Summer Seminars

Saturday, 3 July

12h-14h (CET), Hopes for a post-pandemic world

The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world as we know it. The impact of the virus on the younger generation has been considerable and has affected hopes, dreams, and future projects. The pandemic has also changed the nature of activism and campaigns on various topical issues: the climate crisis, work, education, struggle for social and civil rights. Different European Youth Organizations discuss these issues in a round table to provide tools for activism in the post-pandemic world.

Introduction and moderation:

• Vincenzo Colaprice, International Responsible of Young Communists (Italy), and
• Marga Ferré, Co-President of transform! europe

Speakers:

• Liam Kiernan, Ógra Shinn Féin (Ireland)
• Jiri Mäntysalo, Communist Youth of Finland
• Marco Marrone, Riders Union (Italy)
• Léo Michel, Communist Students’ Association (France)
• Nora García Nieves, Anti-imperialist Week

16h-18h (CET), Blockade and sanctions: attacks on peoples’ sovereignty

Do we really know what it means for a country and its people to suffer an economic, political, and social blockade for decades? Do we know what it means for a country to be subjected to sanctions and what harmful effects do they have on its population every day? Do we know what reasons both the United States and the European Union argue that they feel they have the right to exercise them? In this panel, you can listen and above all ask to have hundreds of political and humanitarian reasons to fight against both.

Introduction and moderation:

• Maite Mola, First Vice-President of the EL, in charge of international relations

Speakers:

• Carolys Pérez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality (Venezuela)
• Enrique Ubieta, Director of “Cuba Socialista” (Cuba)

Sunday, 4 July

12h-14h (CET), “¡No pasarán!”: Antifascism in Europe today

Could Marine Le Pen possibly win next year’s French presidential elections? This is a question that concerns every progressive European as a Front National victory would have a decisive impact on the future of the EU. This seminar is dedicated to the discussion of strategies against the far right. The main questions include:

• Is the Cordon sanitaire against the far-right about to be broken through and how can broad alliances be established?
• What is the composition of the far-right electorate?
• What is the role of historical revisionism in the rise of the far-right?
• How are other political forces and the far-right connected and which makes its discourse so powerful?
• And, last but not least, what is the role of profit interests behind the rise of the far-right and what can we learn from the historical fascism theories?

Introduction and moderation:

• Barbara Steiner, Director of transform! europe

Speakers:

• Walter Baier, transform! europe board member of transform.at (Austria)
• Eszter Bartha, associate professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) of Budapest, focusing on right-wing populism in East Germany and Hungary (Hungary)
• Kate Hudson, national officer of Left Unity, board member of transform.uk (United Kingdom)
• Gala Kabbaj, researcher at Espaces Marx, transform! europe facilitator working group on the strategies against the far right (France)

(French translation)

16h-18h (CET), Reproductive rights everywhere – a fight worth fighting for!

The shift of public debate in Europe and the world towards the right has attacked many achievements of the women’s rights movement – most of all the issue of reproductive rights. This interactive seminar aims to build knowledge on the situations in different countries and provide helpful practices. Using the example of the current legal situation and movements in Poland, Ireland and Argentina, we will identify useful strategies to gain more reproductive rights in our respective countries and how the left community can be supportive of each other in this fight.

Moderator:

• Kathi Gebel, linksjugend [‘solid] (Germany)

Speakers:

• Laura Salomé Canteros, journalist, activist of the Campaña Nacional por el Derecho al Aborto Legal, Seguro y Gratuito (Argentina) (TBC)
• Callie Crawley, Ógra Shinn Féin (Ireland)
• Emma Schläppi, Mlodzi Razem (Poland)