Socialism in Our Time

International Conference

Oyoun Kulturzentrum
Lucy-Lameck-Straße 32
Berlin Neukölln

Documents

Join Jacobin magazine and transform! europe in summery Berlin for two days of stimulating debates and conversations. Leading thinkers from Europe and North America will speak in English and German on what it means to be a socialist today.

 

Bernie Sanders’ first presidential campaign inspired millions and put socialism back on the map. Seven years later, Trump, Covid-19 and the Ukraine War helped the powers that be regain the upper hand. How can the Left break out of its impasse, organise the broad majority and inspire a vision for social transformation?

Co-hosted by Jacobin Magazine and transform! europe, the two-day event will feature a number of prominent left-wing voices from across North America and Europe, taking stock of democratic socialism’s successes and failures over the last decade – an eventful one, to say the least.

Language
The conference will include panels in English (English track) and in German (German track).

When?
Friday, 10 June, 18.00 – 21.30
Saturday, 11 June, 10.00 – 21.30

Where?
Kulturzentrum (Neukölln)
Lucy-Lameck-Straße 32
12049 Berlin


Programme

Friday, 10 June

19:00 — 21:00 (CET): Opening Podium

The 2010s were pretty good for our movement. The word “socialism” was reintroduced into mainstream politics, and socialist parties and candidates even won a few elections. But 15 years after the financial crisis, our adversaries seem to be firmly back in the saddle. Has the Left’s forward march been halted?

Moderation:

Speakers:

  • Nancy Fraser, Walter Benjamin Chair at the Center for Humanities and Social Change, Humboldt University of Berlin
  • Michael Brie, Chair of the Academic Advisory Council, Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation and author of Rediscovering Lenin
  • Ronan Burtenshaw, Editor, Tribune
  • Jeremy Corbyn, Founder, Peace and Justice Project

Saturday, 11 June

Panels

English track

10:00 – 11:45 (CET): Panel 1 – Their Planet and Ours

Crop failures in eastern Africa, sweltering heat waves in India, California and the Amazon ablaze – every week, we are bombarded with more ominous headlines about the ecological crises of our times. Capitalism is killing the planet. Can we avert disaster by turning away from it? And which strategies is capital itself developing in the face of the climate crisis? Is “sustainability” a PR stunt, and might it even further entrench inequality, privatization and exclusion?

Moderation:

  • Alex Brentler, Staff writer, Jacobin Germany

Speakers:

  • Grace Blakeley, Editor, Tribune and host, A World to Win podcast
  • Sabrina Fernandes, Contributing editor, Jacobin and host, Tese Onze
  • Gala Kabbaj, Researcher, Quantité Critique

12:00 – 13:45 (CET): Panel 2 – Contemporary Capitalism and Its Gravediggers

Since the collapse of state socialism at the end of the last century, capitalism stands alone as the dominant economic system structuring our world. But no matter how “transnational” or “digital” it gets, it can’t function without the workers who keep it running and can, if they want to, bring it to a halt. What does the global working class look like today, and how can it fight back?

Moderation:

Speakers:

  • Nadia Garbellini, Researcher, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
  • Vivek Chibber, Editor, Catalyst and author of The Class Matrix
  • Cedric Johnson, Professor of Political Science and African American Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago and author of The Panthers Can’t Save Us Now

13:45 – 15:00 Lunch

15:00 – 16:45 (CET): Panel 3 – Every War Is a Defeat

The criminal invasion of Ukraine has unleashed a new and frightening spiral of escalation on Europe’s eastern borders. While Russian bombs indiscriminately kill civilians and soldiers alike, NATO has seized on the opportunity to re-invent itself as a defender of freedom and sovereignty less than a year after the disastrous NATO-led mission in Afghanistan finally came to a close. With no end to the war in sight and arms budgets skyrocketing, can we build an anti-war movement fit for the times?

Moderation:

Speakers:

17:00 – 18:45 (CET): Panel 4 – The Left in Purgatory

There is no doubt that the US Left is at the end of a period of rapid politicization and settling into one of either gradual decline or slow advance. In Europe, a series of defeats have thrown the Left onto the defensive, as the political center regains the upper hand. How can socialists on both sides of the Atlantic move beyond the prospect of eternal resistance and become “masters of our own fate”?

Moderation:

  • Loren Balhorn, Editor, Jacobin Germany

Speakers:

  • Meagan Day, Associate editor, Jacobin and co-author of Bigger than Bernie
  • Bhaskar Sunkara, Founder and editorial director, Jacobin and author of The Socialist Manifesto
  • David Broder, Europe Editor, Jacobin and author of First They Took Rome

German track

10:00 – 11:45 (CET): Panel 1 – Krieg den Hütten, Friede den Palästen? 

