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CNS eNews Aug 07ECOSOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
FOUNDATIONAL MEETING
UPDATE #2

Important information for participants in the ecosocialist meeting in Paris in October.
This Update includes the location of the event and a Provisional Agenda, as well as information that was previously posted.Purpose: This meeting is a very preliminary first step: we will get to know each other, establish a provisional organizing committee for an Ecosocialist International Network, and begin discussions of projects and activities. Our main goal will be to set a time, place and preliminary agenda for a larger meeting in 2008, at which we hope there will be broad participation from green-left activists around the world. It will not be an educational event or an academic conference. It is an organizing meeting for people who want to improve communication and coordination among ecosocialist activists around the world.
Dates: Please Note: To ensure that there is sufficient time for discussion and networking, we have arranged for the meeting to carry over to a second day. The meeting will be held during the day on Sunday October 7, 2007, and in the morning of Monday October 8, 2007. We plan to begin at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.
Place: The meeting will convene Sunday morning in salle Franklin, 60 rue Franklin, Métro mairie de Montreuil. (That’s the Town Hall of Montreuil, which is on the eastern edge of Paris.)
The Monday morning session will be held in the National Assembly building in Paris.
Agenda: The following is a provisional agenda, subject to amendment by the participants:
0. Introduction and Welcome by members of the Convening Committee.
0. Self-introduction of participants.
0. Discussion of common initiatives for the coming year, including communications, creation of a multilingual ecosocialist website, use of existing journals, etc.
0. Discussion of a Second Ecosocialist Manifesto. Selection of a subcommittee to write a draft for international circulation and discussion.
0. Discussion of objectives, date and location for a larger Ecosocialist conference in 2008.
0. Election of a coordinating secretariat whose main task will be to organize the next Conference.
Who Can Attend: The meeting is open to anyone who wants to contribute to the work of improving communication and coordination among ecosocialist activists around the world. If you plan to attend, please let us know as soon as possible. Email ecosocialism[at]gmail[dot]comFees: There is no registration or admission fee. We may ask for voluntary contributions to defray some costs.
Expenses: Participants are responsible for all of their own expenses, including travel, accommodations, refreshments and meals.
Accommodation: We cannot recommend or endorse any particular hotels, but these hotels have been suggested as a guide:
0. One Star: 37 euros without wc, 59 euros with wc. Hotel des Alliés. 20 rue Berthollet, 75005 Paris. tel. 00 331 4331 47 52. e-mail allies@sequanahotels.com. Web: http://www.sequanahotels.com/
0. Two Stars: 69 euros with wc Hotel Sunny. 48 Bd. Port-Royal, 75013 Paris. tel. 00331 4331 7986. e-mail infos@hotel-sunny.com
0. Three Stars: 230 euros Hotel Serotel. 2, rue Berthollet, 75005 Paris. tel. 00 331 4336 2630. e-mail lutece@hotelserotel.com
0.
Related Event: This meeting follows the International Marx Congress, October 3-6. For more information, go to http://netx.u-paris10.fr/actuelmarx/cm5/index5.htm
Further information: Ian Angus <ecosocialism@gmail.com> / Joel Kovel <jskovel@earthlink.net>CONFERENCES, CONFERENCES
IDEAS INTO ACTION : THE TRIPLE CRISIS TEACH IN
Institute for Policy Studies and International Forum on Globalization, 14-16 September 2007
Three interlinked crises threaten the well-being of billions of people and the ecological integrity of the planet: climate chaos, the end of cheap oil, and the rapid depletion of water and other natural resources.
0. Program & Information PDF
0. Registration
Awareness of one of these crises: climate chaos, is growing around the world. Yet, panic over climate change has led to a series of false solutions rooted in an overblown faith in technological and market-based fixes. “Peak oil” is largely denied by most governments. And the third, natural resource depletion, is poorly understood and only loosely regulated by poorly enforced multilateral environmental agreements. IPS and the International Forum on Globalization co-host more than 60 of the world's leading thinkers confronting the triple crisis for a public Teach-In at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium. We implore you to participate in these critical discussions on the economic and energy transitions that will move the globe toward a sustainable and equitable future. Questions to <info@ips-dc.org>
IMPERIALISM AND RESULTANT DISORDER:
IMPERATIVES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
5th International Conference of Critical Geography
Mumbai, 3-7 Dec 2007, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
The conference is an informal forum for politically critical discussion and debate. The format of the conference will be varied and much more akin to workshops, rather than the sort of activities typical of academic meetings. The objective, besides promoting the further development and diffusion of critical geographies, is to avoid a vertical transmission of knowledge and to ensure a more democratic debate and effective progress of ideas.
The primary and overarching theme is imperialism and social justice and their social (political-economic-cultural) and environmental (socio-ecological, physical) aspects. Representatives of political organisations, unions, and social movements will be invited to address these inter-related issues.

