The debates within the main theme will be "The Crisis of Europe" (May 14-15), "The Struggle for the Commons" (May 16) and "Towards the Balkan Social Forum" (May 17-18), the Subversive book fair and, during the introductory week (May 5 – 12), the 5th Subversive Film Festival.
It is no news that the European Union is facing its biggest crisis since it was created. It is at the same time an economic, financial, social and ideological crisis of this project. Across the continent, instead of solidarity we are witnessing a resurgence of national selfishness, the rise of extreme right, intolerance, and racism. The Mediterranean countries who have been hit the hardest by the crisis show us also a possible response to it: the appearance of strong social movements demanding social justice, a different economic model, and direct democracy. Almost everywhere we see the youth on the streets, in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Romania, but also in the future EU member Croatia.
Through a critical examination of Europe’s current crisis, the Subversive Forum will try to outline realistic possibilities for its transformation and the creation of another political, social and economic project across the Old Continent. The keynote speakers include Stéphane Hessel, Michael Hardt, Tariq Ali, Gayatri Spivak, Slavoj Žižek, Saskia Sassen, Christian Marazzi, Samir Amin, Bernard Cassen, Ignatio Ramonet, Eric Touissant, Costas Douzinas, Renata Salecl, and more than 100 participants from 20 different European, African and Asian countries. For one week in May, Zagreb, the town placed almost exactly on the EU’s shifting border, will become both a center of the world’s critical thought and a laboratory of possible political, social and economic alternatives.
The Subversive Forum is endorsed by the World Social Forum.
For more information: www.subversiveforum.com
Contact: info@subversiveforum.com
Announcement in German