Die Wohnungsnot betrifft schon lange nicht mehr nur die arbeitende Klasse: Der Ausverkauf der Städte und steigende Mieten machen Wohnungspolitik zur zentralen sozialen Frage unserer Gegenwart. Wie kann soziale oder gar sozialistische Wohnungspolitik in Zeiten des finanzialisierten Kapitalismus aussehen – und welche politischen Kräfte sind nötig, um die moderne Stadt zurückzuerobern?

Moderation:

  • Ines Schwerdtner, Chefredakteurin, Jacobin Deutschland

Speakers:

  • Katalin Gennburg, MdA, DIE LINKE, Berlin
  • Max Zirngast, Gemeinderat, KPÖ Graz
  • Andrej Holm, Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

12:00 – 13:45 (CET): Panel 2 – Europas extreme Rechte und der Neoliberalismus

Der rasante Aufstieg der extremen Rechten über das letzte Jahrzehnt hat uns in Atem gehalten. Wenn rechtsextreme Parteien jetzt wieder verlieren, ist das aber kein Grund zur Entwarnung. In der Zwischenzeit haben sich ihre Diskurse in den Mainstream eingeschlichen und Parteien des politischen Zentrums übernehmen rechte Inhalte, die sich gut mit ihrem Neoliberalismus vertragen. Mit welchen Mitteln und in welchen Allianzen können wir dagegen angehen?

Moderation:

Speakers:

  • Gerasimos Kouzelis, Professor Emeritus für Wissenschaftsphilosophie und Wissenssoziologie, Universität Athen
  • Gabriele Michalitsch, Politikwissenschaftlerin und Ökonomin, Universität Wien und Universität Klagenfurt
  • Conny Hildebrandt, Ko-Präsidentin, transform! europe

13:45 – 15:00 (CET): Lunch

15:00 – 16.45 (CET): Panel 3 – Klassenbewusstsein im Zeitalter der Hyperpolitik

Während uns Massenmedien und soziale Netzwerke mit den oberflächlichen Aufregern der “Hyperpolitik” bespielen, schließt uns der Niedergang politischer und gewerkschaftlicher Organisation zunehmend von realer Macht aus. Das trifft allen voran Arbeiterinnen und Arbeiter, die deshalb vielfach in Fatalismus verfallen. Welche Quellen kollektiven Handelns und Bewusstseins weisen einen Weg aus dieser Misere?

Moderation:

  • Linus Westheuser, Redakteur, Jacobin Deutschland

Speakers:

  • Klaus Dörre, Professor für Arbeits-, Industrie- und Wirtschaftssoziologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena und Autor, Die Utopie des Sozialismus
  • Linda Beck, Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
  • Sabrina Apicella, Autorin, Das Prinzip Amazon

17:00 – 18:45 (CET): Panel 4 – Planning for the many

Die Planwirtschaft hat einen schlechten Ruf – allerdings hat sich seit dem Ende des Staatssozialismus technologisch einiges getan. Heute setzen kapitalistische Großkonzerne auf Planungsprozesse, um ihre Effizienz zu erhöhen. Gleichzeitig diskutieren Linke, welche Rolle dem Markt im Sozialismus zukommen könnte. Wie könnte eine gerechtere und demokratischere Wirtschaftsordnung aussehen?

Moderation:

  • Matthias Ubl, Host, Jacobin Talks

Speakers:

  • Lutz Brangsch, Referent für Transformation des Staates, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
  • Anna-Verena Nosthoff, Ko-Direktorin, Data Politics Lab, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
  • Lukas Scholle, Kolumnist, Jacobin Deutschland und Volkswirt

19:30 — 21:30 (CET): Closing Podium — You Can’t Stop the Spring

After two-and-a-half years of the global pandemic, a grim economic outlook and now the devastating war in Ukraine, it can feel like democratic socialism’s best days are behind it. But it isn’t all grim: around the world, workers are organizing and left-wing parties are vying for power. Another world is still possible, but what kind of socialist movement do we need to rise to the challenge?

Moderation:

  • Bhaskar Sunkara, Founder and publisher, Jacobin

Speakers:

  • Vivek Chibber, Editor, Catalyst
  • Meagan Day, Jacobin
  • Loren Balhorn, Jacobin Germany
  • Anne Delespaul, Workers’ Party of Belgium
  • Marga Ferré, Co-president, transform! europe
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