Organizers: FES DIALOGUE SOE & CAS SEE

Venue: Rijeka University Campus, Faculty for the Humanities and Social Sciences,
Sveučilišna avenija 4, IV Floor; Room 401, Rijeka

Dates: June 11th – 17th 2017

Rationale and Background for the Summer School:

The region of Southeast Europe is facing significant political and economic challenges which creates worrying distrust in the very basics and foundations of politics and institutions. As a result, a new wave of protest movements has been emerging all over the region. All countries experienced mass mobilizations: anti-government and student protests, workers’ strikes in privatized companies etc. Many of those protests are genuine democratic movements and challenge the current narrative of political fatigue. The FES Dialogue SOE has been actively engaging with these new societal actors through a series of activist fora. At the same time the CAS SEE has been investing resources in thinking about the current crisis of democracy in the region and beyond while providing necessary theoretical impetus for re-thinking democracy and political action.

In the activist fora, the primary goal was to forge new connections towards the re-thinking and consolidation of the Southeast European Left. The activist fora have aimed at developing a participatory means of translating civic action into an overarching platform that is based on positions identified as the joint fault-lines by the activists from various movements and struggles across Southeast Europe. From the activist fora the idea emerged to elevate the process towards a more concrete dimension by streamlining various inputs from activists as well as partnering organisations like CAS SEE or European Alternatives into a comprehensive a political platform labelled the Democratic Left ‘18 (#DL18). Herein lies the ultimate goal to establish a politically and ideologically relevant platform to be used by Left actors from both established political and grassroots backgrounds, with the aim of consolidating the Left in Southeast Europe.

Objectives of the Summer School:

The Summer School “The NEW LEFT” is envisioned as a consolidation effort of the inputs created so far in the process. The Summer School will:

  • provide a framework for exchanging views and insights among activists and academics on the four thematic clusters of the #DL18 platform, namely on Democracy, Economy, Resources, and Social State in a regional context.
  • provide workspaces for the participants to discuss and refine their position papers with advice from academic experts.
  • validate and peer-review #DL18 position papers, identify room for improvement with a view to developing a consistent political platform under the guidance of academic experts.
  • inspire and build capacity of participants through stimulating topical and theoretical inputs by renowned academics.
What is left? How to think left? Opening exchange

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgdmiHab1v4[/embedyt]

What is left? How to think left? Opening exchange by Petar Bojanic

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLFWcSZLScU[/embedyt]

Programme Board of the summer school:

Felix Henkel, FES Dialogue Southeast Europe

Sanja Bojanic, CAS SEE/CWS, University of Rijeka

Petar Bojanic, IFDT, University of Belgrade

Vedran Dzihic, oiip / CAS SEE

Max Brändle, FES Regional Office for Croatia and Slovenia

Organization Board:

Gazela Pudar Draško, IFDT, University of Belgrade (gazela.pudar@instifdt.bg.ac.rs)

Denis Piplaš, FES Dialogue Southeast Europe (denis.piplas@fes-soe.org)

Emin Eminagić, FES Dialogue Southeast Europe (emin.eminagic@fes-soe.org)

Blanka Smoljan, FES Regional Office for Croatia and Slovenia (blanka.smoljan@fes.hr)

Andrea Mešanović, University of Rijeka (andrea.mesanovic@gmail.com)

Kristina Smoljanovic, University of Rijeka (ksmoljanovic@gmail.com)