Contested Urban Ecologies in Athens: Caring Communities, Environmental Racism, and Green Policing

Athens is a city where air pollution from vehicles is widespread, while the intensification of construction activity, often in the name of green development, has made green spaces scarce. Athens is also a city with a growing waste problem, including unresolved contradictions in waste recycling, which is mainly carried out by racialized communities in ‘Athens backyard.’ In their “Kin City” talks, Nelli Kambouri and Dafni Karavola discuss how the capitalist metabolism could be disrupted and how an eco-politics from below could be formed by the dispossessed.

The second panel of the conference at the “Kin City” festival, moderated by Sotiris Sideris, took place on October 17, 2024 at the ZK/U – Center for Arts and Urbanistics. You can listen to the recording by clicking on the play button above.

Nelli Kambouri’s talk is based on the following article: https://berlinergazette.de/requiem-for-trees-rhizomatic-ecologies-insurgent-communities-and-green-policing/

Dafni Karavola’s talk is based on the following article: https://berlinergazette.de/the-urban-decomposers-of-athens-backyard/

More information about the “Kin City” festival: https://berlinergazette.de/projects/kin-city

Kin City: Sandra Huning by Berliner Gazette

Dopamin-Detox: Hype oder Hoffnung? by Berliner Gazette

Für Projekt Protest

Job Vs Nature Podcast by Berliner Gazette

Labor movements have been continually absorbed by market forces and thus repeatedly declared dead. In recent years, however, they have re-emerged as a potentially anti-capitalist force. At the same time, the environmental and climate movements in the Global North, long motivated by moral concerns, are gradually discovering their anti-capitalist interest. In a number of recent struggles, the labor and environmental movements are coming together, building alliances, and expanding their capacities to shape eco-socialist futures.

The second panel of the “Allied Grounds” conference, “Resisting Green Jobs,” explored cases in the Balkans and Italy. Moderated by Rositsa Kratunkova, Svjetlana Nedimović, Paola Imperatore, and Francesca Gabbriellini gave talks at the House of Democracy and Human Rights, which can be listened to by clicking on the play button above.

More information about the “Allied Grounds” project can be found here: https://berlinergazette.de/projects/allied-grounds/

In contemporary capitalism, workers are increasingly fragmented and divided, along the lines, for example, of productive and reproductive labor, wage and unpaid labor. Yet they could realize their common interests not least by confronting the capitalist threat to their social and ecological environment and to their collective capacity to create a life worth living. This requires translation not only between different languages, but also between different cultural, social, economic, political and, not least, class contexts.

The final panel of the “Allied Grounds” conference, “Politics of Translation,” addressed these issues. Moderated by Anna Saave, Dario Azzellini, Lorenzo Feltrin, and Brett Neilson gave talks at the House of Democracy and Human Rights, which can be listened to by clicking on the play button below.

More information about the “Allied Grounds” project can be found here: https://berlinergazette.de/projects/allied-grounds/

Humming Exercise by Berliner Gazette

What does sustainable work look like for you? by Berliner Gazette

(Neo)colonial capitalism is bringing about the end of the world. Environmentalists in the Global North urge us to recognize that this dystopian scenario is looming in the near future. For the oppressed peoples of the Global South, however, the apocalypse has been a reality for more than five hundred years. And it is from these regions that the growing mass of migrant and refugee labor continues to emerge, not least as a reserve army of labor to support the centers of capital. This challenges us all to imagine and facilitate multiracial workers’ struggles against (neo)colonialism and capitalism.

The opening panel of the “Allied Grounds” conference, “Agents of System Change,” addressed these issues. Moderated by Claudia Núñez, Florin Poenaru and Jennifer Kamau gave talks at the House of Democracy and Human Rights on October 5, which can be listened to by clicking on the play button above.

More information about the “Allied Grounds” project can be found here: https://berlinergazette.de/projects/allied-grounds/