More information is available through the conference web site (http://www.5thiccg.org/).
Please submit any queries to the conference coordinators:
Swapna Banerjee-Guha <sbanerjeeguha@hotmail.com>
Professor of Development Studies, School of Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Post Box No.8313, Deonar, Mumbai 400 088, India
Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro <engeldis@newpaltz.edu> / tel: 1/845/2572991, fax: 1/845/2572992
Geography Dept, SUNY New Paltz, 11 Hanmer House, 75 S Manheim Blvd. New Paltz, NY 12561, USA THINKING THROUGH NATURE:
PHILOSOPHY FOR AN ENDANGERED WORLD
The International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP) invites proposals for a conference at the University of Oregon, Eugene, 19-22 June 2008
Keynotes:
• Donna Haraway, Professor of History of Consciousness and Women's Studies, UC Santa Cruz
• John Llewelyn, Emeritus Reader in Philosophy, University of Edinburgh
• Gary Paul Nabhan, Director, Center for Sustainable Environments, Northern Arizona University
• Alberto Pérez-Gómez, Saidye Rosner Bronfman Professor of History of Architecture, McGill
Interdisciplinary approaches are especially welcome. Proposals are encouraged on (but not limited to) the following topics:
*Environmental Ethics *The Aesthetics of Natural and Built Environments *Environmental Restoration and Design *Architecture, Place, and Dwelling *Humanities and Environmental Policy Development *Environmental Justice, Social Ecology, and Ecofeminism *Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indigenous Perspectives *Non-Western and Comparative Approaches *Ecocriticism
*Ecophenomenology *Environmental Metaphysics and Theology
Proposals by 1 December 2007 to IAEP Secretary: Ted Toadvine <toadvine@uoregon.edu>HUMAN FLOURISHING AND RESTORATION
IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL WARMING
Clemson University, September 5-7 2008
Confirmed speakers include environmental philosophers -
Philip Cafaro, Gene Eidson, Eric Higgs, Dale Jamieson, Andrew Light, and Martha Nussbaum.
Proposal deadline November 30, 2007: http://www.clemson.edu/~athomp6/conference BOOK MENTIONS
INSIDE SPIN: THE DARK UNDERBELLY OF THE PR INDUSTRY
by Bob Burton, editor, SourceWatch: www.sourcewatch.org
Inside Spin is the first behind-the-scenes investigation of the billion dollar a year Australian PR industry. Using leaked internal documents, FoI searches, interviews and court records, Bob Burton lifts the lid on some of the most controversial campaigns run by leading Australian PR firms. He reveals how they create bogus community groups, smear critics, covertly mobilise think tanks and police to skew public debate in favour of their corporate and government clients. He also shows how they court journalists, government regulators and watchdog groups to smother dissenting voices.
Published by Allen & Unwin, 2007
THE UNFINISHED STORY OF WOMEN AND THE UN
by Hilkka Pietila, former UN Secretary General of Finland
The Unfinished Story of Women and the United Nations covers more than eighty-five years of history between women and inter-governmental organizations. Unrecorded by history and untold by the media, this book recalls the success story of women and the League of Nations and describes the unfolding history of women at the United Nations for the advancement and empowerment of women, especially in the 30 years since the First UN World Conference on Women in 1975 in Mexico City and up to the ten-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in 2005. This book revises the 2002 publication Engendering the Global Agenda: The Story of Women and the United Nations, 10th volume in the NGLS Development Dossier series.
Download: http://www.un-ngls.org/pdf/UnfinishedStory.pdfIN HOUSE
BOOK REVIEWERS WANTED
Michael William, Deforesting Earth
Richard Walker, The Country in the City
L.M. Aguiar, ed, The Dirty Work of Neoliberalism
Zsuza Gille, From the Cult of Waste to the Trash Heap of History
Alf Hornberg, The World System and the Earth System
Sharon Spray, ed, -Loss of Biodiversity
Tim Palmer, Endangered Rivers and the Conservation Movement
J. Samuel Walker, Three Mile Island
Emails to: Roger Gottlieb <gottlieb@wpi.edu>
CALL FOR THEMATIC ISSUES
Suggestions and offers to edit special CNS issues welcome
Contact: Karen Charman <panaurora@earthlink.net>
ANYONE FOR THEORY PANEL?
I am the coordinator for the environmental political theory (EPT) section of the Western political science association conference, which will be held in San Diego, Mar 20-22, 2008. As far as I know the Western is the only political science conference with a separate EPT section, so even thought the Western is a "regional" conference, EPT regularly draws people from all across North America, UK, Australia, and elsewhere. I'd be happy to have/ help organize a CNS panel. Please let me know if you have any thoughts: andrew.biro@acadiau.ca. The conference call for papers is available at http://www.csus.edu/org/wpsa/call.stm. Note that the deadline for submissions is Sept. 10. Cheers, Andrew
Reply to Andrew Biro < andrew.biro@acadiau.ca>
LOOKING FOR SHORT TAKES
Short Takes consists of features, limited to 500 words. Such items as: the Op-Ed that wouldn't be accepted by a newspaper; a letter to your society or the world; advice to activists; a question about process or method of activism; a description of a successful action; a movie, record/CD/tape or book review for activists; a poem or music with lyrics.
Short Takes should be in the personal mode, serious or humorous, targeted to activists and thinkers. Your submission should support the creation of a critical red-green politics.
Submissions to: Andi Bartczak <andiwbartczak@yahoo.com>THE POINT IS TO CHANGE IT
NANO
31 July 2007, ETC Group <etcgroup@lists.etcgroup.org>
Over Forty Groups Release Fundamental Principles for Nanotech Oversight,
Citing Risks to the Public, Workers, and the Environment
With the joint release today of Principles for the Oversight of Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials, a broad international coalition of consumer, public health, environmental, labor, and civil society organizations spanning six continents called for strong, comprehensive oversight of the new technology and its products. The manufacture of products using nanotechnology a powerful platform for manipulating matter at the level of atoms and molecules in order to alter properties–has exploded in recent years. Hundreds of consumer products incorporating nanomaterials are now on the market, including cosmetics, sunscreens, sporting goods, clothing, electronics, baby and infant products, and food and food packaging. But evidence indicates that current nanomaterials may pose significant health, safety, and environmental hazards. In addition, the profound social, economic, and ethical challenges posed by nano-scale technologies have yet to be addressed.
