Description
Intercontintental Dialogues
on the Environmental Crisis
Event description: Is there a crisis of environment? Or should we understand the so called crises of ecology as a symptom of an underlying civilisational crisis ? Is climate change, alongside racism, war, patriarchy, capitalism and authoritarianism, only one of the pathologies of our times caused by Western modernity? To what extent is it still correct to portray Western civilisation as the root cause of the globalised polycrisis of the 21st century?
And what are the solutions, the ways forward, to ecological justice and to peace on earth and with the earth?
The purpose of this event is to deepen political understanding of the environmental crisis and the multiple crisis of our times through dialogues between activists and engaged intellectuals from different continents.
We will meet to share experiences and to compare wisdom resources of different traditions which inform, guide and inspire movemments fighting for ecological justice and democracy, dignity, peace and survival in our times. One perspective will be how the environmental crisis and its relation to civilisational critiques of modernity has been articulated on different continents and how the legacies develop today.
Event description: Is there a crisis of environment? Or should we understand the so called crises of ecology as a symptom of an underlying civilisational crisis ? Is climate change, alongside racism, war, patriarchy, capitalism and authoritarianism, only one of the pathologies of our times caused by Western modernity? To what extent is it still correct to portray Western civilisation as the root cause of the globalised polycrisis of the 21st century?
And what are the solutions, the ways forward, to ecological justice and to peace on earth and with the earth?
The purpose of this event is to deepen political understanding of the environmental crisis and the multiple crisis of our times through dialogues between activists and engaged intellectuals from different continents.
We will meet to share experiences and to compare wisdom resources of different traditions which inform, guide and inspire movemments fighting for ecological justice and democracy, dignity, peace and survival in our times. One perspective will be how the environmental crisis and its relation to civilisational critiques of modernity has been articulated on different continents and how the legacies develop today.
What can we
learn from Latin American discourses in which Buen Vivir, Pacha Mama,
pluriverse, extractivism and post-coloniality are some of the words
we hear? What are the commonalities and the divergencs in the
learning processes in which négritude, Pan-Africanism and Ubuntu
have become some key references? What is the relevance today of the
search for swaraj (self-rule) through "satygraha"
(truth-force) and of the criticism of the "Modern West"and
of "development" inspired by Gandhi? In the North Atlantic
region German, French and North American critical theory, left
activism and critique of modernity have, argubly, responded belatedly
to the ecological crisis, while "eco-philosophy" developed
in the Nordic countries after the second world war, with pioneering
contributions made by environmental and feminist
activist-intellectuals, including Hilkka Pietilä and Sigmund Kvalöy,
and also academic philosophers such as Georg Henrik von Wright and
Arne Naess. What is the relevance in our conversations and our
activism of these and other traditions from the North? And how do
indigenous knowledge traditions from all continents come in to the
debates and change them?
The
dialogues will include contributions by activist-intellectuals with
diverse background including
Indra
Adhikari, Nepal
Tord Björk,
Sweden
Yusra
Elmobashir, Sudan
Vijay
Pratap, India
Thomas
Wallgren, Finland
Desiree
Weber, USA
Organisers:
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam Network for Comprehensive Democracy - Swaraj
In cooperation with
The von Wright and Wittgenstein Archives, University of Helsinki
Research projects: "Nordic Workshops on the Environmental Crisis" and "Freedom in the Age of Polycrisis", University of Helsinki, PI, Thomas Wallgren
Friends of the Earth, Finland