by PERMANENT ASSEMBLY AGAINST THE WAR

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/975119107008861/?ref=newsfeed

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83238410660

The Permanent Assembly Against the War (PAAW), invites all to an online event to discuss social, political and economic developments in the post-Soviet region, and in Eastern Europe and former Yugoslavia, in times of war.Since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, the PAAW has organized several online and physical meetings to discuss the consequences of the war, its transnational dimension and the prospect for a transnational politics of peace. In these meetings we have always tried to connect experiences of activists from different corners of Europe and beyond, as we have recognized since the beginning that the war in Ukraine and its prolongation are not just a geopolitical affair. Indeed, with its trail of destruction and deaths, the politics of war now reverberates across the globe. Economic sanctions, rising costs of living and militarisation are fostering the general crisis in social reproduction which was already felt in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and after decades of neoliberal reforms.

However, we soon realized that there is little knowledge and little discussion about the wider implications of the war in the specific situation of regions and states in the post-Soviet situation, including Ukraine and Russia. These are contexts that have been socially devastated and quickly exposed to harsh accumulation dynamics, corporate misappropriation of natural resources and the destruction of welfare policies, only to be then hit by the neoliberal restructuring of society. Eastern European countries have also a history in this regard and together with those from former Yugoslavia they are now at the forefront of a new EU politics in times of war, either as new centers of power or new borderlands where the enlargement process plays its murderous tricks, and where rival economic projects clash and compete.

Even if there are spaces where activists with these backgrounds share their experiences and analysis, we feel that a wider framework is needed, not confinable by geographical/political/institutional borders. In fact, we believe that what’s happening in these situations is of the utmost importance in imagining any kind of transformative politics today, and it’s of a general interest for all activists, including those in Western Europe. Such space is what the PAAW is trying to provide with this event. With speakers from Slovenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Romania, and participants from other Western and Eastern regions we want to discuss what we can learn from these contexts on how to (re)build forms of political communication and shared vision that can overcome the geopolitical trap, bring social issues to the fore and help develop a transnational politics of peace.

Confirmed speakers:Aigul Hakimova (Infokolpa, Slovenia), Sopiko Japaridze (Solidarity Network, Georgia), Olena Lyubchenko (Canada/Ukraine), Bermet Borubaeva (KirgSoc, Kyrgyzstan), Luba Zakharova (Russia, Feminist Anti-War Resistance), Valentin Cernat and Ovid Pop (Alternator, Romania), Maja Breznik (Slovenia), Tijana Okic (Bosnia).

The zoom link to join the event will be published soon.

info: info@transnational-strike.info