the importance of
tactical movements and strategies for pursuing a "shared understanding of
resistance." We will address questions such as: How does knowledge move in
academia? What structures and obstacles create and maintain an "apartheid of
academic knowledges"? Is there a shared understanding of resistance? What types
of scholarship and activities contribute to such a shared understanding? How can
and do certain gatherings contribute to this projects? Are there dangers in
mapping the escape of subordination and domination? What can we as researchers
and activists do to help knowledges move across the borders and boundaries of
instutions?
Julian Finn
Copyright and Copyleft – Opportunities for academic and civil societies
As Copyright is getting more and more important in today's life, its
restrictions bccome more and more problematic. On the other hand, alternatives
like Copyleft do not only solve problems but also open up many opportunities for
society. In this three-hour workshop we want to give an insight into copyright
law and its existing alternatives, such as Creative Commons and the GNO Licenses
GPL and FDL. Afterwards we want to discuss the problem of copyright and the
changes of alternative licenses and alternative compensation systems for
academic and civil societies as well as in economic environments.
Ela Gökalp and Ceyda Kuloglu
The Impact of International Gender Equality Mechanisms on the New Turkish Penal
Code
Two international gender equality mechanisms are significant concerning women's
rights in Turkey, "The European Union's gender regime, and the United Nations.
Since Turkey's full membership application to the EU in 1989, gender equality
has become increasingly important for the Turkish state because it has become
pre-condition for membership. The reformation of the Turkish Penal Code is an
important issue to achieve gender equality in Turkey. This presentation analyzes
the impacts of conventions and other documents of these two international gender
equality (E.U. and U.N.) mechanisms on the reformation process of the New
Turkish Penal Code.
Ayse Gönüllü
The Role of the Turkish Women's Movement after 1980 in the Democratization
Process of Turkey
The second wave of the Turkish Women's Movement (based on the first wave which
had lasted from 1910-1920) started in 1980 as the first social movement after
the military coup on 12th September 1980. The coup, during which all democratic
rights were abolished, led to a de-politization of Turkish society. Repression
of both radical left and radical right brought political life to a complete
halt. In this atmosphere Feminism was heard as a first voice of civil society.
The demands of women for equality, freedom and solidarity brought the feminist
point of view to the forefront of the fight for democracy. This presentation
analyzes the process of the Turkish Women's Movement, its continuities and
breaks until today.
Hĺvard Haarstad
EEF and the Bologna process: ways forward in the struggle over education
I will talk about EEF in Bergen, some of the discussion that has been taking
place, the main differences between the EEF and the Bologna approaches to
education, and possible ways forward. Hopefully the discussion can revolve
around what system of education we want, and how can it be achieved.
Alexandra Haché
Presentation of the "European Guide for Social Transformation and the "Action
Research Network for the ESF Process"
This workshop presents these two European networks, their activities and
objectives. For further information on them please visit www.euromovements.info.
Dieuwertje Huijg
Utopian aspects of Feminism
(No Abstract)
Alice van der Klei
The Ché Guevara Photograph
This presentation analyzes the over-famous Ché Guevara photograph which quickly
developed into a very lucrative poster, stuck-on iconic image industry. I will
approach the picture in terms of power representation in the present-day pop
culture. Spilling out of its frame, the photograph is permanently reinventing
itself as well as crossing borders to reinvent the concept of freedom, reframing
itself through the autopoeisis of the Ché himself.
Esther Langen
The Position of Foreign Students and Staff in Higher Education
This workshop will address the position of foreign students / staff in higher
education. I will give some facts and figures about foreign students and staff,
and I will talk about cultural differences and intercultural competences.
Sebastian Lara
Inner Tourism
(No Abstract)
Miguel Martínez Lopez
Space and Politics in the Spanish Squatters Movement
This presentation investigates the Politics of the Spanish Squatters' Movement
since the 1980s. The movement is very diverse, developing its own specificities
in each city and being organized in different ways in with different political
ideologies. Furthermore, most activists denied their membership to a "squatter's
movement" and instead pointed out that squatting was a means to their diverse
political ends. Yet, the different movements share characteristics like the
types of buildings they squatted, shared libertarian principles and the local
authorities as main opponents, and some coordination among each group and among
the different groups.This presentation informs about internal and external
complexities faced by these urban and global activists.
