Network of Ecosocialist Encounters

Blog

  • Letter inviting organizations, collectives and activists to join the 6th International Ecosocialist Meeting and the 1st Latin American and Caribbean Ecosocialist Meeting

    Letter inviting organizations, collectives and activists to join the 6th International Ecosocialist Meeting and the 1st Latin American and Caribbean Ecosocialist Meeting

    On May 9, 10 and 11, 2024, the VI International Ecosocialist Meeting and the I Latin American and Caribbean Ecosocialist Meeting will be held in Buenos Aires.

    The VI Ecosocialist Meeting is the first to be held in Latin America and the Caribbean (Abya Yala), and follows the outlines of the previous meetings held in Europe. It seeks to nourish the debates from the accumulation of previous meetings. The aim is to move from denunciations and defensive struggles to initiate the construction of a global strategy to confront the structural causes generated by capitalist commodification and depredation and to advance towards a model of society that is not governed by the profits of companies and other interest groups, but in terms of social needs in balance with nature and from an eco-feminist and anti-racist perspective.

    The meeting will include panels, workshops, plenaries and spaces for exchange between collectives, activists and organizations in struggle to collectively walk the path towards an agenda and a program of struggle for Ecosocialism. In order to arrive at the meeting with inputs and some defined lines of work, we are organizing online activities that can be followed through our Y  ouTube channel.

    We understand that the diversity that characterizes us as organizations defending the commons goods and fighting for a world without exploitation is our greatest strength, therefore we invite everyone to be part of the working groups and, above all, of the construction of our program, which will be the organizing axis of the debates that we want to give in this historic moment. The construction is open to collaborations and we encourage you to participate organically in this instance in order to advance in the discussions that seem indispensable to us.

    The Meeting will have a hybrid instance, at least for the main debates, in order to facilitate the participation of those who cannot attend in person. All the information will be socialized through our networks and our mailing, whoever is interested in being part of it can request access to the list through the link: https://groups.google.com/g/6encuentroecosocialista

    In order to encourage and give space to all the views interested in the construction of an ecosocialist horizon, we are receiving inputs such as texts and/or other materials that may be of interest to socialize with the collective that will participate in the meeting. The materials can be sent by mail: 6encuentroecosocialista@gmail.com or by messaging networks to the number +54 1135648839.

    We are starting to elaborate the program of the Encounter. We want it to reflect the proposals of the various groups that will be present. We invite you to send us your proposals and to participate in our meetings of this working group through this link. We already have several thematic axes, such as ecofeminism, militarism, syndicalism, extractivism and ecosocialist strategy and construction.

    The First Latin American and Caribbean Ecosocial Meeting aims to give continuity to the ecosocial debates based on the territories and issues of the region, and intends to continue with the second meeting to be held on the occasion of COP 30, to be held in Brazil next year. For the construction of the process of the II Meeting, the Brazilian Network of Ecosocialists has proposed to facilitate and promote the necessary exchanges for the formation of a broad and diverse coordination of collectives and activists in view of the organization of the II Meeting in Belém.

    In this VI call, we would like to count on the signature of the organizations and/or individuals who wish to help spread and build the initiative, for which we share our call.

    We are in the process of organizing logistics to receive everyone in the best possible way, so we ask those who wish to participate in the activities to fill out our registration form.

    The context in which we have to organize this event in Argentina is that of the advance of an extreme right that aims to destroy the rights won by trade unions, feminisms and organizations that fought – and continue to fight – for more and better democracy, confronting dictatorships and neoliberal projects. However, all this scenario also summons us to build possible horizons from the socio-political and ecological struggles from below and to the left. Today, more than ever, Argentina and Latin America need internationalist support and solidarity. Therefore, our expectation is to count on the presence of numerous comrades for a fraternal debate.

    In order to make the meeting possible, we ask organizations, collectives and individuals who can and/or want to collaborate financially to do so through the following account. In this way we can begin to prepare the spaces and guarantee the transportation, accommodation and food for the companions, as well as the necessary equipment for the online transmissions.

    IBAN ES25 1491 0001 2221 7799 8321 BIC TRIOESMMXXX

    Titular ASOCIACIÓN ANTICAPITALISTAS MOVIMIENTO POR EL PODER POPULAR

    Concepto: Aportación VI Encuentros Ecosocialistas

    We look forward to seeing you in Buenos Aires!

