BG | berlinergazette.de

For some, #Yugoslavia represented an alternative form of socialist modernity. Others, especially those within conservative religious discourse, believed that socialism inevitably leads to moral collapse, and saw Yugoslavia as an example of this idea. In this article, Aleksandra Djurić Milovanović reflects on an unusual archival encounter between competing visions of the future and explains why it matters today: https://berlinergazette.de/yugoslavia-as-a-future-to-fear-evangelical-anti-communism-and-the-cold-war-imagination-of-yugoslavia/

#socialism #communism #coldwar #archives #future

A wave of arrests in #Russia has brought issues of cultural identity, #indigenous peoples’ rights, and the #economic relationship between the #center and the #periphery into sharp focus. But why is the #Kremlin paying so much attention to these issues in the first place? Regzena Erdyneeva searches for answers: https://berlinergazette.de/repression-in-russia-when-cultural-self-determination-becomes-a-security-issue/

#politicalprisoners #indigenousRussia

Every hour that we #work less is one hour more that we have for political and #democratic engagement, one hour more to take a breath and one hour more to discover our individual and shared interests. The collective 4-Stunden-Liga (4-hour-league) argues in their contribution to the “Deep Democracy” series that a four-hour workday for everyone, with full #wage and staffing compensation, paves the way for the democratic appropriation of our #Time
https://berlinergazette.de/reducing-working-hours-towards-the-democratic-appropriation-of-time/

#democracy #labor

Colombia’s energy #unions view the #transition as an opportunity for structural change. Their central objectives are #reindustrialization aimed at achieving #energy and #food #sovereignty and #water #Justice

In his contribution to the “Deep Democracy” series, Dario Azzellini explores the intertwining of energy democratization and the development of an #alternative #Economy https://berlinergazette.de/energy-transition-in-colombia-unions-fight-for-energy-democratization-and-an-alternative-economy/

#worker #cooperatives #renewable #energy #technology #agriculture

Amid the planetary #polycrisis – which is, among other things, a crisis of #capitalism – #AI #DataCentres appear to be one of the last places offering opportunities for secure capital accumulation. In this context, the #Cloud which has long been mistakenly portrayed as an immaterial entity, is also being redefined as a #factory

Miriam Fahimi reflects on the political struggles at stake: https://berlinergazette.de/are-data-centers-factories-industrial-promises-and-socio-ecological-losses/

AbahlalibaseMjondolo, the largest movement of poor people in post-apartheid South Africa, practice a ‘living politics’ of true democracy – tested by assassination + xenophobic terror, Raj Patel writes:
https://berlinergazette.de/no-land-no-house-no-vote-lessons-from-south-africas-shack-settlements/

#democracy #land #housing #Africa #water #AbahlalibaseMjondolo #SouthAfrica

During the 2007-08 global #financial #crisis, the upheavals in #Greece were not perceived as a possible future within the #EU. However, given the current expansion of #austerity policies in #Europe, this scenario is more relevant than ever: https://berlinergazette.de/austerity-kills-still-the-lingering-effects-of-austerity-measures-on-greeces-healthcare-system/ #healthcare #solidarity

Reproductive technologies and their associated forms of #commodification and profit-making emerged in the 1980s. Since then, they have evolved into a global #fertility industry. In her article, Susanne Lettow maps the emerging trajectories of reproductive bioeconomies in neo-authoritarian #capitalism and suggests pathways for critique and resistance: https://berlinergazette.de/making-babies-making-money-reproductive-bioeconomies-in-neo-authoritarian-capitalism/

#bioeconomy #genome #parents #babies #children #ElonMusk #PeterThiel

Bruna Della Torre shows how two recent films from #Brazil relieve us from the burden of distinguishing between a legitimate #armed #struggle against an illegitimate state and an illegitimate armed struggle against a legitimate one: https://berlinergazette.de/military-dictatorship-in-brazil-armed-resistance-and-the-political-unconscious/
#dictatorship #Bolsonaro #memory #resistance #Left #fascism

For almost a year and half, one of the largest student movements in Europe has been transforming #Serbia The protests, which have drawn hundreds of thousands of people, are not just a form of #resistance against #authoritarianism. Through collaboration with other groups, such as #environmental organizations and local #anti-mining movements, a new vision of development and #democracy is emerging: https://berlinergazette.de/students-against-mining-what-does-the-student-movement-in-serbia-have-in-common-with-anti-extractivism/

