Thursday, 9. February 2017, 15:34 - Saturday, 11. February 2017, 15:34

A Good Life for All

Congress | Vienna

In these times of transition, defined by insecurity, anxiety and pessimism, the Good Life for All offers a vision of a world, in which society can be organized along the principles of freedom, solidarity and democracy. As such, it is a utopia, food for thought, a spring of hope that focuses attention on our society’s potential. At the same time it is a concrete vision, a compass, linking a utopian horizon with specific steps for implementation: What can people do here and now to promote freedom, solidarity, sustainability and democratization? At the Good Life for All conference 2017, representatives of the environmental and social movements, academia and practice come together in dialogue once again. The conference has three objectives:
  • We will discuss whether a coordinated economic de-globalization is a prerequisite for regaining the room for manoeuvre necessary to build a community enabling all people to lead a good life.
  • We explore how urban institutions and infrastructures can open up spaces for urban and local bottom up experimentation and the design of new ideas, whereby cosmopolitan and systemic solutions can be thought and lived conjointly.
  • We connect academia, civil society, unions, change makers, policy and culture and support unconventional learning and research partnerships.
In the framework of this conference, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office, is organising the following workshop:

Progressive Economic and Industrial Policies

Speakers: Lila Caballero (Action Aid UK), Maha Ben Gadha (Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Tunis), Ivan Radenkovic (Journal for Theoretical Practices - STVAR), Julia Eder (Johannes Kepler University)
When: Friday, 10 February 2017
Where: Vienna University for Economics and Business, Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna Capitalism of the 21st century bears little resemblance to the "Social Market Economy" of the "thirty glorious years" that followed the end of the Second World War. With respect to the scope for progressive policy, the dominant form of capitalism today has three main features: 1. an imperialist focus on fossil fuels that is causing lasting damage to the earth’s metabolism,
2. the dominance of the needs of finance capital over other social aims
3. and, finally, global value chains. In order to achieve prosperity and potentially self-reliant development, societies need their own economic base. The chief requirement for that is having their own industry. That enables a reduction in economic dependence on foreign countries, forms the basis for strong trade unions, and creates jobs. We want to engage in a joint discussion about what shape a genuinely progressive industrial policy could take, what it needs to include, and how it could manifest itself in the various regions of the world. What realistic possibilities are there today of developing an industrial and economic policy that serves the interests of the people, rather than those of international monopolies? What approaches are there, where is there potential for intervention, and what coalitions are needed to achieve that goal? Contact for information on this workshop: Roland Kulke (roland.kulke@rosalux.org) For more information (full programme of the conference, registration, all speakers, practical information) please visit the conference website.