    First signatures

    Anticapitalist Resistance / Anticapitalistas – España / Articulação Nacional das Mulheres Indígenas Guerreiras da Ancestralidade – Brasil / ATTAC Argentina / CADTM – AYNA/ Centelhas (PSOL) – Brasil / CLATE – Argentina / Climaximo – Portugal / Corriente Política de Izquierda (CPI) – Argentina / EcosBrasil / Ekologistak Martxan – País Vasco / ESK sindikatua- País Vasco / Extinction Rebellion South Africa / Gauche Anticapitaliste – Bélgica

    / Groupe écosocialiste de solidaritéS – Suiza / Grupo Iniciativa Ecosocialista en Chile / Gune Ekosozialista – País Vasco / Heñói – Paraguay / Huerquen Comunicación – Argentina / Insurgência (PSOL) – Brasil / Internacional de Servicios Públicos (ISP) / Jauzi Ekosoziala – País Vasco / La Cultural de la Costa – Argentina / LAB – País Vasco / Marabunta – Argentina

    / Marcha Plurinacional de los Barbijos – Argentina / Movimento Pela Soberania Popular na Mineração (MAM) – Brasil / Multisectorial Paren de Fumigarnos – Santa Fe – Argentina / Museo del Hambre – Argentina / Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste – Francia / Nuestramérica – Argentina / Observatorio Petrolero Sur – Argentina / Plataforma América Latina y el Caribe Mejor Sin TLC / Poder Popular – Argentina / Propuesta Sur – Argentina / Rebelião Ecossocialista – Brasil / Rede Brasileira de Ecossocialistas – Brasil / Setorial ecossocialista del PSOL – Brasil / SolidaritéS – Suiza / Steilas sindikatua – País Vasco / Subversión – Argentina / Subverta (PSOL) – Brasil / Transnational Institute (TNI) / Yasunidxs – Ecuador

    Adrian Ruiz / Alejandro Horowicz / Alfonso Caño Reyero / Andoni Louzao Bustamente / Andrea Leonett / Arlindo Rodrigues / Aude Martenot / Beatriz Rajland / Cecília Feitosa / Cecilia Piérola / Christine Poupin / David Fajardo / Eduardo Giesen / Endika Perez Gomez / Evelyn Vallejos / Fernando E. Tecuatl / Fernando Gonzaléz Cantero / Flavio Serafine / Francisca Fernández Droguett / Gabriel Casnati / Gabriel E. Videla / Hugo Milito / Iñaki Bárcena / Iñaki Uribarri / Iñigo Antepara / Iratxe Álvarez Reoyo / Iratxe Delgado Arribas / Ivan Moraes / Janilce Magalhães / Javier Aguayo / Javier Echaide / Jeanne Planche / Joana Bregolat / João Camargo / Joaquin Vega Padial / José Manuel Gutiérrez Bastida / José Seoane

    / Juan Tortosa / Julio Gambina / Licia Garcia / Luciana Ghiotto / Lucien Durand / Manuel Gari / Marcos Filardi / María Elena Saludas / Mariana Souza / Marije Etxebarria Ezpeleta / Mario Bortolotto / Marisa Castro Delgado / Martin Lallana / Martín Mosquera / Mauricio Cornaglia / Mauricio Laxe / Michel Loẅy / Moira Millan / Natalia Chaves / Nathalie Delbrouck / Ollivier de Marcellus / Professor Túlio / Renan Dias Oliveira / Renato Roseno / Ritxi Hernández Abaitua / Rodrigo Andrade / Sabrina Fernandes / Sara Ibáñez Ortega / Sébastien Beltrand / Sébastien Brulez / Sergio Abraham Esparza / Sergio Esparza / Steven Tamburin / Talíria Petrone / Tamara Perelmuter / Tárzia Medeiros / Teo Frei / Tom Kucharz / Tomi Etxeandia Egidazu / Vanessa Dourado / Yayo Herrero

  • Call for the VI International Ecosocialist Encounter

    The planetary limits and the need to act quickly and assertively invite us to build, today
    more than ever, an alternative to capitalism. The current model of production, distribution and consumption has gone beyond ecological equilibrium, making the continuity of human life on Earth unsustainable in the medium term. The construction of another world is therefore necessary and urgent.

