The Academy of Democratic Modernity (ADM) is organising a conference in Basel to discuss the paths out and perspectives on solutions in the face of the growing crisis of capitalist modernity and its multiple manifestations.
The Academy of Democratic Modernity (ADM) is organising a conference in Basel on 17-19 November under the title “The Art of Freedom - Strategies for organising & collective resistance”.
The conference will discuss paths out and perspectives on solutions in the face of the growing crisis of capitalist modernity and its multiple manifestations. The conference aims to generate a collective space to identify common challenges, to try and create answers, for questions to blossom and for intellectual exchange on the practice and concepts between various movements.
What are the fundamental aspects of the urgent and radical intellectual, moral and political renewal of opposition to the system? Starting from this question, the organisers want to collectively discuss different aspects of resistance against the system at this conference. Besides the necessary theoretical debate, different movements will share their experiences and strategies to think together about strengthening their practice and common struggle.
Attended by a number of organizations from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, the conference at the Democratic Kurdish Community Centre in Basel continues on its second day.
The workshop discussions today focus on the problems created by capitalist nodernity and point to Abdullah Öcalan’s paradigm as the way out of crises.
Today’s workshops for deepening different aspects towards a theoretical and practical renewal of system opposition include “History and Resistance: The hidden flowers of democratic modernity (Initiative Resistance and History)”, “Womenʼs liberation and Democratic Socialism from the perspective of Jineolojî (Jineolojî Committee Europe)”, “Transnational class struggle in the 21st century (Transnational Social Strike Platform)”, “Democratic Youth Confederalism: The youth in the struggle against capitalist modernity (Youth Writing History)” and “Local Democracy and More-than human governance (Vikalp Sangam, India)”.
The problems posed by capitalism and nation-state ideology are at the center of today’s workshop discussions, as well as the paradigms of Democratic Confederalism and Democratic Nation presented by Öcalan. Emphasis is put on the importance of building and expanding an international solidarity network by organisations waging a struggle in different parts of the world.
The conference will continue with a workshop to deal with the subject of “Local Democracy and Ecology”.
The program for the third day of the conference is as follows:
09:30 - 11:00
The idea of socialism: Towards a renewal
11:30 - 15:30
The question of bottom-up organization and internationalism
(National Democratic Front of the Philippines)
About the Academy of Democratic Modernity
The Academy of Democratic Modernity strives to spread the ideas and rich experience of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement and its paradigm of Democratic Modernity. Its publication activities are intended to start discussions with activists, academics and various anti-system groups and social movements in order to move forward in our search for a radical alternative to capitalist modernity and to realise a free life. Through its educational work, the academy wants to create a new understanding of democratic politics, social enlightenment and a new political-moral consciousness. Some dimensions of social issues it addresses are the sociology of freedom, weaving together lines of resistance, democratic autonomy, women's liberation, youth autonomy, social ecology, communal economy and art & culture. Through the development of platforms and networks, the academy wants to contribute to the strengthening of the international exchange of experiences and interweave existing struggles, in line with the proposal of World Democratic Confederalism. To overcome capitalist modernity, concrete local and global institutional alternatives are needed. “If we succeed in expanding democratic politics in everyday life - through alliances, councils, communes, cooperatives, academies - the huge political potential of society will unfold and be used to solve social problems. In this sense, we see our activities as a contribution to the unfolding of Democratic Modernity and Democratic Socialism,” the Academy states.
