About Us: An Introduction
In view of the rapidly worsening climate crisis and its disastrous consequences for the environment as well as people all over the world, the imperative for consolidating resistance to that onslaught has never been felt more intensely than now. The Global Working Group Beyond Development includes around 30 engaged researchers, movement-based organizers, activists, and popular educators from all five continents who seek different kinds of knowledge to converge in a dialogical or ecological relation. Read more
Current Working Session for 2020:
Which Democracy for Radical Transformation, and How to Get there?
Is democracy a stronghold of social struggles or is it rather an institutional framework imposed by capitalism? Why are fascism and different kinds of authoritarianism coming back through elections? How can the scandalous inequality that structures contemporary capitalism and obviously limits democratic decision making strongly be dealt with? What do we understand by democracy and what not, in our respective contexts? How can we strengthen processes of collective self-determination, including different languages of dignity that exist in different cultural/socio-historical/civilizational contexts of the pluriverse and might differ from the dominant language of liberal democracy? Read More
Gustavo Esteva
New Political Horizons: Beyond The “Democratic” Nation-State
by Gustavo Esteva
In this critical analysis of the contemporary structure of democracy, Gustavo Esteva explores the oligarchic and oppressive nature of the “democratic” nation-state and the forms of domination hidden under its façade. He, then, helps us discern the evolving character of socio-political systems, like the Zapatistas in Mexico, where sturdy, new democratic configurations are being given shape. Continue reading
Gustavo Esteva is a grassroots activist and an author of more than 40 books on economics, cultural anthropology, philosophy and education.
Resistance and devotedness: learning democracy under pressure
Kitti Baracsi
by Kitti Baracsi
If we imagine democratic education as entire school communities practicing participation, to what extent can schools escape the current approach taken in the public education system? What if they encounter hostility and restrictions? Can we learn democracy through transgressions and resistance? This article tells the story of three school communities where participation and solidarity are growing under pressure. Examining democratic practices on the ground and the conflicts that arise gives us insights into what is at stake in state schools. Continue reading
Kitti Baracsi is an educator, researcher and activist specializing in collaborative methodologies and critical pedagogy.
Community resistance to a Power Plant in Senegal
Ibrahima Thiam
by Ibrahima Thiam
A fishing community in Bargny, a suburb of the city of Dakar, Senegal faced enormous environmental stress due to a proposed coal-based power plant. The resulting socio-economic changes and mutations would have had a deep impact on the local community’s livelihoods. The video focuses on the resistance movement, which resulted in the termination of the coal project. Watch the documentary
Ibrahima Thiam is with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Dakar and works on natural resources, vulnerabilities and alternatives, and Climate change.
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