Daria Melnyk
The Animatrix
The Animatrix is a dystopian film that moves the viewer to consider why people
have, throughout history, preferred ignorance over knowledge and action.
Although the form the film takes does exhibit some utopian elements, the
directors' didactic purpose is to use the film as a tool for historical
awakening. This the directors accomplish by employing the language of the media
to create a new language, one that anticipates the reconciliation between man
and "machine," by
which I mean not only technology but any "other" that we exclude in an attempt
to conquer.
Beatriz Calderón Munoz
Home, Exile, Fragmentation: A reading of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Following, among others, Avtar Brah's argument that presents the concept of
diaspora as a critique of discourses of fixed origins and explores the idea of
home and return in the diasporic context, I propose to discuss the implications
of these concepts and study and debate how they are represented in Theresa Hak
Kyung Cha's work, both as a writer and as an artist. This Korean American
author, who migrated to the United States when she was a child, explores exile
and the concepts of "migration" and "home" in order to re-articulate a
dislocated identity. In her best-known literary work, Dictée, she strives to
portray and articulate the idea of home and belonging both to a tradition and to
a particular location even if the very essence of these concepts is radically
challenged. Through a multiplicity of voices which give account of the hybrid
nature both of the author and of the text and which are embedded in the frame of
a postmodern narrative, she examines power relations, historical and literary
traditions and the idea of fragmentation and dislocation whose sentiment we find
pervading the whole book. Her work raises questions as to how we can study
and/or define identities, ethnicities? How these concepts are constructed and
read in the contemporary world? And, also how we can relate our own personal
experiences as travelers, border-crossers, immigrants or tourists to this
discussion?
Maria Carmen Pantea
Child Labor: In Between Global Standards and Cultural Relativism
Child labor discourse is characterized by two conflicting tendencies. According
to global standards children have the right to be protected from performing any
work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education
or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or
social development (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989: Article 32).
However, according to principles of cultural relativism "childhood" is social
construct defined differently by different cultures, societies, and states.
There thus is an apparent need for a standard that is both universal and
reflects the diversity of childhood(s). How are we, however, to deal with the
tension between cultural relativism and universal standards? Should the one be
preferred over the other? Is a balancing required? Are the tensions between
cultural relativism and human rights discourse to be conciliated in a globalized
society? Moreover, is conciliation a hazardous compromise? Can one sustain
universal human rights while promoting openness to diversity?
Tasos Papadimitriou –
Evangelia Stergiou – Maria Boletsi
A (new) spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of immigration
Although obviously not a stranger to such phenomena, for over two decades,
Europe has seen a rising tide of racism and xenophobia threatening to engulf its
politics. Increasingly since 9/11, this has become particularized in the form of
Islamophobia, coupled with an ideological anti-Semitism propagated by neo-Nazi
parties. Recent events have triggered the perception that Christianity is at war
with Islam, allowing far-right parties to claim a popular resonance and
repackage their message in a way that jettisons much of their historical
baggage. Immigration has become a highly charged issue throughout Europe, and
governments and mainstream political parties increasingly co-opt exclusive and
even explicitly xenophobic and racist policies and rhetoric as a response to
public 'concerns' that are fuelled, if not created outright, by sectors of the
media often through hysterical misinformation. This workshop aims to share
knowledge and experiences on the situation in various countries around Europe,
while trying to analyze why xenophobia is on the rise and immigration and
multiculturalism are perceived as such a threat. It also wants to discuss on a
practical level what we, as citizens/activists/teachers etc, can do to counter
these developments, and it aims to attempt to formulate convincing answers to
the most prevalent misinformed anti-immigration arguments, while taking into
consideration 'legitimate' concerns about economic welfare, social cohesion and
cultural identity.