As Chee Yoke Ling of the Third World Network explained, “Materials engineered at the nano-scale can exhibit fundamentally different properties–including toxicity–with unknown effects. Current research raises red flags that demand precautionary action and further study.” She added, “As there are now hundreds of products containing nanomaterials in commerce, the public, workers, and the
environment are being exposed to these unlabeled, and in most cases, untested materials.”
George Kimbrell of the International Center for Technology Assessment continued, “Since there is currently no government oversight and no labeling requirements for nanoproducts anywhere in the world, no one knows when they are exposed to potential nanotech risks and no one is monitoring for potential health or environmental harm. That’s why we believe oversight action based on our principles is urgent.”
I. A Precautionary Foundation: Product manufacturers and distributors must bear the burden of proof to demonstrate the safety of their products: if no independent health and safety data review, then no market approval.
II. Mandatory Nano-specific Regulations: Nanomaterials should be classified as new substances and subject to nano-specific oversight. Voluntary initiatives are not sufficient. III. Health and Safety of the Public and Workers: The prevention of exposure to nanomaterials that have not been proven safe must be undertaken to protect the public and workers
IV. Environmental Protection: A full lifecycle analysis of environmental impacts must be completed prior to commercialization.
V. Transparency: All nano-products must be labeled and safety data made publicly available.
VI. Public Participation: There must be open, meaningful, and full public participation at every level.
VII. Inclusion of Broader Impacts: Nanotechnology’s wide-ranging effects, including ethical and social impacts, must be considered.
VIII. Manufacturer Liability: Nano-industries must be accountable for liabilities incurred from their products.
Organizations can endorse the principles through: George Kimbrell <gkimbrell@icta.org>POSTCARD FROM DENNIS BRUTUS US Social Forum, Atlanta, 27-29 June 2007 greetings to all folks therein. atlanta/ussf went pretty well; exceeded expectations of most. over 10,000 registered, attendance in all about 20,000; 900 workshops in churches, civic center and main library, encouraging support of civic authorities. issues emphasised - as distinct from other forums; concern for the disabled and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered. stronger emphasis on rights of indigenous peoples. some important projects were initiated, including regional solidarity. perhaps most important - momentum of social movements post Nairobi etc - was sustained; no swerve to rightward more moderate direction - as was feared by some - and radical demands asserted - exemplified by banner-slogan and text on publicity: Another World is Possible; Another US is Necessary. congratulations and thanks to all who made this possible. personal; took part in major Women's Court event in Cathedral, Bush Impeachment Session in Central Library, couple of poetry workshops, panels - No US Bases in Africa and elsewhere, Future of Africa (troubling lack of knowledge of NEEPAD agenda being bulldozed through Africa: some useful media work - especially directed to South America and excellent interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. - best, dbCARBONS AND NUKES
From Zero Carbon Network Newsletter # 26 - 18/8/07
See also: www.nuclearfree.com.au
In Australia, the phoney nuclear debate continues - Weekend Australian, Aug 18 ... At the APEC conference [Sydney, Sept] there will be a discussion of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. In essence the objective of GNEP is to provide justification for the sale of nuclear technology to all countries regardless of whether or not they are a party to the Anti Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. The idea is that the raw materials from which nuclear weapons may be made will remain in the control of the partnership; thus guaranteeing that the material can only be used for peaceful purposes, i.e. for the generating of electricity. The strategy of the nuclear lobby is simple. They will aim to demonstrate that as long as the nuclear cycle is controlled by 'nice people', we have nothing to worry about. They will point to advances in the engineering, which makes the whole process 'safer'.
From [Prime Minister] Howard's address to a joint sitting of the Canadian Parliament in May 2006: "In the energy area which is of course allied to climate change, Canada and Australia have much in common. We are the holders of the largest uranium reserves ... In May 2006 a Senate Motion opposing import of nuclear waste was opposed by all Coalition Senators.
After Howard's visit to Washington in May 2006, a new company was registered in June 2006 - Australian Nuclear Energy Pty Ltd. Directors, Morgan, Walker and de Crespigny (WMC) are major donors to the Liberal Party. The company's business is nuclear power plants and an international nuclear waste repository. In his interview with Katharine Murphy, The Age, April 5, 2007, Morgan declared he was in for the long haul and was considering power plants and waste dumps. At a uranium conference in Adelaide in July 2006, he renewed his argument from the early 1980's when WMC examined high-level nuclear waste storage: "To put together an internationally managed repository would bring great standing in the international community for Australia..." - Australian Financial Review 3 August 2006. Morgan has promoted the idea of a global nuclear waste dump for Australia in various media interviews including the ABC's Jon Faine.
According to Anne Davies, Washington Correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald, a delegation of high-level officials from the US arrived in Canberra in the week beginning 22 July 2007 to begin secret talks on Australia's role in the GNEP. - Why is the media not joining the dots? John Tons, ZCN President
ECOFEMINISTS STIR UP ECONOMISTS
Some eds may be interested in two transnational symposia on Ecofeminist Perspectives in Ecological Economics held in conjunction with the International Society for Ecological Economics Conference in New Delhi (Dec 06) and the US Society for Ecological Economics Conference in New York (June 07).
More information: Ariel Salleh <treesprite@ozemail.com.au>
************
CNS eNews is a forum for sharing information on CNS workshops, new books and articles, academic courses, activist campaigns, conferences, as well as topics for future issues, and ideas for improving the journal's style, content, outreach, and sponsorship.