    The scenario of socio-ecological collapse is daunting, but it is clear that dismantling this
    system and this way of living in the world is inevitable. Building these other possible worlds – with climate, ecological and social justice – is a task that summons and mobilizes us as we see anti-systemic struggles unfolding all over the world. Workers, youth, women and dissidents, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, peasants, scientists and groups organized in particular territories – that is, the working class in its plurality – are resisting and struggling to change everything. They denounce the obscene accumulation of capital and the maintenance of the privileges of a minority that appropriates and destroys our common goods.


    To accept to barely survive is not an option. We have the tools and the willingness to build an alternative to the hegemonic forms of today’s capitalism – neoliberal, colonial, extractivist, racist and patriarchal – in order to achieve harmony with the nature of which we are a part and in order to enjoy life fully and with dignity.

    Therefore, we call for the 6th International Ecosocialist Encounter. This is the first to be held in Latin America and the Caribbean (Abya Yala), and follows the line of previous Encounters held in Europe, seeking to nourish the debates from the accumulation of previous achievements. We propose to move from denunciations and defensive struggles to initiate the construction of a global strategy to confront the structural causes generated by capitalist commodification and pillaging, and to advance towards a model of society that is not governed by the profits of corporations and other interest groups, but rather in terms of social needs in balance with nature and with an eco-feminist perspective.


    The Encounter will include panels, workshops and plenaries to us to walk collectively the path towards an agenda and a program of fight for Ecosocialism. Likewise, we call for self-managed Ecosocialist Pre-Gatherings during the months prior to the Encounter, in the territories (countries, cities, sub-regions, etc.) where there is the initiative and local capacity to organize them.


    We – activists from the indigenous people and from different ecosocial movements; activists and coordinators from grassroots groups and assemblies; trade unionists; militants of political organizations; and intellectuals from all over the world committed with climate and social justice – invite you to join the debate and the construction of the Encounter.


    Let’s build together this urgent and necessary alternative!
    See you in Buenos Aires!

  • First Steps

    Comrades:

    Day by day the ecosocial crisis is worsening, in which climate change is the most dangerous aspect of ecological destruction and can cause the Earth to become an uninhabitable biological desert for thousands of people, especially the impoverished ones.

    This scenario is not the result of natural disasters, but is generated by the eager for profit and commodification to serve a model of production, distribution and consumption shaped by and to huge companies and a handful of millionaires.

    Today, more than ever, it is necessary to build an alternative to this ecocidal system. A diverse and rich alternative that is the fruit of our struggles and our dreams. We can build other worlds, more supportive, humane, respectful of the planet and its human and non-human inhabitants. We need ecofeminist alternatives, and also to learn from the indigenous peoples in order to integrate them into our ecosocialist projects in the construction of this horizon without exploitation and in harmony with nature of which we are a part.

    We cannot wait any longer, and we must face this challenge in an integral and systemic way. That is why we would like to invite you to the VI International Ecosocialist Meeting in Buenos Aires on May 9, 10 and 11, 2024. This meeting is the continuity of 10 years that had its beginning in the first meeting in Switzerland in 2014.

    On November 4th, at 11 a.m. (Buenos Aires time) we will have the first online open pre-meeting in which we will present the project and begin to biuld together the VI Meeting.

    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHLJQ8-a1ldvT1d2PMTS7q_sjFLciy0Mqp2AViREZANZzNLw/viewform?usp=sharing

  • Final budget of the 5th Encounters

    5th International Ecosocialist Encounters – 21-23 January 2022

    Summary of Costs

    Travel costs13,000€
    Food costs2,700€
    Venue2,100€
    Internet connection support1,700€
    Translation equipment1,400€
    Workshop materials700€
    Comrade accommodation500€
    Zoom add-on for interpretation200€
    Printouts(self-financed)
    TOTAL COSTS22,300€

    Summary of Support

    Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Madrid office8,000€
    Climáximo via Global Climate Jobs Conference (supported by Transform Europe!): Travel costs5,000€
    Food payments2,300€
    Climáximo*2,200€
    Climáximo via Glasgow Agreement Conference* : Internet connection support1,700€
    Debt Observatory in Globalisation via Glasgow Agreement Conference: Translation equipment1,400€
    Previous Encounters1,100€
    Donations during the Encounters1,100€
    Ecologistas en Acción300€
    Gune Ekosozialista + ETA + Mitz Fundaziona300€
    Bloco de Esquerdaprintouts in kind
    TOTAL SUPPORT23,400€

    * The January conferences of Climáximo are supported by the Urgent Action Fund.

