Autumn gathering 2024 – Grassina, IT
Territorial transitions and beyond: a gathering on transversal strategies and translocal solidarities
How do we build solidarity across borders in a context of ecosystem crises, rising geopolitical tensions, far-right nationalisms, genocide and state repression? How do we break out of the pressure to limit ourselves to campaigning and consciousness raising, and actually build power? How do we make connections between territories and struggles, beyond the narrow bounds of single-issues, localism, and national politics?
This gathering is a space for mutual learning and connection-making between many of us from different places and contexts. We bring together territorial socioecological struggles (learning from our host region in Italy as well as elsewhere) and cross-border climate, earthcare and solidarity movements. Walking with (trans)feminist, workers’, anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-extractivist, and no-border causes, we want to ask: what forces, alliances and forms of mutualism and care does does moment require of us? What forms of strategy, pedagogy, listening and coming together?
We’re meeting in Tuscany, which is home to very powerful contemporary agroecological, commons, and ecosyndicalist struggles. Drawing inspiration from this territory in movement, we will look to movement-led and worker-led territorial transition processes in Italy and beyond. We also discuss how our contexts are intertwined with war and extraction on EU’s peripheries and in the eastern Mediterranean. And we celebrate the forthcoming launch of our book ‘Transforming Agriculture and Beyond’, and discuss the tactics of our toolkit.
Why: We need a space of international exchange and strategic thinking among comrades working on socio-ecological struggles and transformation. This is not a conference, but a space of alliance building and co-thinking!
When and where: November 1st in the morning until 3rd November in the afternoon, in the Casa del Popolo of Grassina, near Florence, Italy. We’ll arrange an excursion to local movement spaces (Mondeggi Commons, possibly the GNK factory occupation) on Sunday afternoon.
The vibe: Come and bring your hypotheses, strategies and tactics, local and regional experiences, doubts and burning questions, inspirations and radical joy!! We want for this to be an intense space of engagement and collective thinking, celebration and asking difficult questions, building alliances and shared horizons. Giving each other strength and perspectives for the coming winter. If you join, please come for all days.
Food and accommodation: We’ll be providing some free meals (vegetarian/vegan) and attendance is without cost. Unfortunately, we can’t provide travel funding and have already pretty much allocated all free accommodation spots, but let us know if you would really need that. We’re meeting at the Casa del Popolo in Grassina, near Florence, a space that’s partly wheelchair accessible. You can get to Grassina with a bus from Florence that takes 30-40 minutes. We’ll send you more details once you register.
Registration deadline: 15 october