When/Where
Friday, 17 January 2025
19:00-21:30
Saturday, 18 January 2025
10:30-19:00
Venue: Volkshaus Zürich
Stauffacherstrasse 60, 8004 Zürich
Solidarity Party
On Saturday, from 9 pm onward: Dancing and drinking in the Zentralwäscherei
Childcare
On Saturday in the play hut on the Kanzlei grounds
Donate to The Other Davos
We rely on donations to be able to organise the Other Davos as a counter event to the WEF since 1999 and thus make a contribution to international networking and the further development of social alternatives. The venue hire, guest travel expenses and simultaneous interpretations are particularly important. We appreciate every donation, regardless of the amount.
Antifa! Strategies against the right
When the representatives of large corporations and powerful states discuss the crisis-ridden global situation at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in January 2025, nothing will come of it. Stable political conditions would be the prerequisite for a return to the ‘business as usual’ they desire. Meanwhile, the climate crisis, economic upheaval and impoverishment, the care crisis, inter-imperialist tensions, wars and genocide are intensifying. Never since the Second World War have there been so many armed conflicts as there are today. The balancing act between economic growth and effective climate policy, the pursuit of profit and social balance, imperialist competition and peace, is impossible under capitalism – the crises and wars are the consequence of capitalist functioning.
Trump’s re-election as US president is both an expression and a consequence of this situation. Instead of providing solutions to the multiple crises, capitalism currently carries a much greater risk of breeding fascist rule again. The rise of far-right parties in Europe is taking on alarming proportions. The authorities are incapable and the police are unwilling to take action against the fascists. Liberals and conservatives, on the other hand, are willingly implementing key demands of the far right.
For these reasons, the response to the rise of the right must come from the left and aim to overcome capitalism. This is the only way to remove the breeding ground for fascism. However, this strategic awareness does not yet answer the question with which alliances we can build a collective basis in the fight against the right and with what means we can stop the fascist threat. These questions are at the heart of The Other Davos.
At the annual counter-event to the WEF, we bring together activists from the opposite side of the barricade. Under the motto ‘Antifa! Strategies against the Right’, we will be discussing anti-fascist, anti-colonial, feminist and ecological resistance in order to develop a solidary alternative to capitalism and fascism.
Joining us as guests: Joseph Daher, activist of solidaritéS and author of Palestine and Marxism, Julia Steinberger, Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Lausanne, activists of Migrantifa Berlin, activist Emma Inglis of Socialist Resistance from Glasgow, Bernard Schmid (Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste from France), the antifascist journalist Sebastian Bähr from Berlin, the feminist researchers Nadine Gerner and Sarah Schilliger, the anti-colonial collectives We Smell Gas and Don’t Gas Africa, anti-fascist football fans from Jena, the anti-racist rapper Pero Rosandić from Vienna and the former coach of the Afghan women’s football team Ibrahim Rasooul, activists from Bfa! (Freedom of Movement for All) from Bern, the economic geographer Christian Zeller (author of Revolution für das Klima), as well as eco-socialist activists from the Interventionist Left, Climate and Class and the GKN Alliance from Italy.
The conference is organised by the Movement for Socialism (BFS/MPS) and will take place in the Volkshaus Zurich. The discussions will be translated into German, English and French. The plenary sessions and the workshops in the White Hall will be streamed live on YouTube.
Programme overview
Friday, 17 January 2025, 19:00-21:30
Plenary: Rise of the Right amid global crises and the challenges of a solidarity-based alternative
From Germany to the USA and Argentina: The racist and authoritarian right are moving into parliaments or even forming governments. From Iran to Afghanistan to Sudan: Islamist forces are gaining strength. From Ukraine to Palestine and Kurdistan: colonialist wars are destroying entire societies.
The contexts are different around the world. What the reactionary forces have in common, however, are their inhumane, patriarchal and violent responses to the current crises. While predatory capitalism is destroying the global ecosystem and the gap between rich and poor is widening, the right’s responses are divisive, antisocial and dehumanising.
However, there are also movements around the world that are striving for a humane, egalitarian and eco-social alternative. Activists who combine the protection of ecosystems with anti-racist and anti-colonial struggles. Feminists who consistently oppose the patriarchal backlash with a feminist, caring collectivity. Comrades who counter the increase in repression, violence and devaluation with solidarity-based responses.
At the opening plenary of The Other Davos, we will first address the economic and political causes of these crises and the causes of right-wing developments. We will then discuss with our guests what our responses could look like and what challenges we face.
Simin Jawabreh is involved in the Palestine movement.
Emma Inglis, activist from Socialist Resistance in Glasgow.
Joseph Daher, activist from solidaritéS, visiting professor at the University of Lausanne and author of Palestine and Marxism.