eNews March 2007

GRASSROOTS ACTION Notes on the Nairobi WSF
CNS was modestly but actively represented at the seventh World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, held from the 20th to the 25th of January. Terisa Turner and Leigh Brownhill, of Ontario and long-time investigators within Kenya itself, brought the ecofeminist perspective to bear on indigenous struggles. I connected with the active pro-Palestinian contingent as a way of building relationships within that struggle. And Patrick Bond, coordinator of our Durban group, led a large contingent from the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu Natal. Patrick was characteristically operating at warp speed. He estimated that he was on three panels per day - for good reason, as there is nobody better grounded in the political economy of the South.
The WSF itself was a mixed bag. Nairobi is a vital city, poisoned by the toxicity of late-capitalist disintegration and strangled by nightmarish traffic. The greatest burden is crime. Indeed, Nairobi seems to be bidding for the laurel of the world’s number-one danger spot. The never ending increase in the gap between rich and poor (with what has been called the world’s largest slum), the flood of firearms (aggravated, some said, by the latest US intervention in neighboring Somalia), a culture of political corruption that extends to the police, even, perhaps the aggressive individualism stemming from the fact that Kenya seems to have been the African country least touched by socialism - all this combines into an atmosphere that was downright frightening, and extended into the precincts of the conference venue, where countless people had one item or another filched, at least once at gunpoint. I got off lightly, losing only a bag with some reprints and a book about Spinoza, but others were relieved of laptops, vitally important papers, cell phones, etc. And outside the conference a number of wanton murders - a friend who lives there said that about fifty people had been killed in the course of robberies in the past few months - suffused the whole atmosphere with dread.
Then there are the chaos and confusion endemic to such an event, as well as the overarching problem that afflicts the social forum movement, that it inherently favors the NGO’s, with their built-in bureaucratic conservatism, while being continually subject to co-optation by foundations. But none of this can, as they say, kill the spirit, which bursts forth in numberless forms and lifted our hopes. It may be a stretch to imagine what is portended by the folks marching under a banner proclaiming that “Another Western Sahara is Possible,” but it was wonderful to see nonetheless. And many of the gatherings, often held in outlandish settings such as different sections of bleachers at the national sports complex, were nonetheless vibrant. One of the most promising lines concerns CNS very directly, and should increasingly occupy our attention.
The Direction Forward
A special interest within the active Durban complex has been the emerging politics of carbon justice, witness the recent release of their second collection on the subject, Climate Change, Carbon Trading, and Civil Society, edited by Patrick Bond, Rehana Dada, and Graham Erion (following upon the publication in 2005 of Trouble in the Air). The essential point is to subsume the struggle for a carbon-free world into that of environmental justice. Terisa and Leigh are also actively engaged in this global movement, as am I (working these days on a second edition of The Enemy of Nature in which this theme has been foregrounded, and also on a video critique of Al Gore, to be called “A Really Inconvenient Truth”). Add in the recent Sydney conference on Global Warming, co-organized by senior editors Ariel Salleh, Stuart Rosewarne, and the new CNS Associate, James Goodman, and we see that our collective project is already moving in this direction, as indeed it must.
In the matter of global climate change, all of the projects that occupy CNS converge into a major opening in which our journal can make a tremendous contribution to a humanly worthwhile future. We talk in the abstract of ecosocialism, as the real transcendence of capitalism and its ecological crisis. But ecosocialism is now given a concrete materiality. For the “really inconvenient truth” is nothing other than the necessity of breaking the logic of capital and its ceaseless drive to accumulate in order to lift the curse of global warming. This defines the project of CNS, and should do so in ever more focused and creative ways in the period ahead.
One final note. We are thinking of having the next large-scale CNS conference next year in Boston. More about this to come, but anyone interested in contributing to planning should notify Danny Faber <dannyfaber@comcast.net>
as well as myself.
JoelECOLOGIA POLITICA
The 30 issues of the journal Ecologia Politica (in Spanish) from 1991 to 2005, edited by Joan Martinez Alier as a sister journal to CNS, are now available in the web, www.ecologiapolitica.info
The journal continues to be published by Editorial Icaria, Barcelona, under the editorship of Anna Monjo, Miquel Ortega, Ignasi Puig, and Joan Martinez Alier. <Joan.Martinez.Alier@uab.catFROM THE WEBMASTER
Dave Channon writes:
I am building a web based contact network for CNS and your input would be very helpful.
<http://www.cnsjournal.org/links.html>

CALL FOR THEMATIC ISSUES
Anyone with ideas and energy for editing a special CNS issue ?

