Di Paolo Cacciari

Ready? Go! The final program of the “3^rd International Conference on Degrowth, ecological sustainability and social equity” will be “posted” in a few hours on this site. Here are some highlights: five days, sixty-one workshops, eleven-activity workshops, six parallel forum, three thematic forums, assemblies of two movement networks and a series of side-events. Seven hundreds, the maximum number of participants that, with a share of 160 euros each, will support costs of the initiative, including, however, meals and access to all the evening shows. Revenue and expenditure shall be certified, along with a balance of social and environmental sustainability by Bilanci di Giustizia, one of the partners of the Conference along with some dozens of associations and institutions that arch from Kuminda to Eticamente to Spiazziverdi, from the cooperative Sesterzo to Aiab … and Italian media-partners: Alteconomia, Terra Nuova, DKm0, Global Project, Il Cambiamento, Articolo 21, Trekking, Tra Terra e Cielo, Biolcalenda.

It will begin September 19 with a meeting open to all citizenship at the Malibran Theatre that will host the rectors of the two sponsoring universities (University of Architecture of Venice and University of Udine) and then Serge Latouche, the one that most deserves credit for having made of degrowth an almost theoretical reflection, Helena Noeberg-Hodge, Australian writer, activist and author of the film “The economics of happiness”, Tim Jackson, chief economist of the sustainability Britain’s government staff and author of the report “Prosperity without growth” and Rob Hopkins, founder of Transition Towns. Other important writers, animators, social activists and scholars are expected in the various plenary sessions that will take place in a large tent – set up in the former cotton mill in Venice adjacent to the IUAV Santa Marta magnificent new building, and that will host all the seminars. Over seventy workshops will be the heart of the conference. They will take place along three main themes: “Commons”, introduced by Gustavo Soto, Bolivia, director of the Centre for the Study on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Senegalese sociologist N’dione Emmanuel and Alberto Lucarelli, alderman to the common property and participation of the town of Naples; “Work”, introduced by Silvia Pérez-Victoria, economist and sociologist of Association The Ligne d’Horizon, Colin C. Williams, University of Sheffield, Maurizio Pallante of the Movimento per la Decrescita Felice and Mario Agostinelli of the World contract for energy and climate, “Democracy” introduced by Guorùn Petursdottir, chairperson of the committee for the new Icelandic constitution, Alfredo Pena- Vega of the Edgar Morin Center, Marco Revelli and Marco Deriu noted Italian sociologists.

It’s not possible to account here of the workshops that conference attendees will be able to follow (no more than a day, of course!) and that have been identified as a result of an International call that has been answered with proposals from a dozen different countries. In the site of the Conference only the titles are now available for, but soon the abstract of the selected papers will be published so that participants can read them up on time.

But the degrowth movement has decided that the Conference should also be the opportunity take contact with the outside and will do so through three forums that will deal with those key issues that can give depth and credibility to their proposals. The “Sources of the thought of degrowth” (fromIvan Illic to Georgesu Roegen, from Ernst F. Schumacher to Gorz…) will be discussed by Arturo Escobar, Marcelo Barros, Francois Schneider and Gianni Tamino, the “Subject” of the change” by Majid Rahnema, Alicia Puleo, Roberto Espinoza and Antonio di Luca, the “Scenarios of the macro-economic transition” which will be outlined by Erik Assadourian, Ugo Bardi, Luca Mercalli.

Finally the closure, the morning of Sunday, September 23, will be headed by Mary Mellor, Joan Martinez Alier, Giogos Kallis and Mauro Bonaiuti.

Bit this is not enough. For ten days the city of Venice will hold an exhibition of the Social and solidarity alternative economy, both in the island town and Mestre, articulated on various thematic areas, together with presentations of books and magazines and some unmissable evening “out-of-scheduled”: September 19^th the SaLe Rooms will host the debate “The republic of 99%” with Ignacio Ramonet, Alberto Magnaghi, Mario Pezzella, Luca Casarini and Gigi Sullo. The next day, in the Basilica of the Frari, Marcelo Barros, Brazilian bishop, Alex Zanotelli Combonian missionary and Serge Latouche will discuss with Don Gianni Fazzini of “Imagination and Spirituality. Paths for a ecological re-conversion of the society. 

These are the ingredients that we will try to present and deepen between now and September.

We publish a first provisional LIST OF WORKSHOPS for the 3rd International Conference on Degrowth,
Environmental Sustainability and Social Equity (Venice, 19-23 Sept.2012).

We have accepted almost all your proposals. In same cases,
we ask to review the title, enlarging the proposed frame in order to make the
workshop more inclusive for possible papers. In three cases we propose the
unification of workshops which seem very similar in terms of title, content and
thematic col location.

Today we are writing to all the people who proposed a
workshop in order to present our comments and to get the consent to possible
changes. Next week, we will publish the final list, together with the detailed presentation of the workshops and we
will officially launch the calls for papers.

Thank you by now to all the people who proposed their ideas
and who are helping to draw a rich program.

Warm regards,

The organizing committee

TIME SCHEDULE

31 July 2011 Publication of the pre-call and of the time schedule

31 July 2011 Opening of the Call for workshops

15 November 2011 Deadline for submission of Workshop proposals

15 December 2011 Notification of accepted Workshops

15 December 2011 Call for paper for Focuses and Workshops

15 February 2012 Deadline for submission of paper abstracts

1 April 2012 Publication of accepted paper abstracts

15 January to 15 March 2012 Participant registration (at reduced rate)

16 March to 15 June 2012 Participant registration (at full rate)

31 July 2012 Deadline for submission of full papers

19 – 23 September 2012 Conference in Venice, Italy

This document in PDF aims to provide food for thought for the proposals of Workshops, Papers and Posters for the Conference.

ON THE THREE CORE THEMES