Opening of the School for politics and critique 2015 with Alekos Alavanos

The series of four political workshops under the frames of the School for politics and critique 2015 are conceptual flow from the activities of the School for politics and critique 2014 and they aim at enabling a space both for learning on strategies of enacting large coalitions and action within them, as well as to generate new theoretical knowledge on the political challenges of the current context. The School will provide a larger group of activists an opportunity to work with experienced political activists and theorists.

The increase in neoliberal policies on the one hand and the increase of the authoritarian practice of governments on the other, continuously produce social devastation, fear and political demobilization of social movements. The lack of strategies for outreach to different social groups by the social activists in order to forge a broad alliance of social actors which will enact strategies of action towards social justice, freedom and democracy, produce a fragmented space for change. We need to unite the progressive forces in action.

The lack of a more serious political confrontation to the current neoliberal consensus among the political factors requires the mobilization of a leftist discourse and wide social structures. There is a need to link sectors of labor with other citizen structures in order to organize a political resistance against the terrible social consequences in the areas of freedom, democracy and social justice. At the present moment a serious challenge towards the active political mobilization is the fear and disbelief of the wide popular masses on any political undertaking that would challenge the current governing mentality.

As a follow-up of the School for politics and critique 2014 which was focused on increasing the skills and knowledge of activists in Macedonia, the Institute of social sciences and humanities – Skopje is organizing four (three day) workshops with members of various activist and political groups from Macedonia. The first workshop will be facilitated by Alekos Alavanos who is one of the most experienced political activists and politicians in Greece, one of the founders of SYNASPISMOS and ex-president of the coalition of the radical left – SYRIZA. He will be assisted by Igor Jovanovski – political activist and theoretician as well as a lecturer at the Institute of social sciences and humanities Skopje. The first workshop will take place in Skopje from March 27th until March 29th.

The “School for politics and critique 2015” is organized by the Institute of social sciences and humanities – Skopje with the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe.

Below is the detailed programme of the first workshop of the School for politics and critiques 2015:

Friday 27th March:

17:30 – 19:00 Alekos Alavanos –“West and East inside Europe: the greek experiment”
19:30 – 20:30 Discussion

Saturday 28th March:

11:00 – 12:30 Alekos Alavanos – “Three Questions difficult to be answered on the greek crisis”
12:30 – 12:45 Break
12:45 – 13:45 Discussion
13:45 – 14:45 Lunch break
14:45 – 17:00 Interactive workshop on the topics of the Alavanos lectures – with Igor Jovanovski

Sunday 29th March:

11:00-12:30 Lecture – Igor Jovanovski: “Syrisa, Podemos, the Left Populism and Laclau. Reconsidering the Theoretical and Practical Link”
12:30-12:45 Break
12:45 Discussion.

Note: the lectures and discussions with Alekos Alavanos will be conducted on English language