We Smell Gas is a Northern European collective of researchers, activists and filmmakers that exposes the EU’s imperialist practices in the energy sector.
Activists from the Movement for Socialism (BFS).
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 10:30-13:00
Rise of the extreme right and anti-fascist resistance
The rise of far-right and fascist parties and movements in Europe and around the world is alarming. Trump’s re-election is the latest expression of this. In response to political instability and social problems for which the far right is largely responsible, the far right is fuelling an aggressive cultural war against wokeness as the supposed cause of all evil.
We discuss this challenge with activists from the UK, France and Germany. In the summer of 2024, there were days of racist hunts for migrants by fascist mobs in the UK. In France, the Nouveau Front Populaire was able to prevent an election victory for the far-right Rassemblement National for the time being. In Germany, on the other hand, the Alternative for Germany is winning election after election.
Emma Inglis, activist from Socialist Resistance and the Scottish Socialist Youth in Glasgow.
Bernard Schmid, antifascist and member of the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA-l’Anticapitaliste) in France.
Sebastian Bähr, anti-fascist journalist (Neues Deutschland, Analyse&Kritik) from Berlin.
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 10:30-13:00
Anti-racism: GEAS reform and solidarity along the escape routes in Europe
The rise of the right in Europe is most evident at the EU’s external borders. The chances for refugees to reach Europe are becoming increasingly restricted. At the external borders, refugees fear illegal refoulement, detention in prisons or even death.
Together with Pero Rosandić (Kid Pex), Ibrahim Rasool and an activist from Bfa! (Freedom of Movement for All), we will talk about the current situation at Europe’s external borders and possible resistance against the GEAS reform.
Pero Rosandić is a rapper from Vienna who founded SOS Balkanroute in 2019 and has been working with refugees in Austria, Bosnia and Croatia ever since.
Ibrahim Rasool is a former FIFA coach of the Afghan women’s national team and now co-coaches the SK Austria Klagenfurt women’s team.
Activist of Bewegungsfreiheit für alle! (Right to stay for all!).
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 10:30-13:00
Anti-fascism and fan culture in Thuringia
Football stadiums are contested social spaces in which right-wing extremists have always sought access for their propaganda. However, there are always Ultras who resist the influence of right-wing forces in the stadium.
In this workshop, we discuss with members of the ‘Horda Azzuro’ their anti-fascist commitment in one of the most openly right-wing federal states in Germany, as well as their self-image within the Kurve, the club and the region. We will also discuss the possibilities of working together with other Ultras despite political differences in order to maintain a critical and rebellious fan culture.
Members of the ‘Horda Azzuro’ group from Jena.
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 10:30-13:00
Eco-socialist strategies 1: Experiences
For six years, the climate movement has brought millions of people onto the streets, blockaded coal mines and banks and called on governments to act. Despite this, CO2 emissions and other forms of environmental degradation continue to rise rapidly. While new oil fields are being developed and coal-fired power plants are being built, demonstrations and civil disobedience are generating less and less mobilisation and attention.
In the face of these difficulties, parts of the climate movement have begun to intervene in the world of work. They are trying to build and support ecological class politics in order to fight for the socio-ecological transformation of our societies together with workers. Examples of this include the campaigns ‘Wir fahren zusammen’ in Germany and ‘Wir fahren gemeinsam’ in Austria, where climate activists are fighting together with public transport employees for better working conditions and a change in mobility. The struggle around the GKN automotive supplier factory in Florence is also inspiring the climate movement across Europe: workers have been fighting for three years against their layoffs and in favour of producing solar panels and cargo bikes instead of car parts.
In the first part of this workshop, our guests will report on their experiences from these ecological labour struggles. We will learn to what extent an ecological class politics can be an answer to right-wing politics that reduces climate issues to individual consumer choices and wants to expand the fossil fuel economy at all costs.
Activists from Interventionistische Linke from Leipzig and Berlin, Klima & Klasse from Jena, Fridays For Future Turin and the GKN Alliance, and Movement for Socialism (BFS).
Lunch Break
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 14:30-17:00
Palestine solidarity between powerlessness and resistance
Israel’s war in Gaza has been going on for over a year and is constantly escalating to new levels. With the invasion of Lebanon and the attacks on Iran, Israel has opened up further fronts. Israel’s genocidal and escalating warfare is pushing the hope of a peaceful solution to the conflict further and further into the distance. Violence, misery, anger and grief are taking on unimaginable proportions.
In this workshop, we discuss the background to the conflict, the interests behind the occupation policy and perspectives and strategies for liberation. One focus will be on the challenges for the Palestine solidarity movement and its significance within the left.
