Thu 13 February
20:00–22:00
UPGRADE OR DIE?
— Panel discussion on the fears of the professional class, consumer activism, carbon debt, privilege, knowledge, climate awareness and the pitfalls of technology and innovation in climate adaptation
What are the limits of making climate politics about knowledge? In his book Climate Change as Class War (2022), Matthew T. Huber writes about a distinct social class that he describes as the ‘professional class.’ People belonging to this class could be defined as cognitive laborers, from a Marxist point of view, and hold degrees, licenses, and other credentials in navigating the market for labor power. Huber writes: “The professional class centers its politics not on material struggle over resources and power, but on “knowledge”, or the belief or denial of climate change itself.”2 This knowledge-based approach to climate change manifests itself via a process of learning, then knowing, and then acting, often advocated through the need for systemic change, climate justice, and degrowth.
This panel revolves around questions concerning the ways in which the professional class faces and copes with the negative consequences of climate change. The panel gives emphasis to two main attitudes: on the one hand carbon guilt and consumer sovereignty, and an almost blind faith in technology as a catalyst for transformation into a just and sustainable world ecology on the other hand. What knowledge-based impetus leads the professional class into the delusion that they are the ones primarily responsible for climate change (carbon guilt, flight shame, moralism of virtue ethics), whereas arguably production constrains consumption choices? By what means could the dissemination of knowledge be linked (and redirected towards, rather) to a strategy of working class mass mobilization against those responsible for the climate regime? How can the professional class reconnect with the notion of a climate class-consciousness that associates decarbonization with better lives, in the recognition that combating climate change is a question of power rather than knowledge?
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
⌀ Date: Thursday 13 February 2025
⌀ Doors open: 19:30 – 20:00
⌀ Start and duration panel discussion: 20:00 – 21:30
⌀ Drinks reception: 21:30 – 22:00
⌀ Admission: €5,00 (panel discussion), €12,50 (panel discussion + exhibition)
⌀ The exhibition FEMKE HERREGRAVEN: DIALECT can be visited on 13 February between 11:00 and 19:00.
⌀ 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.
