Part of “The Kyiv Internationale” − Kyiv Biennial 2017
Saturday October 28 – h16.00 – 21.00
Location: Matadero
The traditional concept of the nation state is in crisis. It is being undone at once from above and from below. Internationally, nation states increasingly appear as insufficient vehicles to approach the challenges brought about by technological innovation, migration, climate change, or financial flows. Locally, new regional and municipalist claims, as well as a thriving discourse on commons and autonomy is demanding a new democracy of proximity. This situation calls upon us to radically reformulate our conception of the nation-state. WIth this symposium we will take this conversion head on. What’s after the nation-state?
OVERVIEW
In the age of the crisis of both globalisation and of the nation state the idea of cross-border unity and transnational solidarity appears to be of highest urgency.
European Alternatives has long worked to assess, critique, and move beyond the concept of the nation-state. We have attempted to undo this concept from both below – researching local autonomy, municipalism and pluri-national States – and from above, with a reflection on transnational political forms and the role of Europe.
Both dimensions are becoming increasingly relevant and urgent today.
The nation state increasingly appears as an insufficient vehicle to approach the challenges brought about by technological innovation, migration, climate change, or financial flows. This is dramatically evident in the European Union: where the incapacity of constructing a post-national democracy leads to dysfunctional economic policies, lack of any credible policy on migration, tax competition between States and race to the bottom on multinational taxation and workers rights.
At the same time, the experience of new municipalism, as well as the discussions around the position of Catalonia, Wallonia or Scotland, is challenging the nation state from below. From Barcelona to Naples, citizens increasingly demand the right to participate directly in decisions that affect their lives in their locality. And yet, demands for greater autonomy are often frustrated by a concentration of powers in the national capital that bars any meaningful sovereignty of proximity.
This situation calls upon us to radically reformulate our conception of the nation-state, rather than replicating it. WIth this symposium we will take this conversion head on, showing the best that’s moving below and above the nation-State, and what points of contact between the two exist. Ranging from arts to politics, from theory to grassroots practices, we will be discussing the path towards a post-national future.
The event is organised in cooperation with The Kyiv International − Kyiv Biennial 2017, which will host Part II of the symposium on November 22 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
PUBLIC PROGRAMME
1. The Great Regression : the return of Nationalisms?
(co-hosted by Suhrkamp editors)
The traditional form of the nation-state appears an insufficient vehicle to approach the challenges brought about by technological innovation, migration, climate change, or financial flows. And yet attempts to move beyond it, matching globalisation of the economy with a globalisation of politics, appear blocked or stuck in reverse gear. What’s next?
Marina Garcés , Santiago Alba Rico , Arjun Appadurai. Moderated by Niccolo Milanese
2. The parable of the Nation-state
The nation state is a recent European historical construction. With imperialism it has been exported globally, undoing previous forms of community and society. Is there a lesson from outside the West on surpassing nationalism?
You Mi – Chinese artist and curator ,Vasyl Cherepanyn – curator of Kyiv Biennale, Ukraine,Oliver Ressler – Austrian artist. Moderated by: Catherine Hug – Swiss curator
3. From the city to Europe, bypassing the State
A spectre is haunting Europe: the spectre of municipalism. To what extent does it offer a sensible response to the threat of the Great Regression? Could we imagine new forms of government where a transnational and local levels are placed in direct contact?
Gesine Schwan (former SPD presidential candidate of Germany), Piotr Kowalczuk (vice mayor Gdansk, Poland), Mauricio Valiente (Vice-Mayor Madrid), Luigi de Magistris (Mayor of Naples) (tbc), Juan Catalano (City of Palermo). Moderated by Daphne Büllesbach
4. The Commons offering a renewed vision for Europe?
A talk with members of the European Commons Assembly. Sophie Bloemen (Commons Network), Iva Cucik (Belgrade don’t drown Initiative), Stacco Troncoso (P2P Foundation). Moderated by Marta Cillero
5. The path forwards
What’s the way forwards in Europe and what is our responsibility? How can we utilise the moment of the 2019 European elections to strike a difference?
A conversation between Miguel Urban & Lorenzo Marsili. Moderated by Maria Eugenia Palop