Hugo Pezzini
The Formation of the Latin American Neoliberal Individuality
My work interrogates whether it is rational to even hypothesize the notion of
molding a human being so she/he finds meaning in her/his continuous dedication
to serving the needs of the market –the creation of 'a consumer archetype.'
Next, I try to assess the neoliberal market's possibilities of balancing the
means, disposition, and desires and number of the consumers with the market's
need of allocating its output. It would seem to be that the dependence of the
market on the generation of 'proper desires,' and availability, of consumers is
sufficient reason for violence as described by Frederic Jameson. Defying the
various apocalyptic scenarios delineated by defeatist preconceptions of the
mainstream eschatologists of Latin Americanist theory, my work closes presenting
real, pragmatic alternatives. They are informed by the actions and experiences
of several Latin American communities that are devising "posthegemonic"
strategies of resistance. They are immediately put to work to cope with the
devastating effects of the so far unsuccessful hostile struggle by the market's
mentioned-above emissaries to jumpstart and incorporate modern local economies
into the postmodern neoliberal project of globalization.
Saskia Poldervaart
This workshop will deal with the question how different groups/streams of the
alterglobalisation movement interact with each other and with society? The
question it will simultaneously try to address is whether Do-it-Yourself
politics is enough to change society?
Suzan van der Post -
Christian Scholl
Utopian Aspects of Feminism
(No Abstract)
Rutger van Ree
Squatting Movements and Pleasure
This presentation will focus on two main questions,
1. Is 'the personal political'? And what is the relationship between 'politics'
and 'culture' in modern social/political movements?
2. What is the role of pleasure in social/political movements?
As to the first question I will elaborate on the idea of public and private and
how this idea corresponds mostly with the sphere dominated by men, women might
also had a say, but they were confined within a modern construction. Second wave
feminists in order to create a change had to create an alternative to the
accepted idea of public and private. However, while history is made up of
individual and collective actions, and so, one has a (minor) influence on the
shape of things to come, if one feels the need for a change, it does not do only
to reflect theoretically on political systems, or to change things on a
governmental level, but also to change the day-to-day situation of 'real'
people. The concept of D.I.Y. comes to mind, as does 'buurtstrijd', a squat term
with militant connotation for changing the world by beginning in your own
neighborhood. One of the consequences is that the separation between 'culture'
and 'politics' is not so strict as it is usually assumed to be.
As to the second question I will ask whether because the true revolutionary is
in a constant struggle with the powers that be and is constantly aware of the
dire situation of the less privileged, the revolutionary leftist movement has a
difficult relationship to idleness and frivolity? So are revolutionaries always
to work hard, be serious and stay devoid of joy? Undoubtedly, there will be a
wide consensus that this is at least a caricature. But in how far is this image
factually correct? And in how far is this necessary or preferable?
Davide Rossi –
Emilio Sabatino
For a school system with a future
From Paris to Milan, from Lisbon to Bellinzona, European students and professors
are asking themselves impatiently about the freedom of thought, the energy and
intelligence. Schools and Universities are places of culture and cannot be
reduced to offices of a consumerist society. We are getting organized everywhere
in Europe to construct an alternative for a different tomorrow. For these
reasons we funded "FESAL-E", "European Federation of alternative trade unionism
in Education" in September 2003. Pupils, students, teachers and parents of
pupils of different countries (France, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Slovenia
and Spain, and with contacts in Holland and Germany) united in the desire to
recuperate the lost essence of a school that should be the home of all of
society. While the school should encourage the liberty of teaching of the
teachers as well as the liberty of learning of students, instead of limiting
such liberties, we experience that increasingly, external systems of
"qualitative evaluation" are inserted. These have the aim to stop the pupils and
professors from constructing through daily analysis and confrontation the
indispensable knowledge that allows them to confront the society they face
daily. This is happening as a consequence of the "General Agreement of Trades
and Services" (GATS) in which the European governments pretend to transform the
school in a location at the service of the rules of the market. Only a school in
which knowledge is the patrimony of youngsters and of teachers has a future.