    Funds transferred to the next Encounters: 1,100 €

    Detailed explanations of budget items

    Travel

    Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Madrid office paid 8000€ for the tickets of nine activists from Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States of America.

    Global Climate Jobs Conference, organized by Climáximo and financed by Transform Europe!, paid another 5000€ for the tickets of seven activists from Brazil, Colombia, Ireland, Peru, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

    Food

    Delays in prepayment made us reduce expected meals, increasing the price per meal.

    460 meals were prepared for 2,700€ (5.87€/meal),
    while the meal prices were kept at 5.00€/meal.

    Internet connection

    The 2nd Global Conference of the Glasgow Agreement, organized by Climáximo, paid 1700€ to improve internet connection of 21 organizations from Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Africa, The Gambia, Togo, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia.

    Venue

    The venue costs are mainly for the extra hours of the workers.

    Translation equipment

    Bla Collective will be providing the simultaneous translation equipment and support.

    The 2nd Global Conference of the Glasgow Agreement, via Debt Observatory in Globalisation, is covering the expenses.

    Workshop materials

    flip-charts, board-markers, tape, masks and disinfectant

    Comrade accommodation

    The Human Hotel is providing the platform services for 0.05€/night for all participants, while the organizers paid 500€ for this reduced price policy.

    Zoom account

    In order to provide simultaneous translation during the preparatory meetings and the online session, Climáximo bought a Premium add-on for 200€ for the Zoom account.

    Two more Zoom Plus accounts (without the interpretation option) were provided by PATAV – Plataforma Anti-Transporte de Animais Vivos and Greve Climática Estudantil.

    Printouts

    Bloco de Esquerda printed 1,400 posters and 10,000 pamphlets for the Encounters.

  • Moving forwards: 5th International Ecossocialist Encounters

    Moving forwards: 5th International Ecossocialist Encounters

    Despite European Union’s border restrictions, in the midst of a peak of COVID-19 cases and in the run-up to legislative elections in Portugal (each of which produced a different set of challenges to the organizers), the 5th International Ecosocialist Encounters took place in an exciting and participatory environment over a weekend that felt like a whole month and a blink of an eye at the same time.

    More than 200 people participated in the Encounters. The main questions of the Call (Who? How? Where to?) were answered in interactive workshops on ecofeminism, global tactics, trade unions and the labor movement, relationship with nature, building an intersectional global movement, ecosocialists in actual struggles, transformative strategies, public control, and the youth movement.

    We alternated between parallel sessions and plenaries. This way, all parallel workshops communicated with each other and also fed into the next workshops.

    In addition to the webinars before the Encounters, we reserved a time slot of three parallel sessions where around 40 activists from the Global South joined the discussions.

    The interactive tools of discussion resulted in an enormous amount of flip-charts produced by the participants, which we will calmly read and compile in a final report.

    In the Closing Session, some of the outputs of the workshops and discussions were presented. Here they are:

    The Great Climate Justice Caravan organized by the Glasgow Agreement

    More information: https://glasgowagreement.net/en/caravan/

    “We, now.”, an international commitment signed by a small group of people in an Open Slot discussion

    we-now-v3Download

    2022 Lisbon Declaration on Climate Jobs and Just Transition by the Global Climate Jobs Campaign

    2022-Lisbon-Declaration-on-Climate-Jobs-and-Just-Transition-VfDownload

    More information: globalclimatejobs.org/

    The launch of a new international magazine The Ecosocialist

    An editorial team for a new magazine directly connected to the Encounters, The Ecosocialist, was created. It will be a trimestral magazine of the movement and for the movement, reflecting on practices and introducing the necessary theory for the creation of ecosocialism as a political system. The first edition is to be released in June 2022.

    More information soon.

  • 13 Janeiro (Porto) | Diálogos Ecossocialistas

    13 Janeiro (Porto) | Diálogos Ecossocialistas

    Na próxima quinta-feira, às 17h no Café Piolho, teremos mais uma sessão sobre Ecossocialismo.
    Vamos falar sobre transição energética, ecofeminismo e ativismo climático.

  • 17 January | Webinar | Ecofeminism as working class politics

    17 January | Webinar | Ecofeminism as working class politics

    Ecosocialism needs to be feminist. But how can we achieve this and what does this mean to the question of who will be the agents of the revolution we need?

    On this webinar, we will have a conversation, counting with the special participation of Júlia Martí, Nina López, Selma James and Stefania Barca to start talking about who is currently doing the work required to fulfil our needs related to subsistence and care, and how this reproductive class relates to the more traditional sense of working class.