BOOKS AND ARTICLES FROM EDS
Roger Gottlieb, A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and our Planet’s Future (Oxford University Press, 2006) Roger Gottlieb <gottlieb@wpi.edu>
Daniel Faber and Deborah McCarthy (eds.), Foundations for Social Change: Critical Perspetives on Philanthropy and Popular Movements (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005).
Daniel Faber <dannyfaber@comcast.net>
Joan Roeloffs (trans.), Victor Considerant, Principles of Socialism: Manifesto of 19th Century Democracy, Washington Studies in World Intellectual History, vol. 2.
Joan Roelofs is Professor Emerita of Political Science at Keene State College, New Hampshire, an activist in Green and peace organizations, and an editor of Capitalism, Nature, Socialism. Her broad interests include French and British socialist thought, and practical decentralist alternatives to globalization. She is the author of Greening Cities: Building Just and Sustainable Communities (Bootstrap Press, 1996), and Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism (SUNY Press, 2003). Joan Roelofs <joan.roelofs@verizon.net>
Joan writes: Considerant’s Principes du Socialisme: Manifeste de la démocratie au XIX siècle was first published in Paris in 1843 as an introduction to a new journal, Démocratie Pacifique, and then as a pamphlet in 1847. It was a predecessor and important resource for Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto. Although the leading disciple of "utopian" Charles Fourier, by the 1840s Considerant was promoting a moderate, eclectic variant of socialism. Fourier's brilliant, eccentric visions of Harmonie had disappeared; nevertheless, Considerant retained his basic principles of associated labor; peaceful change; and a guarantee of adequate subsistence, work, and education for all.
Considerant began his Manifeste by stating that the political principle of democracy triumphed with the French Revolution, supplanting earlier conceptions of right based on force or aristocratic birth. However, after the Revolution, the economy had been left to chaotic free competition. The result was increasing misery, hostility between capital and labor, and the likelihood of revolution if a better system was not implemented. A new feudal aristocracy of the wealthy capitalists had replaced the old Nobility.
Monopolistic capitalism was decimating even the middle class, as small owners and farmers lost all because of speculators, monopolists, and the irrationality of free competition. Revolution and international wars must be avoided by using social science, i.e., Charles Fourier's theory of association, to organize society for peace and to ensure the well being of all people. Communism was not the solution; both its appeal to violent overthrow and its plan to equalize wealth were mistaken. A new system was required for the productive development of resources, which would recognize both the right to property and also the right to work and an adequate standard of living. Political participation should gradually be extended to all as the people's level of education increased.
ISBN 0-944624-47-2 / 120pp $14.95
Independent Publishers - purchases - <frontdesk@ipgbook.com>
Maisonneuve Press - review copies - <orders@maisonneuvepress.com>
Title correction:
Patrick Bond, Rehana Dada and Graham Erion (eds.), Climate Change, Carbon Trading and Civil Society: Negative Returns on South African Investments (Amsterdam: Rozenberg, 2006). Patrick Bond <bondp@ukzn.ac.za>
FROM CNS MANAGING ED
Karen Charman writes:
Can editors please let me know their areas of expertise by sending in a 100 word Bio.
Also please confirm how many submissions you can review per year - 3 is average.
Do you all have a copy of the CNS editing (format) guidelines?
Are you able to turn submitted articles around in 6 weeks?
Karen Charman <panaurora@earthlink.net>CONFERENCES
Global Warming: Energy Security or Energy Sovereignty?
University of Sydney, 2 March 2007
Global warming focuses our attention on energy supply. Can existing non-renewable energy sources be cleaned-up? Should we shift to renewables and how? Should we start with social and environmental justice? Should we be questioning needs and looking at a reduction in energy-use, a shift from growth-dependence to eco-sufficiency? Should we be talking about energy security or energy sovereignty?
The first Australian CNS event was held at Sydney University on 2 March 07 organised by Stuart Rosewarme, Ariel Salleh, and James Goodman. It was supported by the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney and by the Research Initiative on International Activism at the University of Technology Sydney. This day-conference brought together speakers from non-government, corporate, party-political, and academic contexts, to address economic challenges, international contexts, policy possibilities, and community mobilisation. Around 80 people attended.
The program opened with Political Economy Perspectives chaired by Julie-Anne Richards of the Climate Action Network, with presentations from Amanda McCluskey, Portfolio Partners, "The Democratisation of share-ownership and who really pays for climate change in the long term";
Tony Maher, CFMEU, "Democratic Energy Options"; Iain MacGill, University of NSW, "The Politics of Renewables"; and Frank Fisher, Swinburne University, "Thinking Rationally: Acting Green".
It moved on to explore Geopolitical Perspectives with Elaine Pryor, CitiGroup, "Carbon trading: implications for Australian companies"; Gord Laxer, University of Alberta, "Canada's Tar Sands: America’s new fuel tank?"; Noim Uddin, Macquarie University, "Sustainable energy futures in developing Asian nations"; Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth, "The Abuja Declaration on Energy Sovereignty". The spectrum of Policy Perspectives was introduced by Arthur Rorris, Secretary, South Coast Trades and Labour Council; Lee Rhiannon, Australian Greens, "The Greens' Energy Policy"; and Geoff Evans, Mineral Policy Institute, “Making Just Transitions”. A final panel tapped into Community Perspectives with Nina Lansbury, Macquarie University, "NGOs on Climate Change: Comparing Australia and the UK"; Steve Phillips, Rising Tide Newcastle, "At the coalface of climate disaster - community action in the world's biggest coal port"; Cate Faehrmann, Nature Conservation Council "Mobilising the Community”; Fran Bodkin, Dharawal Woman and author, “Indigenous Weather”. Paul Brown, University of New South Wales, gave the thematic summary.
The dialogue was marked by several political fault lines - a major one in Australia right now being the clash between environmental activists and Green party versus trade unions reliant on coal mining for jobs. This wedge is being manipulated by the Liberal (read conservative) Government in the Federal election campaign. The fault line between North and South was less explicit, though the unexamined eurocentric notions of the "good life" held by some speakers were criticised both from the floor and by the single indigenous speaker. The gender political fault line remained implicit, though was very plain from the clustering of women speakers in the Community panel.

Left Forum
NYC, weekend of 9-11 March 2007 - <www.leftforum.org/leftforum2007/program.html>
Joel Kovel is active in the Israel/Palestine and Ecology sessions.
Victor Wallis is another CNS editor on the Left Forum program - chairing a panel on "Social Critique in Science Fiction".

5th International Conference of Critical Geography
Mumbai, 3-7 December 2007 Tata Institute of Social Sciences <www.5thiccg.org>
Between 1997 and 2005, four Critical Geography conferences have accomplished much toward elaborating and refining critical geographies by stimulating constructive debates, collaborative projects, and building connections among critical geographers and other scholars and activists worldwide (see the International Critical Geography Group web site, <http://econgeog.misc.hit-u.ac.jp/icgg/>. Following these highly successful events, we invite you to join us, the International Critical Geography Group, for the Fifth International Conference of Critical Geography in Mumbai, India, 3-7 December 2007, at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
The purpose of the conference is to provide an informal forum for politically critical discussion and debate. We welcome all that are engaged in promoting a critical politics, especially those related to the main conference themes. The format of the conference will be varied and much more akin to workshops, rather than the sort of activities typical of academic meetings. The objective, besides promoting the further development and diffusion of critical geographies, is to avoid a vertical transmission of knowledge and to ensure a more democratic debate and effective progress of ideas.

