Rage against the machine

October 7 marked the beginning of the most dramatic escalation in Palestine in decades. Against the genocidal practices of Israel, each international actor is measured against history and humanism. Once again, in a major event in international politics, the European Union appeared biassed or hesitant or both. Besides, the professed abolishment of the heritage of colonialism entails political action that proves it. Embracing the “right to self-defence” narrative and insisting that the two-state solution is the only path to peace, all the while ignoring the fact that Israel has been systematically engaging in ethnic cleansing for the past 70 years, is wrongful and dehumanising. Moreover, the Commission lacks the mandate to make such a decision. Unavoidably, the ongoing developments in Palestine will be among the cases we will explore in the Roots Winter School 2023. Our upcoming “Our Eye on the EU'' episode includes our statement on what is currently happening in Palestine.?

Elections in Poland brought a positive, unexpected defeat of the far-right party of “Law and Justice” (PiS) that ruled the country for the past eight years. The tense relations with the EU, and the freezing of recovery funds due to breaches of democratic order and the rule of law, most probably affected the result. These elections have shown how Poland is influential in the balances between EU leaders, having the power to isolate anti-EU, populist forces. On the other hand, predictions on how the next European Parliament will look like are still leaning towards the winning of the far-right parties. The composition of the next European Parliament will affect its capacity to act in these policy areas. Inter Alia has committed to bringing forward valid democratic concerns regarding the functioning of the EU from the bottom up and connecting them to policy work and recommendations. In October we monitored, organised workshops, networked and created another broadcast on EU affairs.??

Contrary to Poland’s record-high 74%, in Greece, municipal elections featured a very low voter turnout (40%). The low turnout certainly indicated citizens’ distrust and discontent towards the political class. In Athens, the current mayor, the favourite in this electoral race, lost. Despite blatant media leniency, Kostas Bakoyannis’ ill-founded arrogance along with his governance style featuring disregard for democratic processes and inability to deliver on highly publicised, save unnecessary and unwanted, public works, had a lot to do with his defeat. Among the many vices of Bakoyannis’ administration, his disregard for public space and the implementation of unapologetically profit-centred, capitalist practices strangled the daily lives of citizens and civil society. Reflecting on the exorbitant sums of money demanded for space rentals, Inter Alia offers its own space in Exarchia to like-minded organisations in need, for free. Besides, in response to embedded top-down practices we continue to work with youngsters and pupils on participatory spatial planning.?

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The Inter Alia team

News & Updates

?Exarchia - Ballarò: Storie Sospese | an intimate festival in the heart of Palermo

“Exarchia - Ballarò: Storie Sospese'' brought together people’s struggle for continuity in two aggressively gentrified neighbourhoods of Athens and Palermo, known for their openness and spirit of solidarity. Along with our partners at Moltivolti, we listened to the experiences, hopes and concerns of locals who arrived in Palermo from different corners of the globe. Then, we curated a temporary exhibition of items that symbolise their routes. In a special screening of the Positively Different Short Film Festival (PDSFF) we presented shorts that talked about resistance and revolt and love and community as the driving forces behind them. Through all that, we created our own moments of togetherness and claimed our space through solidarity and co-creation.

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Taking sides: EU, you’re doing it wrong | October 2023

October presented the EU with the need to choose what stances to take. We are not only talking about the Israel-Palestine conflict, but also about the effect this will have on negotiations on important migration and asylum files. Meanwhile, the rise of far-right parties all over Europe seems to have been interrupted in Poland, with an unexpected result collected by a pro-European, anti-PiS coalition. We tried to understand what this will bring to the table of EU leaders sitting at the Council. New steps have been taken on media freedom and workers’ rights, although not as bold as needed.?

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Read this month’s edition of Our Eye on the EU

You can find a deeper analysis on some of these topics in our upcoming broadcast.?

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Check out the full series

?PDSFF 2024 | Updates

PDSFF has a fresh, revamped online presence and new volunteers onboard. Our website has also undergone significant changes. It now offers a user-friendly, immersive experience for film enthusiasts and creators. Our team of volunteers has started working together for the preliminary selection of the festival’s programme.??

You can read more about the volunteers training

explore our new outlook

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Let’s Talk About Degrowth workshop?

This workshop served as an initial exploration into the concept of degrowth, touching upon aspects of ecological economics, political economy, ecofeminism, and environmental justice. While we didn't unravel all the complexities in one session, we inspired thoughtful discussions and raised critical questions about our growth-dependent society which led to the creation of an open educational resource - a degrowth toolkit - aiming to increase critical thinking and explore with the broader public alternative paths towards sustainable futures.?

Find it here:

Outcast Europe: Between two rivers

A brand new thematic exhibition featuring stories from the community of the Mesopotamia Solidarity School in Moschato is now available on the Outcast Europe platform! The exhibition outlines the neighbourhood’s stories, those of its residents and of their identities and showcases their routes and the wins they have achieved through community and solidarity.?

Find them

??Participatory planning – Short experiments, big experiences?

Drawing on our experiences in youth work and academic research on participatory planning, we collaborated with organisations and institutions that are part of the Eurodesk Multipliers network to facilitate participatory planning activities and generate policy proposals based on ideas that young people have come up with. Thus, we aimed to enhance young people’s meaningful participation in the creative use of public spaces and explore ways to further integrate such methods into their decision-making processes.

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??ECHO Academies | Architecture & Fashion Design Academies?

September and October were two intensive months for the ECHO Academies as the last two academies came to an end. The Industrial Heritage-Architecture Academy in Budapest, Hungary, and the Fashion Design Academy in Smolyan, Bulgaria were completed with winners, artworks, but most importantly, with new knowledge for the artists.?

The academies may have concluded, but the journey of cultural exploration and creativity doesn’t stop here. In 2024, winning artists will be called to implement their pilot projects. Stay tuned for what’s coming next!?

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