    This will initiate the conversation on the session we will have in Lisbon on the Ecosocialist Encounters, where we will also talk about how the ecofeminists can organize towards the ecosocialist revolution: what works and what doesn’t? What else should we try?

    Join us in thinking about an ecofeminist working class, one that can truly encompass the marginalized majority of labor on earth, and which gives priority to the kind of work needed to resist and survive in a burning world and to build a different society centered on life and care.”

    Link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkcO-hqTwuGtO7j7y3x21gR5Jf8mVk9x5z

    Languages: only English

    Speakers:

    Júlia Martí,
    Nina López,
    Selma James,
    Stefania Barca

    17 January, 2 pm UTC

  • 11 January | Webinar | Youth movement: radical and ecosocialist

    11 January | Webinar | Youth movement: radical and ecosocialist

    On this webinar previous to the ecosocialist encounters, we will talk about the youth movement and the political scenario after the climate mobilizations that took place all over the world. We want to talk about what to do with the outrageous insignificant institutional response that the youth climate mobilizations of 2019 received; and we want to understand how the organizers feel about this.

    We aim to initiate the discussion we will have on the “youth movement: radical and ecosocialist” session we will have in Lisbon, on the ecosocialist encounters.

    Link to registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0scu6sqD8oHNzGCD8IXInKcuDNo3DyPfCL

    Languages: English and French

    Moderators: Rita Silva (Bloco de Esquerda) and Robert Mwesigye (Kibengo Youth Care Activists)

    Speakers:

    Disha Ravi (FFF India);
    Maria Reyes (FFF Mexico);
    Mitzi Tan (YACAP); and
    Patience Nabukalu (FFF Uganda)

    11 January, 2 pm UTC

  • 13 January | Ecosocialism 101

    13 January | Ecosocialism 101

    Organized by: Global Ecosocialist Network

    Speakers: Jess Spear,John Molyneux, Michael Löwy

    Zoom registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YiQZDKl7QhSMClN50hKHxw

    Language: English

    Description:

    This webinar will make the basic case for ecosocialism.

    It will argue that capitalism, based on production for profit, is inherently incapable of stopping catastrophic climate change or resolving the wider environmental crisis.

    Capitalism, driven to relentless economic growth and an ever widening metabolic rift between humans and nature has become the enemy of life on earth.

    It must be replaced by a new sustainable ecosocialist society committed not only to the abolition of private property in the means of production and the abolition of exploitation but to the establishment of a fundamentally new society based on a harmonious, cooperative relationship with the natural world.

    The webinar will also explain the role the Global Ecosocialist Network plays in the movement for system change  through the international exchange , discussion and dissemination of ecosocialist ideas.

    13th of January, 2PM UTC

  • 6 January | Webinar: Climate crisis vs. Capitalism

    6 January | Webinar: Climate crisis vs. Capitalism

    Organized by: Polen Ekoloji

    Moderator: Ibrahim Erok

    Speakers: Sultan Gülsün and Güney Işıkara

    Zoom registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMpc-GgqzwiH9OM7U2hD0kAH7KkF541PWz8

    Language: English only

    Description:

    Contrast between capitalism and ecosocialism in the context of ecological and social crisis:

    The commodification of nature, unlimited accumulation of capital, exploitation of labor, and nature accompanying competition undermine the foundations of a sustainable future. Thus, it puts the earth’s ecosystem on which all living things interact at risk. The deep and systemic threat we face demands a systemic change. Ecosocialism offers a radical alternative that prioritizes social and ecological well-being. Reaching the connections between the exploitation of labor and the exploitation of nature, this idea opposes reformist market-based solutions because the capitalist production system that feeds on profit maximization is incompatible with societal equality and sustainability of nature.

    Ecosocialism discussions from degrowth perspective:

    Questioning capitalist growth is vital today to expose its destructive character as well as the fact that it comes at the expense of working people’s living standards. Moreover, a planned and coordinated degrowth of energy consumption (and output) in advanced countries in the short- to medium-run is necessary at least to avoid runaway climate change.

    However, its corollary is not degrowth, but turning the issues of “growth/degrowth of what?”, “at what cost?”, “under which circumstances?” into political questions. The sublation of the economic and the political is implied in the self-governance of the working people. This does not require institutionalizing degrowth, which can become as socially blind as capitalist growth.