Conference theme: “Imperialism and resultant disorder: imperatives for social justice”
The primary and overarching theme of the conference will be about imperialism and social justice and their social (political-economic-cultural) and environmental (socio-ecological, physical) aspects. Representatives of political organisations, unions, and social movements will be invited to address these inter-related issues.
Some thematic sessions are already in the process of being organised. More information will be made available through the conference web site as more sessions are organised. Please contact the organiser directly if you would like to be included.

Valorising regions: modernisation and land usurpation
The session will focus on Special economic zones that have become a significant option of the neo-liberal state in South Asia after China.
Contact: Swapna Banerjee-Guha <sbanerjeeguha@hotmail.com>
Land and other resource struggles in globalising cities and countrysides
The land question; Global take-over of water supplies by the few; Struggles for control of the oceans and the question of over-fishing.
Contact: Blanca Ramirez <blare19@prodigy.net.mx>
Labour migration
Details will be forthcoming on the conference website.
Contact: Geraldine Pratt <gpratt@geog.ubc.ca>
Environmental justice and imperialism
Major issues covered will include social justice in regions exploited for mineral and other resource, the impact of warfare, policing, and militarism on people’s health (including the imprisonment of people), the contribution of resource extraction regimes in different parts of the world to the uneven making of national states and capitalism. Historical examples are strongly encouraged that analyse strategies leading to prevention or successes against environmental injustices.
Contact: Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro <engeldis@newpaltz.edu>

Besides the above, we welcome a wide range of themes approached through politically critical perspectives from activist, social movement, and academic contexts. The following is by far not an exhaustive list of examples of what could be covered under the framework of imperialism and social justice:
Forced vulnerability to premature death in rural and urban settings
- Migration, displacement; Sexual and gender dissidence; Urban expansion, rural transformations, rural-urban relations; Creation of precarious jobs; Housing conditions and quality of life
Globalisation or imperialism?
- Supranational institutions and developing countries; National conflicts and the role of imperialist powers; Ideologies of exclusion and exceptionalism (dumping problems onto people living elsewhere); Militarisation and security ideologies
Social movements: revolution or reform?
- Mobilisations against warfare; Political organising over migration and forced displacement; The efficacy of struggles for wealth redistribution; Global organising and effectiveness against global capitalist institutions; Social movements and the question of resource access
Identity, community, solidarity
- National conflicts and the forging of identities and communities; Contemporary issues of politics and religion; Islam and the gender question; Multiculturality, cultural belongings, nation and culture; The stereotyping of geographical regions and places and its repercussions; Strategies for cross-cultural solidarity
Critical approaches and pedagogy
- New subjects and challenges; Imperialistic and technocratic scientific discourses; Participative and alternative science; Questioning the “success” of capitalism
Submitting abstracts, session descriptions / Deadline: 30th June 2007
Abstracts for paper/poster, performance, artwork
If you wish to present a paper (e.g., research results), a performance (e.g., poetry), or artwork (e.g., photography), please submit a one-page abstract or description of what you wish to present or issues you wish to raise. Make sure to include your name, affiliation and/or complete address, including e-mail, if applicable, the title of your presentation, and any special needs (e.g., translation service, specific technological media, wall space, chalkboard). Please note that we may not be able to meet all your requests and that, for the sake of fostering dialogue, we will not be able to accommodate more than five presenters per session. If your institution or organisation requires that you submit a full-length paper, please let us know so that we may be able to accommodate your request.
Session descriptions (posters, workshops, roundtable discussions, etc.)
If you wish to organise a session, please submit the following information: (1) a session title; (2) your name, affiliation, and complete address, including e-mail, as applicable; (3) a one-page abstract or description of what you wish to organise; (4) the names, affiliations, and contact information of all invited presenters along with titles and half-page abstracts or descriptions of all the presentations that will be featured in the session; (5) any special needs (e.g., translation service, specific technological media, wall space, chalkboard). Please note that we may not be able to meet all your requests and that, for the sake of fostering dialogue, we will not be able to accommodate more than five presenters per session.
Conference participation format
To foster informal dialogue, the conference sessions will be organised as open forums with a facilitator and translator, as needed.
Ten minute presentations
All presentations must be no longer than ten minutes, so as to give plenty of time for people to engage in the issues raised in the session. Make sure to focus only on the main point, questions, and/or findings you wish to convey to the other participants. Avoid any academic jargon or idiomatic expressions or slang; if this is unavoidable, ensure that all terms are fully defined and explained in the abstract itself as well as during the presentation. Using sketches and/or quoted text on a projected transparency or chalkboard will be helpful. All session participants will have the chance to read paper presentation abstracts or performance and artwork descriptions prior to or during the conference through the conference web site or the conference registration desk, when the conference commences.
Sessions
Sessions must be carried out in an informal way and any academic jargon or idiomatic expressions or slang, if introduced at all, must be fully clarified and explained to the other participants. As session organiser, you can elect to serve as facilitator or to seek someone else’s help in facilitating the session. This can be done either prior to or at the time of the session, whatever is most workable.
Please submit session and/or presentation abstracts/descriptions to the conference coordinator at the following address:
Swapna Banerjee-Guha <sbanerjeeguha@hotmail.com> Professor of Development Studies, School of Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Post Box No.8313, Deonar, Mumbai 400 088, India
If you have problems posting materials through e-mail, please use the following contact address:
Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro <engeldis@newpaltz.edu> Department of Geography, SUNY New Paltz, 11 Hanmer House, 75 S. Manheim Blvd. New Paltz, NY 12561, USA - tel: 1/845/2572991, fax: 1/845/2572992
Fees (in US Dollars) Deadline for reduced fee: 15th August 2007
Fees will cover the costs of registration and conference organising, some simultaneous translation sessions (especially for keynote speakers), inaugural and closing dinners, morning and afternoon teas and snacks, and conference materials. For those wishing to participate in planned field trips, there will be additional fees that will be specified in due course. Payment procedures, registration form, and other information will be posted to participants and will be available on the conference web page <www.5thiccg.org>
Fees paid by 15th August 2007
Participants from Japan, Persian Gulf countries on the Arabian Peninsula, North America, excluding Mexico, and Northern and Western Europe
Faculty 210 / Students 90
Participants from other countries
Faculty 75 / Students 25
Fees paid by 30th October 2007
Participants from Japan, Persian Gulf countries on the Arabian Peninsula, North America, excluding Mexico, and Northern and Western Europe
Faculty 220 / Students 90
Participants from other countries
Faculty 85 / Students 25
Fees if paid at the conference
Participants from Japan, Persian Gulf countries on the Arabian Peninsula, North America, excluding Mexico, and Northern and Western Europe
Faculty 230 / Students 90
Participants from other countries
Faculty 95 / Students 25
Fees for those observing, not officially participating (No conference kit included)
Participants from Japan, Persian Gulf countries on the Arabian Peninsula, North America, excluding Mexico, and Northern and Western Europe
Faculty 80 / Students 30
Participants from other countries
Faculty 50 / Students 20
We request colleagues to confirm their participation and complete the payment requirements by 30th October, 2007. This will help make the organisation of the conference more effective.
Conference venue and accommodations
The conference is hosted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai. Lodging information will be provided on the website for nearby hotels. TISS does not have hotels in the immediate vicinity. Time distance by taxi, bus or auto-rickshaw from the conference venue to each hotel will be described on the hotel list. Hotel bookings must be made by the participants. December being a tourist month in Mumbai, participants are advised to reserve lodging well in advance. It will not be possible for the organisers to guarantee any accommodation.
Less expensive lodging options for students and other qualified participants
A few rooms may be made available in the TISS hostel, details of which will be included on the conference website once finalised. Such rooms will only be available for students generally and for participants from countries other than some of the OECD, as defined in the above fees listing. Cheaper accommodations may also be available for the same qualified participants at Mumbai University or at local research institutes, but only for those registering by 15th August, 2007, and explicitly requesting to be considered for such alternative lodging.
Meals
As meals will not be included as part of registration costs, we will provide a wide range of options near the hotels and the conference venue. A list of eating places with a map will be provided in the conference kit. More information will also be available on the conference web site.
Conference schedule
Registration for the conference will start on 3rd December, 2007 at 11 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. The inaugural keynote address will be followed by a Welcome dinner. Sessions will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on 4th to 6th December. Day long field trips from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with four options, will be organised for 7th December, followed by a closing dinner in the evening. We will try to organise cultural events every evening after the sessions.
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CNS eNews January 07

