It’s Capitalism, Stupid! Festival of the Other Europe

by Collettivo Prezzemolo on April 28, 2013

On May 3-12, Florence will host a counter-summit to the EU State of the Union with a series of public events on the crisis of capitalism and democracy.

Collettivo Prezzemolo presents:

It’s Capitalism, Stupid!

The Festival of the Other Europe

Florence, 3-12 May 2013

The Collettivo Prezzemolo (researchers and workers at the European Institute University) in co-operation with a wide array of Florence’s political and civil society movements will hold a series of public initiatives on Europe in this period of economic crisis and austerity.

To coincide with the State of the Union conference in Florence, the Collettivo Prezzemolo will organise a week of debate on Europe, and call for the urgent realisation of a truly equitable alternative to today’s Europe. While in Florence’s municipal buildings the European Union bureaucrats and oligarchs celebrate the European-wide social devastation of their own engineering, the movements of Florence will advance a horizontal debate on an alternative Europe. A Europe characterised by solidarity and democracy, respect for labour rights, committed anti-fascism, defence of the environment, the protection of collective goods, peace and co-operation.

The solution to the crisis can only be brought about by a radical change of Europe’s political imagination. A transformative process of shared reflections and the collective organisation of all the social, political, cultural and economic actors committed to dismantling the structures of the futile barbarism of austerity. In light of this, the week of debate and reflections will engage with the various issues that have been part of Europe’s ongoing political and economic crisis, questioning the political institutions and socio-economic structures underlying the crisis.

The events will take place from Friday the 3rd until Sunday the 12th of May, including morning and evening presentations across Florence and at the EUI itself. The initiatives will include the participation of a wide number of guests — intellectuals, activists, Italian and international researchers in collaboration with the Collettivo Prezzemolo, and the movements of Florence — in order to collectively reflect on the crisis in Europe, discuss the resistance to austerity and to outline the potential route to the realisation of another Europe.

Please find a programme detailing all the initiatives, attached.

1. Who Watches The Watchmen?
Protest Policing and Surveillance in the EU Crisis
(English)

~ May 3, 10.30 ~
Istituto Universitario Europeo
Sala Europa, Villa Schifanoia
Via Boccaccio 121

Prof. Donatella della Porta (European University Institute)
Prof. Gary T. Marx (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Dr. Vittorio Sergi (Università di Urbino)

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2. La Democrazia Oltre Il Capitalismo?
Presentazione del libro di Lorenzo Cini
“Società civile e democrazia radicale”
(Italiano)

~ May 6, 17.00 ~
Facoltá di Scienze Politiche
Universitá di Firenze (Novoli)

Prof. Brunella Casalini (Universitá di Firenze)
Prof. Gianluca Bonaiuti (Universitá di Firenze)
Dr. Matteo Albanese (Universitá di Lisbona)

A seguire proiezione del documentario sul movimento anti-austerità greco:
“Utopia on the Horizon” di J. Roos e L. Oikonomakis (2012)

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3. Nationalism in the Era of Austerity
The Crisis and the Revival of Nations
(English)

~ May 7, 10.30 ~
Istituto Universitario Europeo
Sala Emeroteca, Badia Fiesolana
Via de’ Roccettini 9

Dr. Adriano Cirulli (UniNettuno)
Ignasi Bea (Central European University)
Joan Sebastià Colomer (Activist, Endavant)

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4. It’s Capitalism, Stupid!
Reflections upon neoliberal Europe
(English/Italiano)

~ May 8, 10.30 ~
Istituto Universitario Europeo
Sala Teatro, Badia Fiesolana
Via de’ Roccettini 9

Prof. Andrea Fumagalli (Universitá di Pavia)
Prof. Don Kalb (Central European University)
Dr. Aidan Regan (European University Institute)

~ May 8, 18:30 ~
Piazza Tasso - Firenze
(In collaborazione con Spazi Liberati)

Prof. Marco Revelli (Uni. Piemonte Orientale)
Prof. Ugo Mattei (Universitá di Torino)
Dr. Aidan Regan (European University Institute)

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5. VIO.ME: Fabbrica Occupata
Incontro con operai greci
(Italiano)

~ May 12, 18.00 ~
CPA Fi-Sud
Via Villamagna 27/a
(In collaborazione con CPA Fi-Sud, CS Camillo Cienfuegos, ColPol)

Makis Anagnostou (rappresentante sindacale)
Yannis Ieropoulos (avvocato)

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