Commons continues its Dialogues of the Peripheries, which aims " Dialogues of the Peripheries aim to transcend geopolitical boundaries and foster mutual understanding, building alliances nd unity among communities in the peripheries – spanning from Greenland to Polynesia and from the Cape of Good Hope to Kamchatka. It's an invitation to contributions from authors working with and from places of resistance to oppression, encouraging liberation and the production of critical knowledge." Last year, the first session of the Dialogues resulted in the publication of contributions and in several international zoom meetings on different topics.
Patrick Le Tréhondat
Humanity is facing unprecedented challenges, primarily the climate crisis and the sixth mass extinction of species. Addressing these threats requires global solidarity; however, recently we have witnessed an exacerbation of inter-imperialist confrontations and armed conflicts across the globe. This primarily affects the residents of places constructed as peripheries – existing on the outskirts of imperial cores and power structures. The oppressed, in their struggle for freedom and justice, are compelled to depend on the support of multiple competing imperialist states, which complicates solidarity between them. At the same time, the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine showed the insufficient understanding of non-Western imperialisms in emancipatory theories. Dialogues of the Peripheries aim to transcend geopolitical boundaries and foster mutual understanding, building alliances and unity among communities in the peripheries – spanning from Greenland to Polynesia and from the Cape of Good Hope to Kamchatka.
It is an invitation for contributions from authors working with and from the place of resistance to oppressions, fostering liberation and critical knowledge production. This is an open call to reflect on how we can act in solidarity with one another, despite the logics of geopolitical blocs and nation states. Hence, we aim to strengthen and build knowledge exchange routes circumventing dominant epistemic metropoles and, as the name suggests, engaging in the dialogues of the peripheries.
With many of our lives shaped by imperial wars, genocides, climate change, capitalism, colonialisms, patriarchy and racism it is critical that we learn more about each other’s struggles and resistance, so that we’re in a better place to support each other.
What kind of contributions are we looking for?
The questions we are keen for the authors to explore in their contributions are (but not limited to):
- How can we jointly understand and resist the current rise of authoritarianism, right-wing populism and non-Western imperialisms in the world?
- Why is transnational solidarity important and relevant in the anti-imperialist struggle?
- How are our peripheral statuses constructed and reconstructed – both historically and currently?
- How can we organise – in collective and distributed ways – to create alternative modes of running our societies that bring a more socially and ecologically just world into being?
- If not peripheries, then what? – how can we move beyond inclusion into “Western civilisation”, create and work towards alternative political horizons/imaginaries?
- Which theoretical concepts are most fit for shaping the practice of decolonial resistance?
- If you have experience of constructing dialogues and building solidarity networks on the ground, what are the reflections, challenges, lessons, questions, and/or misunderstandings that have stayed with you from this experience?
- What are the key challenges of constructing dialogues between the peripheries in the contemporary world?
- What is the legacy of past solidarity movements in today’s world?
We are interested in work that critically examines relationships and experiences of societies on the periphery of the capitalist system and Ukraine's place among them. Whilst we do not require all contributions to focus on Ukraine, we invite the authors to consider existing and potential relations with Ukraine in the context of their work.
We are looking for critical, imaginative, thorough, exploratory works from a range of formats: analytical texts, research articles, textual and visual essays, interviews, translations, cultural reviews, theoretical pieces, activist and grassroot organising, personal accounts and reflection on the Dialogues’ themes. We are open to other formats as well.
We welcome contributions from activists, writers, researchers, artists and everyone in between and across disciplines.
How to contribute?
Please email us an abstract (250 words max) of your contribution to editor@commons.com.ua. If you already have a draft, please include it as an attachment.