 

Comrades
This mailout is the first of an occasional Capitalism Nature Socialism bulletin or eNews.
Joel, Karen, Saed, and I had in mind something along the lines of the old hard copy Eds Newsletter that Jim and Barbara did around 1990. But this one will link into the journal website rather than fly through the air on a postage stamp.
The idea is to help integrate our radical global network by exchanging info on planned CNS workshops, recently published books and articles, new academic courses and extra curricula activism, relevant non-CNS conferences, as well as, topics for future thematic issues, and suggestions for improving journal style, content, outreach, and sponsorship.
I've volunteered to set things in motion, but hopefully after a year or so, this task can become the responsibility of another editorial group, and later rotate again. For now, if you have news to share with the CNS community, send it to:

treesprite@ozemail.com.au

Ariel

LOOKING FOR SHORT TAKES
We are starting a new section in CNS, "Shorttakes," to be compiled by Andi Weiss Bartczak of the New York editorial group. Quoting her: "Shorttakes" will consist of short features, limited to 500 words. I reserve the right to edit for length and jargon. I am looking for such items as: the Op-Ed that wouldn't be accepted by a newspaper; a letter to your society or to the world; advice to activists; a question about process or method of activism; a description of a successful action; a movie, record/CD/tape or book review for activists; a poem or music with lyrics (printed).

"Shorttakes" should be in the personal mode, serious or humorous, targeted to activists and thinkers. Your submission should support the journal's mission of creating a critical red-green intellectual culture in order to help develop red-green politics.
Please send submissions directly to Andi Bartczak andiwbartczak@yahoo.com

COLUMNIST ON THE GLOBAL SOUTH
Kavita Philip has agreed to contribute as a regular CNS columnist from California, but focusing on the global south. - In the next issue, she'll update on the conference for India in December 07.

SYDNEY CLIMATE CHANGE FORUM
Sydney CNS editors are working to enlarge the journal's base in Australia by hosting a one day forum on Global Warming at the University of Sydney, 2 March 07.
Further information from Stuart Rosewarne S.Rosewarne@econ.usyd.edu.au

NEW BOOKS AND ARTICLES FROM EDS

From Rome, Giovanna Ricoveri writes: CNS-Ecologia Politica, the Italian journal of political ecology, started in 1991. Last year the journal became a monograph, and the board decided to publish at least one issue per year. The editorial board remains; the publisher is now EMI, led by Ottavio Raimondo. In 2005 we brought out Beni comuni tra tradizione e futuro (The Commons between Past and Future) and last year - Ricccardo Bocci and Giovanna Ricoveri (eds.), Agri-Cultura: Terra Lavoro Ecosistemi (Agri-culture: Land Labor Ecosystems), EMI, Bologna, 2006, pp. 192, Price euro 17 with CD. For 2007, we are working on two issues, one on “the local” and another on “wars over natural resources”.
Agri-Cultura (2006) puts under trial the prevailing industrial and chemical agricultural mode of production, which reduces the fertility of soil, pollutes rivers, consumes large amounts of water, devalues agricultural work and doesn’t guarantee food security. The vast majority of the world population survives thanks to subsistence agriculture. But subsistence is attacked by agribusiness multinationals in the North (USA, Canada, Australia, Europe). The authors advocate learning from the production experience and technical knowledge in small scale, organic, and poli-functional agriculture. This should become yeast for a radical change of both global economy and social values. - A copy of the Agricultura contents page is attached.