Corporate-backed #food #aid programs have become the standard response to #hunger. However, Kayleigh Garthwaite argues that we must recognize these programs as a symptom of the systemic failures that produce hunger. At the same time, we must work to build a society based on prefigurative practices rooted in collective #care, shared #responsibility, and #local control: https://berlinergazette.de/beyond-hunger-inc-building-solidarity-based-on-the-right-to-food/

An international meeting was held in #bogota to expand the global women’s and feminist #movement The goal was to discuss alternatives to the intertwined forces of #Capitalism #colonialism and #patriarchy which are devastating our bodies, forests, and rivers under the guise of #progress

Niloofar Golkar reports: https://berlinergazette.de/from-abya-yala-to-kurdistan-women-struggle-against-the-destruction-of-life/

#feminism

As long as the #economy remains outside the realm of democratic control, democracy is intertwined with a destructive, #colonial system that threatens our existence on #Earth

In his contribution to the #DeepDemocracy series, Lukas Warning argues, that no socio-ecological transformation can occur unless the restructuring of the economy is subject to collective control. A plea for realizing #democracy through #socialization https://berlinergazette.de/realizing-democracy-why-we-need-to-switch-off-the-autopilot-and-take-control/

#climate #climateChange #climateCrisis

The #solidarity #clinics that emerged during the 2008-2015 #crisis protests in #Greece left behind experiences of direct #democracy and their transformative potential, as Dilan Köse argues in her contribution to the #DeepDemocracy series:
https://berlinergazette.de/democratization-of-health-self-organized-solidarity-clinics-in-greece/

Marlene Hobbs questions the ideas shaping current debates on #digitalization, #aging, and #care. As a geographer, she examines how #technology is incorporated into the design of #care #spaces and argues for a reevaluation of #nursing homes, rejecting technologically deterministic visions of the #future involving #dehumanized care #work: https://berlinergazette.de/politics-of-elderly-care-who-asks-for-a-digital-revolution-in-nursing-homes/

In the #war that #Russia is waging in #Ukraine with the aim of wearing down its opponent, the destruction of the #infrastructure of human and more-than-human life – in short, the #environment – plays an important role. https://vimeo.com/1138498761

#PluriverseOfPeace

In the Kurdish Freedom Movement, ecology is one of the three pillars of democratic confederalism, alongside women’s liberation and radical democracy. In her contribution to the “Deep Democracy” series, Gülay Kilicaslan explores how this concept allows us to rethink democratic self-determination as a networked practice that transcends borders: https://berlinergazette.de/democratic-confederalism-against-borders-and-their-extensions-dismantling-state-patriarchal-and-capitalist-structures/
#Rojava #Kurdistan #Democracy #borders #internationalism

We are living in a world that is sliding into ‘ecosystem chaos,’ where capitalism can no longer calculate its own future and war has become the only governing algorithm. Raúl Sánchez Cedillo explores emancipatory politics: https://vimeo.com/1138500559 #Climate #War #Polycrisis #Peace #Movements #Workers #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Ukraine

How can we overcome the friend/foe dichotomy and initiate urgently needed public debate on #armament, #militarization, and intensification of various types of #warfare? The editors of BG | berlinergazette.de search for answers in the afterword to the #PluriverseOfPeace project: https://berlinergazette.de/speaking-of-solidarity-toward-a-politics-beyond-the-friend-foe-paradigm/

#war #UkraineWar #Ukraine #Climate #Peace

In the first half of the 20th century, a remarkable network of women existed in Sweden. Their activists bridged the intersection of feminism and the ecological commons, linking these issues to peace struggles in the face of war....

https://vimeo.com/1143362743

#PluriverseOfPeace

#Climate #ClimateChange #War #Peace #E arth

How can we break this vicious cycle of #ClimateCrisis, economic crisis and #war? Clearly a major concern for those working at the intersection of #research and #activism, this question was the focus of #PluriverseOfPeace The BG #conference brought together researchers, #artists, and activists from over 25 countries. The goal was to explore the convergence of #peace and environmental struggles. Check out the videos here: https://berlinergazette.de/pluriverse-of-peace-conference-intro/

