Warsaw, Poland
June 8 - 11, 2023
After the previous editions in Wroclaw, Krakow and Lodz we are coming back to Warsaw! We invite you to spend four days in June with us (June 8, 9, 10 and 11) at ADA Pulawska (37 Pulawska Street).
Last time we focused on learning how to care. That topic was a response to the need for action in incredibly difficult conditions: pandemics, the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and the accessibility of abortion, as well as the protecion of the environment. Unfortunately, since the Lodz edition, circumstances have only given us more reasons to be concerned. For some time now, we have been accompanied by an sense of defeat - served both "from above," in the form of international decisions and state-party politics, and manifested "from below," through the exhaustion and intimidation of women activists, violence, and the weakness of existing organizational forms. We want to talk through and rethink the future direction for our unfettered freedom movements. That's why this year's Kongresono will be held under the confrontational slogan: "in the face of defeat."
We will want to talk about our failures and how we have dealt with them (or not) and disasters yet to come. Let's discuss how to act in the face of defeat! What tactics and strategies to take; which we have not yet developed; how to draw strength from them for another life and another world, where defeats can be transformed into (less invisible) victories; where still disasters can be prevented?
- the silent successes amid the "official failure" of the feminist movement
- environmental protection vs. anarchism, or whether tying yourself to a tree is enough,
- activism in the big city vs. outside it,
- action during war, natural disasters, migration crises,
- problems of current anarchist strategies and organizational forms,
- the negative impact of social media on radical politics,
- actions and inaction in the face of the neoliberal retraction of public institutions,
- the response to the failure of international and state "environmental policies."
- outdated education in the face of new challenges,
- weaknesses of the health care system,
- the difficulty of continuing to act after repression or experiencing police violence,
- supporting each other in building relationships, networks and friendships in the face of disaster,
- burnout, cessation of activities, disintegration and rebuilding of activist groups,
- grassroots forms of assistance and support,
- overcoming the limitations of our agency,
- the freedom movements' failure to respond to what "black-green" nature conservation should look like and how to organize,
- failures of dogmatic and schematic understanding of problems,
- the failure of mediation and facilitation processes,
- the impossibility of stopping the war machine,
- The appropriation of social movements by parties and politicians,
And many other topics that come to your mind.
As always, there will be no shortage of lectures, workshops and discussions, but during this edition we want to create a much larger space than usual to get to know each other, relax and have fun.
Look out for information and save the date of the meeting in your calendars.