Common Statement Maribor – Ljubljana Hub Meeting 2013

 

Hub Meeting 2013 Maribor ‐ Ljubljana is the continuation of a European movements meetings process. We shared our experiences around five topics: governance of the city; knowledge; migration; women, crisis and radical social care; and the constituent process. Starting from our local differences we talked about opening common space in which we think of Europe not as a geographical space divided by borders and defined by hegemonic structures, but rather as a struggle defined region. In this we also consider the struggles of the Arab Spring, and differences between south and north. This is a process in which we imagine the common space through which local struggles resonate to a transnational level.

 

The constituent process is a crucial horizon to be filled with content and practices that have to be based on a general inquiry in which the movements are embedded, respecting heterogeneity of society and local circumstances. There is a general need to attack financial capital, troika,  etc., not only on a symbolic level but also in a material way through concrete practices. It is not enough to just talk to radical movements already included in the process, but to generalize the struggles.

 

As movements and activists, we want to see ourselves as embedded in society and not separate from it. We want to create struggle on the terrains where the capitalistic system  reproduces  itself:  for  example  in  governance  of  the  city,  knowledge,  migration, social care and a top down European constituent process.

 

In Governance of The City we discussed struggles and practices in the city and urban space and the organizing of needs on the territory;

 

In Migration we discussed struggles against any economic and political border through which we found the lines that cross the refugee struggles and the struggles of migrant workers;

 

We recognized Knowledge as a fundamental battleground that gives us the tools to create new struggles.

 

In Women, Crisis and Radical Social Care we discussed the link between patriarchy, capitalism and the crisis. First it was how to insert feminist perspectives in the common struggle against austerity; second was mechanisms of radical social care in the community;

 

And in the Constituent Process we discussed working on a “social  strike” with a long-term  perspective,  where “Social  Strike” means  forms  of  strike outside formal unions, etc. We inquired about mechanisms and methods of how people create by themselves and are involved in such actions and diffuse networks of practices,  rescuing the next 15th May as a first test.

 

Besides this we recognize there is an agenda of European events, including Blockupy Frankfurt, Que Se Lixe A Troika and Plan de Rescate Ciudadano days of mobilization in the perspective of further steps towards the autumn, and we stress that those events must be useful tools for building a constituent process.

 

With love, the participants of Hub Meeting 2013

 

Source: hubmeeting20a.wordpress.com