Only the passion for what is taught, and for what is studied, brings the school
to life. Therefore, the school should be a free public space, liberated of
reasons of state.
"FESAL-E" also struggles for the respect of the rights of organization in trade
unions, a fundamental element of democracy and plurality.
The feeling of freedom that unites us wants to return the smile (not the stomach
pains!) to the students, pupils and teachers that every day make the school with
their heart and their intelligence. Together, with courage, with determination,
with passion, for freedom and for culture.
Angela Sanders
Film Screening: Europlex and Domestic Scapes
Cema Martinova Serbezova
Trade, Growth and Poverty
Globalization is unavoidable and trade liberalization is an important policy
which should exist in the reform packages for both industrialized and developing
countries. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth has a strong link with the degree
of the openness of a country which refers to the share of import and export
percentage of GDP. Social effects of trade will be discussed based on a short
theory introduction to the topic.
Mehmet Siray
Performance and Performativity: The problematization of Border(s)and
(non)Identity in the Kutlu Atman's Video Installation "1+1=1"
The article aims at analyzing Kutlug Ataman's video installation (2 DVDs, each
approximately 50 minutes, two- screen video installation with variable
dimensions) 1+1=1 shown in Istanbul Biennial in 18 September-16 November 2003.
The article problematizes the illegal journey of a Turkish Cypriot who crosses
illegally the border in between north and south Cyprus. The video installation
covers the Turkish Cypriot's memories about her childhood in the southern part
of Cyprus, the obligatory immigration of her family members to northern part and
the division of two parts after 1974. She memorizes all those "events" from
various perspectives. If we repeat what she said at the beginning of the video
installation: "memory is, no doubt, selective", we can claim that the art work
questions several issues from different point of views while showing at the same
time how this (these) selective memory (ies) shifts. My aim is to show how the
bodies and identities are determined in terms of the division of spaces which
are usually defined by law and prohibition. Even though bodies and identities
are determined by borders and limits, I will argue that "the law" cannot succeed
to substitute well defined and absolute identity roles to citizens/individuals.
In this article, following and underlining Kutlug Ataman's indications, I will
discuss how certain kinds of identities (and respectively bodies) are
transgressed in terms of radicalizing and ridiculising the borders.
Monica Smith
Domestic Migrant Workers Through Artistic Means
I am interested in organizing one workshop and one roundtable discussion. I
would like to organize a workshop for people interested in addressing the issues
of domestic migrant workers through artistic means: film, theater, writing. I am
in the process of completing a film on Sri Lankan domestic laborers working in
Lebanon. A cut of the film should be ready to be viewed by mid-June. I would
also like to organize a roundtable to talk about ways to address agency of
domestic migrant workers. Recently much has been written in academia in regards
to how the worth and identity of the domestic is constructed through
governmental bodies, hiring agencies, and economic policies. Drawing upon
Foucault and Agamben, many have attended to the powers that create the worker's
subjectivity. But I am more interested in attending to the ways that these women
have agency in the shaping of their identities, their lives and constructed
work. For example, why are they deciding to go to work? How are they able to
subvert the system to work for them? What are they doing with the money they
earn? In focusing on these aspects we are able to work outside of the frame of
globalization and neo-liberalism that constructs such workers as pawns within
the capitalist system.
Mark Wege
The conflict between the individual emancipation and the rationalising
tendencies in social movements
Social movements base and flourish from their diversity. There are as many
reasons for engaging oneself in a movement as activists. These subjective
motivations stand in a conflict with the rationalising tendencies to answer
questions like: What are the common goals and demands and how should they be
pursued? The discussions in the movement often rather focus on these strategic
questions, then adressing this conflict. During the last months I was concerned
with this problem from a psychological and historical perspective. In this
workshop I want to share some of my thoughts and conclusions. I hope the
discussion in the workshop, will be more concrete than this description :-) and
involve the shared experiences of the participants. Therefore the group should
not be bigger than 15 people.