Joseph Daher, activist of solidaritéS, visiting professor at the University of Lausanne and author of Palestine and Marxism.
Activists from Migrantifa Berlin who are involved in Palestine solidarity.
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 14:30-17:00
Anti-racism: Decolonise energy, fight Fortress Europe
The climate crisis is driving more and more people to flee their homes. The European Union is militarising its borders and expanding the Fortress Europe. At the same time, capitalist corporations and states are resorting to neo-colonial practices to cover their immense energy consumption with resources from the Global South.
This workshop explores Europe’s role in the global energy system and asks the question: How are capitalism and colonial power structures linked to the climate crisis? How can we combine the fight for climate justice with decolonial struggles?
We Smell Gas is a Northern European collective of researchers, activists and filmmakers that exposes the EU’s imperialist practices in the energy sector.
Don’t Gas Africa (online) is a campaign led by African activists that opposes European fossil fuel expansion.
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 14:30-17:00
Care work: the crisis of social reproduction and the perspective of socialisation
The precarious working conditions in the care professions in daycare centres or nursing are well known: The working hours are long, the stress levels are high and the pay is poor. This is due to the fact that this field is feminised and dominated by migrants. Women are ‘naturally’ better suited to care work; people with migration experience are easier to exploit in precarious working conditions due to their residence status.
In this workshop, researchers and activists Nadine Gerner and Sarah Schilliger will report on their experiences in the struggle for the socialisation of care work. Together we will examine the structural problems of paid and unpaid care work in an international context. We will open up perspectives for resistant action, show alternative care practices and discuss how care work can be de-privatised, democratised and transformed into caring infrastructures
Nadine Gerner,Co-author of Ökofeminismus, lecturer at the Universities of Münster and Frankfurt, involved in the ‘Sorge ins Parkcenter’ campaign and feminist socialisation concepts.
Sarah Schilliger, Researcher on precarious conditions in paid and unpaid care work and on feminist care movements, lecturer at the University of Bern and ETH Zurich, involved in setting up the ‘Office for Feminism’.
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 14:30-17:00
Ecosocialist strategies 2: Discussion
In the second part of the workshop, we openly discuss ecosocialist strategies for the coming years. By ecosocialism we mean the struggle for a society centred on social justice and economic democracy that meets people’s needs in an ecologically sustainable way.
We discuss what remains after the successes of the climate movement in 2019. The 1.5 degree target has long been politicised as a red line, but now this warming has practically been achieved. The demand for net zero CO2 emissions by 2030 is now, at the halfway point, more unrealistic than ever. Evidently, the balance of power does not allow concessions to be wrested from governments and multinational corporations.
At the same time, hostility towards climate policy and the climate movement is spreading among the general public. The Greens are perceived as a radical prohibitionist party, even though they are a bourgeois and relatively uninfluential party. Car drivers unleash spontaneous and massive violence at ‘climate stickers’. The state declares even moderate groups such as the ‘Last Generation’ to be anti-constitutional. And their love of coal, oil and gas is helping far-right parties to new electoral successes.
What strategies should eco-socialist forces pursue in this impossible situation? The discussion will take place both in plenary and in small groups with the collectives present. The aim is less a strategic agreement than a rapprochement and concretisation.
Activists from the first part of the workshop as well as the climate movement in Switzerland.
Christian Zeller, editor of emanzipation. Zeitschrift für ökosozialistische Strategie and author of Revolution für das Klima.
Break
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 18:00-19:00
Plenary: Feminist, ecological and anti-racist against the Right!
At the end of our event, we consolidate the different strategies against the right discussed throughout the day and discuss how these struggles can be brought together. In 2024, new governments and parliaments were elected in various countries. In most places, right-wing to far-right parties have shaped public discourse and dominated the political agenda. From India to Germany, France, Austria and the USA – inhumane policies are on the agenda everywhere.
This makes left-wing, solidarity-based alternatives such as feminist organising against patriarchal violence all the more important. At the same time, the feminist struggle is inextricably linked to anti-racist movements, because patriarchal and racist systems of oppression can only be overcome together. The inhumane, fossil-fuelled policies of right-wing parties show how closely social justice and the fight against the climate crisis are linked, as this particularly affects disadvantaged groups and ecological responsibility requires social justice.
At this closing plenary, we discuss how we could take action and organise ourselves in anti-fascist ways. Together with the speakers, we will develop perspectives for a future of solidarity and a good life for all – against nationalism, right-wing radicalism and capital.
Julia Steinberger, Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Lausanne.
Activists of the Interventionist Left from Germany.
Activists of the Movement for Socialism (BFS).
Soliparty Party in the Zentralwäscherei, from 21:00 onward. Admission solidarity price: 15 CHF, cash only