#climate #UkraineWar

In #Ukraine bunkers and shells lodged in #trees serve as archives and witnesses to nearly 100 years of #violence. As Nataliia Miroshnyk argues in her contribution to the #PluriverseOfPeace series, these remnants reflect the intensity of the fighting and the continuity of the landscape’s #memory: https://berlinergazette.de/is-war-a-process-of-humanitys-maturation-what-people-forget-but-trees-remember

There is a #family #crisis. However, this crisis was not triggered by the ‘erosion of traditional identities’ or by the fight for equal rights for #LGBTQIA+ people and #migrants. Rather, it stems from a larger systemic crisis: https://berlinergazette.de/the-family-in-crisis-between-right-wing-mobilization-and-left-wing-criticism/

#LGBTQ* people and people with various #disabilities face similar political struggles for respect, visibility, and representation. They are also subjected to, or threatened by, far #right-wing violence, which has increased in recent years: https://berlinergazette.de/extreme-right-wing-violence-against-lesbian-bisexual-gay-and-queer-people-and-people-with-disabilities/

Recently, the #EZLN updated their political approach by proposing ‘the #Common and #Non-Property’. This concept transcends the limited #military perspective on #war + #peace , emphasizing developing relationships that challenge #capitalist #modernity from the grassroots level through dialogue with ecological #commons. In his #PluriverseOfPeace text, Felix Krawczyk discusses how this method of constructing peace can help overcome various impasses of the global #polycrisis: https://berlinergazette.de/inspiration-ezln-ontological-struggles-and-the-world-of-many-worlds/

The renewal and realization of democracy, or indeed its democratization, has many names. In 2026, we would like to organize the BG’s annual text series under the title #DeepDemocracy https://berlinergazette.de/deep-democracy-bg-annual-text-series-2026-call-for-papers/

#truedemocracy #directdemocracy #radicaldemocracy #councildemocracy #economicdemocracy #grassrootsdemocracy #democracy #Demokratie #polycrisis

Models and practices of #democracy that exclude illiterate people are inherently elitist and contradictory. Consequently, despite its considerable efforts throughout history to provide #workers with primary education, the left’s high democratic aspirations suffer. It is therefore high time to rethink what could connect us in the face of rising disaster nationalism, argues Slave Cubela in his contribution to the #DeepDemocracy series: https://berlinergazette.de/beyond-disaster-nationalism-democratic-movements-must-rethink-territoriality/
#nationalism

Experiences with peace-building in the postwar city of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, provide cause for serious reflection on how economic inequalities between formerly hostile groups can lead to social divisions. Vesna Bojičić-Dželilović examines the material conditions necessary for a dignified and peaceful life.
https://berlinergazette.de/cities-after-war-the-material-conditions-for-restoring-social-peace-in-bosnia-and-herzegovina/
#war #peace #Balkan #BosniaHerzegovina #conflict

Autocratic regimes govern by using isolation, fragmentation, and predictability as their tools. Exploring the case of Georgia, Aia Beraia argues that a society must recognize these conditions and replace the tools of the regime with those that would help democratize society and truly ‘dismantle the master’s house’: https://berlinergazette.de/how-autocracies-govern-understanding-the-tools-of-the-regime/

#autocracy #authoritarianism #fascism #democracy #Georgia

Feminist #housing policy, including the demand for #socialization, should not be viewed as an additional adjustment to existing housing policy instruments. Rather, it strives for a structural transformation of social reproduction relations: https://berlinergazette.de/feminist-housing-policy-socializing-living-space-democratizing-care/

#feminism #democracy

Rather than viewing #transition as a technocratic roadmap, Sandro Mezzadra suggests considering it as an open horizon that offers an alternative to the #apocalyptic tone that shapes much of today’s #activism. https://vimeo.com/1138501802

#PluriverseOfPeace #climateChange #war

Why do we clamor so desperately for ‘democracy’? In her “Deep Democracy” contribution, Sanem Su Avci argues that the word’s symbolic force stems from the history of modern domination – a legacy that civil societies have yet to process: https://berlinergazette.de/democracy-is-not-the-word-for-what-we-want/
#democracy #history #colonialism #violence #domination