Download Table of contents PDF>>>

Giovanna Ricoveri ricoveri2004@libero.it would especially like to hear from bi-lingual Eds who might be able to translate all or parts of the book for publication in English.

Hot off the press from Durban: Patrick Bond, Rehana Dada and Graham Erion (eds.), Climate Change, Carbon Trading and Civil Society: South African CO2 Investments' Negative Eco-Social Returns (Amsterdam: Rozenberg, 2006).
An electronic version of the anthology may be available from Patrick Bond bondp@ukzn.ac.za

Joel Kovel's new book, Overcoming Zionism, will be published in mid-to-late February by Pluto Press (US affliate, University of Michigan Press). The book argues for a "one-democratic-state" solution in Israel/Palestine on the grounds that Israel, as a "Jewish State," is necessarily and incorrigibly racist, along similar lines to Apartheid South Africa - and thereby deserving of the same fate. Joel is interested in travelling and speaking anywhere about the book and this subject.
Further info at <http://www.joelkovel.org> : Contact <jskovel@gmail.org> <jskovel@earthlink.net>

TEACHING INNOVATIONS ...GRASSROOTS ACTION
Ariel Salleh is networking internationally to expand awareness of the little known resolution for a "global moratorium on further GMO releases" passed by the World Conservation Congress in 2004. The IUCN Secretariat in Geneva is under corporate pressure to go slow on implementing the moratorium mandate. This is no surprise, as the moratorium proposal, sponsored by the Ecological Society of the Filippines, brings us face to face with the fundamental immaturity of GM science. The call for a moratorium by communities in the global south, challenges the "business as usual" approach to "managing" GM risks under national Biosafety regulation programs. The latter exercise in repressive tolerance has merely served to suffocate GM debate in recent years.
Further info on the IUCN website and from Ariel Salleh <treesprite@ozemail.com.au>.

2007 CONFERENCES
The World Social Forum is happening in Nairobi from 20-25 January 2007.
Information on all events is not available at time of posting, but the next eNews will report-back.
CNS linked participants include Joel Kovel, CNS Editor-in-Chief; Patrick Bond, Centre for Civil Society at University of KwaZulu-Natal; and ecofeminists Terisa Turner and Leigh Brownhill of Guelph University.
A panel on Ecofeminism and Earth Democracy is planned; Vandana Shiva has been invited to speak.

Centre for Civil Society WSF 07 Activities
Jan 21
The World Bank in Africa: What is it up to, why should you care, and what can you do about it?
Bank Information Center - other organizations which may help lead the session include:
Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa, Jubilee South,
Christian Aid, UK, National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), Uganda
Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), South Africa, CEE Bankwatch Network
African Perspectives on Nonviolence
'Ela Ghandi (South Africa)', 'Dennis Brutus (South Africa)', 'N.N. (Eritrea)', 'N.N. (Zimbabwe)',
Jan 22
Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatisation and Power
Dag Hammarskjold Foundation with the Durban group on climate justice.
Opposing U.S. imperialism in the heart of the beast
Center for Economic Research and Social Change
Africa and the global political economy
RC02 Economy and Society Research Committee of the International Sociological Association
The commodification of water: From social crisis to resistance
Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Global Civil Society: More or Less Democracy?
The Committee on Civil Society Research, Sweden
Jan 23
The Bamako Appeal and the WSF Process
Sociologists Without Borders - Thomas Ponniah, Sociologist Sin Fronteras (SSF)', 'Chris Chase Dunn, RC02 Economy and Society Research Committee of ISA', 'Immanuel Wallerstein', 'Dorothea Haerlin', 'Francine Mestrum', 'William Fisher', 'Judith Blau, Sociologists Sin Fronteras (SSF)', 'Patrick Bond, Centre for Civil Society (CCS)', 'Francois Houtart'
Poetry & Protest: Dennis Brutus' life in the struggle
Aisha Karim and Lee Sustar, co-editors of the book, Poetry & Protest: A Dennis Brutus Reader.
Where did the Second Superpower end?
TNI, Critical Network, NIGD - Nicola Bullard, Peter Waterman, Ruby van der Wekken, Jai Sen, Christophe Aguiton, Gustavo Codas, Hilary Wainwright, Michele De Palma, Immanuel Wallerstein, Moema Miranda, Michael Warschawski, Teivo Teivainen, Giuseppe Caruso, Brutus
Jan 24
Energy Sovereignty: How do we get it?
International Oil Working Group, Friends of the Earth International, Via Campesina, Environmental Rights Action Nigeria, groundWork South Africa
CCS - Additional Activities
21 January - Revisiting the Bamako Appeal: Issues of democracy and substance in world movement
Indian Institute for Critical Action: Center in Movement (CACIM) (Jai Sen)
21 January - Global justice and ecological sustainability in management of petroleum resources
ATTAC-Norway (Einaar Brathen)
22 January -The Role of the Church in Social Transformation
Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation
23 January - Open Space
Indian Institute for Critical Action: Center In Movement (CACIM)
** ** ** ** ** ** **

FROM THE CNS MANAGING EDITOR
Karen writes: To improve our review and editing process, can Eds let me know their areas of expertise by sending in a copy of your 100 word Bio. Are you happy for it to go on the website?
Also, please confirm how many submissions you are willing to review per annum - 3 is average. Contact Karen Charman managingeditor@cnsjournal.org.

CALL FOR THEMATIC ISSUES
Suggestions are welcome along with offers to edit special CNS issues.

YOUR IDEAS ON IMPROVING THE JOURNAL ** ** ** ** ** **

 

 
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