Red-Green Conference Ukraine July 18-22

Praxis Research and Educational Center (Moscow)

XXI Century Center for Ecological Education of ISEU (Ukraine)

Call for Papers :

2009 International Historical Conference Critical Thought ;
International Forum: Social and Environmental Dimensions of the Global Economic Crisis

Peschanoe (Crimea, Ukraine), 18-22 July 2009

This international gathering, organized at an ecological summer campgrounds on the Crimean shore of the Black Sea, will bring together scientists, scholars and political activists for a four-day series of lectures, panels and round-tables devoted to the social and environmental dimensions of the global economic crisis as well as to various problems of theory, history and practice in the context of Left anti-totalitarian thought.

The purposes of these at once scholarly and practice-oriented seminars are: 1) to look at environmental preconditions, manifestations and consequences of the global crisis of the capitalist economy, with particular emphasis on the ex-Soviet countries; 2) to discuss strategy and tactics of ecologically oriented social and political movements in the context of the current economic and environmental crises; and 3) to study and prolong the traditions of the anti-totalitarian Left in the ex-Soviet space and around the world. [AV1]Scholars and activists from all countries are invited to propose topics in one or more areas as well as participate in the round tables relevant to their concerns.

The lectures, seminars and round tables will be held with participation of historians, sociologists, economists, ecologists from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Switzerland, France, Britain, USA, India, as well as activists of left-wing, human rights and ecological organizations. The conference will continue the international dialogue initiated at previous meetings in Peschanoe in 2007 and 2008.

Proposed lectures, seminars and round table topics include:

· The Crash of 2008: Capitalism’s ‘Final’ Crisis?

· Global Climate Change: How far are we from catastrophe? What can be done to prevent it?

· The Concept of ‘limits to growth’ in the context of today’s world economic crises (discussion on the book by D. Meadows et al. Limits to Growth. The 30-Year Update)

· Ecotopian Perspectives: Is there Life After Capitalism? Is ‘another world’ really possible?

· Horizontals or Verticals? Movements or Parties ? Which way for Left social movements? Experiences from around the globe[AV2].

· Anti-totalitarian Left in the ex-Soviet lands.

· Critical Marxism, past legacy and present perspectives;

· Marx’s Ecology and the negative legacy of Stalinism

· Theory and practice of anarchism, communitarianism[AV3], environmentalism

· The social roots of fascism and anti-fascist strategy today in ex-Soviet space and the world:

· The present situation in the Caucasus and global civil society.

· Ukraine, Russia, Belarus: three examples of ecological-economic crisis at the post-Soviet space.

· Cultural programs of the gathering include concerts with singer-songwriters and excursions to historical sites in the Crimea.

Proposals for papers should include brief summary and authors’ CV. Deadline for submitting proposals is June 30. The working languages of the forum will be Ukrainian, Russian, English and French. Conference fee (for organizational expenses): 40 Euros.

The camping grounds is situated right on the beach in a pine woods in the resort zone of Peschanoe Village on the shore of the Black Sea (South-Western Crimea, Bakhchisarai District). Peschanoe is 55 Km from Simferopol, 30 Km from Sebastopol. Nearest airport is the International Airport «Simferopol» (http://www.airport.crimea.ua/en/home.htm).

Types of accommodation:

Individual tent, three meals daily – 10 dollars/day

Double room in a tourist hotel, three meals daily – 20 dollars/day.

Contact organizing committee: praxiscenter@gmail.com

Updates and further information: www.praxiscenter.ru

Participating organizations: tertium@prov.ru (Russia); eco2@ukr.net (Ukraine).