Sun 23 February
14:00–17:00
SOLIDARITY ACROSS DIFFERENCES: TOWARDS A PLANETARY ECOLOGICAL WORKING CLASS — Panel discussion with Iliada Charalambous, Shivant Jhagroe and Chihiro Geuzebroek
— Panel discussion on eco-socialism, more-than-human trade unionism, proletarian ecology, degrowth, the ecological class and desire as plenitude
We are living in a moment where the human is understood as a purely biological mechanism that is subordinated to an economic script. This script is written for the “homo economicus”, who practices and normalises accumulation in the name of (economic) freedom. Capital is projected as the indispensable, empirical, and metaphysical source of all human life, all the while rendering the other-than-human as just a means to make profit.
Arguably, the condition of the worker applies to the nonhuman as well. What if we thought of the other-than-human—without whom our life could not be sustained—as fellow workers, whose life is rendered as labour, and who are subjected to even worse exploitation than humans? The truth is that we can no longer afford to fight towards collective political and economical emancipation without the equitable inclusion of the other-than-human. How can we fairly navigate the asymmetries within working classes—both in terms of responsibility and direct consequences of ecological breakdown—with the common goal of desiring habitable, balanced, and plentiful futures?
This panel seeks to activate the historical imagination of proletarian emancipation and inspire an interspecies, interclass political imagination. A kind of imagination that seeks to democratise the means of production, decommodify and decolonise nature, society, and the economy, and re-enchant a sustainable embeddedness to the ecologies we depend on.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
⌀ Iliada Charalambous is a visual artist whose work delves into the possibilities and limitations of democratic assemblies and how art as politics through its play with form and the use of the performative, can contribute into ideas towards radical democracy. She engages with a variety of communities in thinking around the notion of the commons. Charalambous is currently co-organising with Serda Demir the series Ware Tegenmacht, at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2023 – ongoing). She has recently completed the Fellowship of Situated Practices 2023-2024 at Bak, Basis Voor Actuele Kunst in Utrecht and her MA study at the Dutch Art Institute (2021-23). She has exhibited at venues such as Stroom Den Haag, Halle 14, Casco Art Institute Working for the Commons, Osterangens Konsthall and Neme Art Center, Limassol.
⌀ Chihiro Geuzebroek is an activist, singer, and songwriter. She gives training and lectures on decolonisation, Indigenous rights, climate justice, climate racism, art and activism, rights for Mother Earth, reparation advocacy and community organising. With her music she combines activism, storytelling and empowerment. She previously made an exhibition about hundred years of resistance against Shell, she initiated the photo-storytelling project Indigenous Dreams, and for the past three years she has been working together in the coalition Staging Wood with annual installation routes in the forest on Terschelling at Oerol festival. The central question in this five year project is: What and how can we learn from the forest in different life phases of germination, growth, decay and death? She is also co-founder of Stichting Aralez.
⌀ Shivant Jhagroe is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University. His academic work revolves around climate politics and sustainability governance, with a particular focus on questions of inequality, decolonialisation and justice. Combining critical theory, empirical work and action research, he seeks to cooperate with different actors (e.g. citizens, policy makers) while foregrounding experiences and stories that are usually underrepresented (e.g. in energy, food or biodiversity). Recently, he published a book in Dutch titled Voorbij Duurzaamheid (‘Beyond Sustainability’), which draws attention to the ways in which sustainability narratives and policies are entangled with colonialism, capitalism and social exclusion. With his research, he seeks to advance strategies towards radically democratic and just futures.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
⌀ Date: Sunday 23 February 2025
⌀ Doors open: 13:30 – 14:00
⌀ Start and duration panel discussion: 14:00 – 15:30
⌀ Drinks reception: 15:30 – 17:00
⌀ Admission: €5,00 (panel discussion), €12,50 (panel discussion + exhibition)
⌀ The exhibition FEMKE HERREGRAVEN: DIALECT can be visited on 23 February between 11:00 and 17:00.
⌀ Language: English
⌀ Location: RADIUS Water Tower, Kalverbos 22
⌀ Note that the location is not wheelchair accessible. Please get in contact with us to discuss alternative ways to allow your participation.
