Exploring the Lessons Learned Intro: The conversation on eco-socialist alternatives to the capitalist economy could learn from the post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe. After all, by rebelling against authoritarianism and impoverishment, various social movements in many of these countries radically challenged the prevailing system when they hit the streets at the end of the 1980s… Continue reading Post-1989 Lessons
Disarming Resource Wars
“Resource wars,” “energy wars,” and “climate wars” on the peripheries of empires are all expressions of the fact that economic and ecological crises are becoming increasingly devastatingly intertwined, fueling each other. Needless to say, diplomacy must be preferred to a “hot” war at any time in the face of this. But this is not enough… Continue reading Disarming Resource Wars
Climate and Tech Politics
Technology is not a panacea, but a tool that must be chosen and used strategically. The Protocol for Planned Disconnect is an Open Source technology that can be used by groups or individuals. Its purpose is to provide a learning journey for everyone who wants to reflect on the deeper connection between technology and nature.… Continue reading Climate and Tech Politics
Algorithmic Mindset
THESES ON THE COMPLEXITY OF (MIS)TRUST MACHINES The complexity of the world cannot be represented by mathematical formulas and thus not be fully grasped by Artifical Intelligence/automated decision making systems. The religion of Big Data has popularized the imagination that mining more and more data will solve this problem of complexity and representation. Users/Inhabitants of… Continue reading Algorithmic Mindset
Rebooting Eco-Justice
In 2022 we are facing a winter in which many people across Europe (and beyond) will have increased difficulties to make ends meet. The rise in the costs of living is triggered by a number of factors, most crucially, the war on Ukraine, the heavy dependence on (Russian) dirty fuels, the ongoing pandemic and the… Continue reading Rebooting Eco-Justice
New Cold War
The metaphor of the “cold war” encourages us to imagine that the world is easily divided into opposing forces, black and white. Throughout the “old” Cold War, chess was an important part of diplomacy, competition and strategy on “both sides” of the “Iron Curtain.” The idea of a “New” Cold War risks inviting us back… Continue reading New Cold War
The Wretched of “the East”
In this digital exhibition we explore episodes of what we call “the East”. The stories you will see here are fragmented and unfinished, somehow connected with each other because they all talk about experiences of migration, racism, gender and exploitation, yet they remain chaotic and disorganised. This virtual mess may be frustrating at first sight,… Continue reading The Wretched of “the East”
Politics of Liberty
We approached these questions by starting from our own understanding of “liberty”. We discussed biographical experiences that shaped our ideas of liberty. These included experiences of crossing the border to East Germany in Berlin, the Romanian Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Our ideas of the meaning of “liberty” are influenced… Continue reading Politics of Liberty
Shouldering the West
Your “5- EUR-per-hour-plumber”. Or the unknown mother who leaves behind her kids 2.000 kilometers away, to take care of your elder. Or your “Shawarma boy”. You know that nothing would function in the West, without the constant and cheap supply of humans from the East. During the Berliner Gazette 2021 conference “Black Box East”, ten… Continue reading Shouldering the West
Post-Covid-19 States
Both, in the so called “First World” and “Third World”, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic registers at many levels, from the still-growing death toll and health-related issues, to an increase of inequality and other political-economic effects. However, while all kinds of reporting try to account for those impacts, it is noteworthy that the “Second… Continue reading Post-Covid-19 States
Photo Album: Black Box East
“Post-Communist” States As Laboratories Of Neoliberal Globalization · Photo Documention of the Berliner Gazette Conference 2021. Fotos by Krystian Woznicki | berlinergazette.de | cc by nc.
“They Don’t Give You Tips Anymore.”
Logistics looks like a well-oiled machine. It appears to be efficient enough from a distance but that’s in part because many of the components in the logistical chain are invisible and often also invisibilised. Especially the human ones. One of the 2 groups from the Logistical Noir workshop decided to go and meet the ones… Continue reading “They Don’t Give You Tips Anymore.”
Work, Care, and Invisible Organization: Mapping Power and Resistance in 2030
For our contribution to SILENT WORKS our group began with a science-fiction scenario 10 years into the future where the world had been profoundly reshaped by AI capitalism and where most workers were both providing and relying on the fruits of its (no longer quite so hidden) labor. We imagined that, as titanic AI-driven platform… Continue reading Work, Care, and Invisible Organization: Mapping Power and Resistance in 2030