Our political and economic context is defined by a state of crisis.
The stories we are usually told about the financial crisis place it beyond our control – it is intricate hedge funds and sub-prime mortgages, it is a lack of regulation, it is greedy bankers, it is extreme capitalism. The ‘solutions’ that governments and the media are pushing, such as stimulus packages and false promises of ’saving jobs’, remain in a capitalist logic.
We need something more. This could include struggles, on our own terms, against unemployment and increased work rates, racism, and the escalation of sexualised and gendered divisions of labour. We must place the current crisis within the ongoing struggles of people across the planet.
This means asking questions. What are the origins of the crisis? How is it affecting workers? What is the relationship between the current crisis and earlier times of working class resistance? How are resistances being organised, and how can they be strengthened? How can we deepen solidarity and work together?
The only real crisis that capitalism faces is the refusal and resistance of ordinary people, in our daily lives.
This conference aims to critique the current wave of responses to capitalism’s current predicament. It is an opportunity to collectively analyse its ‘new clothes’. As ordinary people ourselves, it is a chance to strategise together for solidarity with emerging and ongoing struggles for workers autonomy and control, peoples’ freedom of movement, sustainability, sovereignty and self determination.
10am-6pm September 12-13@ the Redfern Community Centre, 29 Hugo Street, Redfern. Just across from Redfern station