A viral moment tends to spark political hope. But does it ultimately reveal more about the desire for change than the likelihood of it? Regzena Erdyneeva discusses the reception and impact of a viral Instagram video in which beauty blogger #ViktoriaBonya criticizes the #Kremlin: https://berlinergazette.de/bonya-vs-putin-when-a-beauty-blogger-stands-up-to-the-kremlin/ #Russia #Putin #VladimirPutin #SocialMedia

In #duisburg police spatial #control and #evictions under building codes are implemented as parallel mechanisms that have been jointly developed and coordinated for the past 10 years. These mechanisms primarily affect people from #Romania + #bulgaria many of whom are #romani

This enforces the social and legal #exclusion of criminalized #EU citizens and systematically shifts responsibility for this back onto those subjected to #racial violence: https://berlinergazette.de/ten-years-of-the-same-script-anti-romani-eviction-policies-in-duisburg/

When the #economy determines the living conditions of the majority yet the majority lacks democratic participation in economic decision-making, the legitimacy of democracy becomes a fundamental and often overlooked issue. Katarina Peović argues for a #democratic protagonism of #workers in her contribution to the #DeepDemocracy series: https://berlinergazette.de/direct-democracy-and-protest-movements-towards-the-democratic-protagonism-of-the-working-masses/ #Serbia #studentmovement

Deepening democracy means answering an elementary question: Who decides the conditions of our shared life? The notion of self-management asserts that those who produce + maintain society should collectively determine its direction: https://berlinergazette.de/self-management-as-the-core-of-a-radical-transformation-of-society/ #democracy #capitalism #autonomy

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the start of the ‘border crisis’ in Poland’s eastern borderlands and, consequently, the eastern border of the European Union. Kasia Narkowicz examines this crisis within the broader context of the political economy of migration and traces its roots to various forms of intersecting racialized violence: https://berlinergazette.de/lost-in-securitization-migration-race-and-death-at-europes-eastern-border/

#border #Poland #Belarus #migration #refugees

Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet is now one of the most stable governments in the history of the Italian Republic – a sobering lesson for those who critically observe democratic regression worldwide: https://berlinergazette.de/mainstreaming-the-far-right-entrenching-neoliberalism-italys-political-laboratory-from-berlusconi-to-meloni/
#Berlusconism #democracy #fascism #Italy

The #militarization of society has not spared the healthcare system. #Hospitals and #medical staff are being made ‘fit for war.’ This regressive social transformation, driven by the #war effort, is met with both support and resistance within the #healthcare sector: https://berlinergazette.de/calculating-war-readiness-the-militarization-of-healthcare-between-affirmation-and-resistance/

Governments across the #Americas are expanding their #military capabilities to secure #capital #accumulation and #infrastructure development. Despite the #violence people continue to defend captured territories in order to protect their communities and the #Environment Alke Jenss examines the case of #Mexico https://berlinergazette.de/infrastructural-violence-who-dares-to-disrupt-the-flow-of-goods-and-energy/

To combat #fascism + preserve the achievements of progressive #Politics we need strong #institutions They are essential for protecting fundamental #rights + ensuring access to #housing #Food + #Education The #university is one such institution. Here, knowledge is preserved + constantly questioned. However, as Laura Katharina Mücke explains, this #democratic space within the university is currently in grave danger: https://berlinergazette.de/care-work-is-confrontation-universities-between-precarization-and-polarization/

#humanrights

To overcome #capitalism, we must accept the magnitude of the task + abandon illusions. We should engage with the political goals of classical socialists, such as the rule of the class-conscious #proletariat and revolutionary upheaval: https://berlinergazette.de/organizing-contradictions-how-to-reignite-a-debate-about-ways-to-overcome-capitalism/

#Marx #Luxemburg #Socialism

As we look ahead to the future use of #AI in #warfare , we must not place our trust in improvements in accuracy, reliability, etc. To prevent the repetition of technologically optimized, systematic, large-scale killings of civilians, such as those in #gaza , we must build international pressure, hold the perpetrators accountable, and achieve an internationally binding regulation of military AI use, Jens Hälterlein argues: https://berlinergazette.de/algorithmic-dehumanization-lessons-from-the-use-of-ai-in-the-gaza-war/

@jens_haelterlein@mstdn.social
@ground_zero@tldr.nettime.org
@danmcquillan@kolektiva.social