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