Seminars

The Fifth LGBT seminar at the IRE is taking place from July 26 to July 29. These seminars are gatherings of activists in LGBT movements from around the world who are committed to radical anti-capitalist politics. The aim of the LGBT Seminar is to share and develop ideas on the most pressing topics concerning the struggle for human rights in the LGBT community, debate about strategies for LGBT liberation , and discuss how to participate in LGBT struggles on the basis of an anti-capitalist political project.

The 3rd IIRE Economy Seminar is taking place between the 14th and the 16th February.

Following up on the sessions held in 2009 and 2011, this edition will go through the changing situation in the economies of the different continents, with a focus on the interaction between ecological and economic problems, and the debates on radical ways out of the crisis. Among the lecturers and participants, we will have well known economists like Michael Roberts, François Chesnais, Eric Toussaint, Ozlem Onaram, Claudio Katz, Cedric Durand, Michel Husson and environmentalist Daniel Tanuro.

The IIRE organises in July its Fourth International Women’s Seminar together with the women’s commission of the Fourth International.

Participants from all over the world will discuss women’s struggles for emancipation in different cultures, regions, visions and social contexts. Overcoming euro-centrism by developing a plural feminism is one of the aims of this global exchange.

The ecofeminist struggles and an ecofeminist world view is the second topic of the seminar: putting a women’s prospective to our ecosocialist alternative.

The second ecology seminar organized by the Fourth International represents a significant step forward for the sections of the Fourth International and its sympathising organisations. The presence of members of the national leaderships was proof of the fact that our work and activities linked to the ecological crisis is increasing and also that our ecosocialist alternative to the capitalist system, is becoming more and more a central concern our organisations in many countries.

The organisation of an International Women’s Seminar was decided in February 2012 by the leadership of the International.

The response was very important. About 30 women will be attending the seminar, coming from Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Philippines, Spain, Sri Lanka and Switzerland.

We received donations for helping with the travel costs of the participants from the Third World to an amount of more than 2000 €. The International paid also part of the travel costs.

13th - 15th January 2012

Daniel Bensaïd was a leading member of the Fourth International in France(in the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire) and internationally. He died at the age of 63 in January 2010. He was also a philosopher and prolific author of political and philosophical works. It is difficult to separate out these multiple dimensions of Daniel but this seminar will especially approach his contribution as one of the central leaders of the 4th International and the international revolutionary movement.

This second seminar is a follow-up of the seminar on the economic crisis held in October 2-4 2009. The first seminar was dedicated to the analysis of the immediate consequences of the so-called “subprime crisis” in the USA, namely the rescue of bankrupt banks with public money, the demise of international financial markets, and the deep recession that followed with its dramatic consequences in terms of massive dismissals and increase of poverty.

“We must do this again -very soon”, said one of the twenty-two radical socialist-feminists from eleven countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia, who participated in the IIRE International Women's Seminar, 11-15 July. “It was so positive to have the time to explore these issues together and look at them in an international context."

This seminar at the IIRE on August 11-16 was my first lesbian/ gay/ bisexual/ transgender (LGBT) seminar at the Institute. It was the most exciting opportunity for a wide-ranging discussion on LGBT issues from a radical perspective that I have ever experienced. I think it is an extremely valuable site for discussion and debate.