Ecosocialist School 2016

Preliminary program

Module 1. Concepts in Marxism

Friday 18 November Introduction to the school

Saturday 19 November Introduction: The historical materialist method
- Place of marxism in history - Historical Materialism - Marxist critique of political economy Alex Merlo

Sunday 20 November Mode of (re-)production and women's oppression in capitalism
- The capitalist mode of production and the sexual division of labour - Social reproduction - Domestic and unpaid labour Susan Pashkoff

Monday 21 November Relationship human society-nature
- Technology & productivism - The notion of progress - Ecosocialist answers Marijke Colle

Tuesday 22 November Feminism, Marxism and intersectionality
- Origins and different aspects of women's oppression - The LGBT movement, homophobia and sexual identity - Intersectionality - Feminist struggle and its links with marxism Nadia de Mond

Wednesday 23 November Class: objective definitions, shifting contours, subjective expressions
- Class as a concept - Historical changes in labor relations since the end of the 19th cc - Working class today, precarity

Thursday 24 November Free day

Friday 25 November Long waves and crises
- The marxist analysis of crisis, rate of profit - The theory of long waves - The neoliberal answer to the crisis since the 1980's

Module 2. Deepening globalisation and its contradictions

Saturday 26 November Imperialism, from the highest stage of capitalism to globalization
- The classic theory of imperialism - Permanent revolution versus stageism and campism - Imperialisms today

Sunday 27 November Climate and food crisis
- Mechanisms of the climate crisis - Food crisis and food sovereignty - The role of workers, peasants, women and IP's Marijke Colle

Monday 28 November China's global role: challenging the US
- The rise of China as a global power - The changing character of China - China on the world stage Pierre Rousset

Tuesday 29 December EU imperialism
- History of the EU as a project for the formation of an European bourgeoisie - The contradictions in the EU leading to the current political and economic crisis - Greece as a laboratory for the EU's crisis measures Eric Toussaint

Wednesday 30 December The role of fundamentalism
- Material roots of fundamentalism - The political role of fundamentalism - Fundamentalism, women and LGBTIQ Terry Conway

Thursday 1 December Free day

Module 3. Strategic questions in changing the world

Friday 2 December The crisis in the Middle East
- Socioeconomic roots of the Arab uprising and dynamics of the process - Reactionary counter-offensives and the role of the Left - Syria and imperialist interventions

Saturday 3 December The anti-racist struggle
- Historical roots of racism in colonialism and imperialism - Institutional racism and racist ideologies today - Migration and migrant solidarity

Sunday 4 December Climate change and social transformation
- Linking climate change and social struggles - Sustainability and democracy - Transitional demands

Monday 5 December A balance sheet of the progressive cycle in Latin-America
- Experiences in Venezuela, Bolivia, - Popular power and the state - The end of a period?

Tuesday 6 December Road to power: a transtional approach
- The centrality of self-emancipation - The role of the capitalist state and bourgeois democracy - A transitional approach today

Wednesday 7 December The feminist challenge in changing society: feminizing our perspectives and our movements
- The role of the women's movement - Centrality of women's oppression in liberation struggles - Feminist policies in revolutionary parties

Thursday 8 December The strategic importance of internationalism and the role of an international
- Historical aspects of the Four internationals - World capitalism and internationalism - The FI today

Friday 9 December Evaluation, cleaning

• 9.00-9.40: Lecture. Part 1

• 9.40-9.50: Break

• 9.50-10.30: Lecture. Part 2

• 10.30-10.40: Break

• 10.40-11:20: Lecture. Part 3

• 11.20-11.30: Break

• 11.30-12.00: Questions and answers

• 12.00-15.00: Lunch and time for individual reading

• 15.00-16.30: Discussion in language groups

• 16.30-17.10: Final discussion, starting with reports from the group. Part 1

• 17.10-17.20 Break

• 17.20-18.00 Final discussion. Part 2

• 18.00-20.30: Reading time

• 20.30: Evening meal