Historical Materialism Istanbul 2026: From Catastrophe to Struggle: Rethinking Capitalism amid Wars and Disasters

Co-organized by: Praksis Journal · Turkish Social Sciences Association · Sosyal Araştırmalar Vakfı (Social Research Foundation, SAV) · Mülkiyeliler Birliği · Eğitim Sen Istanbul Branch No. 6

Historical Materialism Istanbul 2026 convenes at a time of unprecedented global crises, marked by intensifying wars, ecological disasters, fascist and authoritarian resurgence, and overlapping capitalist shocks. Across the world, crises and disasters, ranging from genocidal wars, authoritarian weaponization of law, technocratic peace projects to climate-induced catastrophes, are systematically transformed into sites of uneven capital accumulation, markets of irrational thought, and instruments of political control. At the same time, old and new forms of anti-war, anti-racist, anti-fascist, feminist, ecological, and anti-capitalist struggles and solidarity actions have emerged around the world.

This conference invites contributions to examine these processes in their concrete articulations through the critical framework of historical materialism, by attending to not only the mechanisms of exploitation, destruction, and domination, but also the spaces and practices of resistance that emerge during moments of crisis. In doing so, we also seek to explore how such conjunctures may generate counter-hegemonic dynamics—forms of collective reproduction, cooperative production, commoning, and solidarity-based economies that create alternative circuits of value and life beyond capital.

More info: https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/event/historical-materialism-istanbul-2026/