Beyond Molotovs - Reclaiming Antifascist Futures

In the face of a global rise of authoritarianism, it is time for us to rethink and realign antifascist strategies — by bringing together decolonial, migrant, feminist, workers’, ecological and other struggles, and by going beyond the defense of what is and opening up perspectives for radical transformation.

Authoritarianism can be defied and defeated. Around the world, countless people, collectives and movements develop powerful and creative strategies to oppose nationalist, racist, classist and anti-feminist forces. And there's much to learn from each other. Over the last three years, the International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counterstrategies and kollektiv orangotango brought together 50 first-hand accounts of such anti-authoritarian movements and resistance strategies, resulting in “Beyond Molotovs - A Visual Handbook of Anti-Authoritarian Counterstrategies.”Based on this work, we want to explore paths by which we can radically reclaim the future and build real, lived utopias.

Join us for a day on affective counterstrategies and new understandings of antifascism, full of workshops, an exhibition, a panel discussion and a night with AL.Berlin Crew

With: AL.Berlin Crew, Asef Bayat, Aylin Kuryel, Ecologías del Futuro, Eyal Weizman (tbc), IRGAC, kollektiv Orangotango, Masha Ravlyk, Moses März and Ton Melnyk.

Free admission. No previous knowledge necessary. The whole program is accessible for wheelchairs. No prior registration necessary.

Exhibition and book launch

“Beyond Molotovs – A Visual Handbook & Exhibition of Anti-Authoritarian Strategies” from 3 pm | German, English

Authoritarianism operates at a visceral level rather than relying on arguments. How can we counter authoritarian affects? "Beyond Molotovs" brings together 50 first-hand accounts from anti-authoritarian movements, activists, artists, and scholars from around the world, focusing on the sensuous dimension of their strategies. From the collective art of feminist movements in India, Iran, Mexico, and Poland, to sewing collectives, subversive internet aesthetics in Hong Kong, and anti-authoritarian board games, the contributions open up new perspectives on moments of resistance, subversion, and creation.

There will be an exhibition opening with a guided tour and a short book presentation in English at 4 pm and 7 pm.

Workshops

Maps Against Authoritarianism 5 - 6.30 pm | German, English

Please register in advance via workshop.beyondmolotovs@gmail.com

In Maps Against Authoritarianism, Moses März introduces participants to experimental cartography as an artistic research method that combines elements of the visual arts, social science, activism and storytelling to share knowledge in an intuitively accessible and inclusionary manner. To actively experiment with this alternative way of writing, participants are invited to map their self-perceived positions or movements in the field of (authoritarian) forces in which they are operating. Moses will also show his map "Majority Minority Machines", which traces the long history of the nation-state and the transfer of racist legislation between the US, Germany, Israel/Palestine and South Africa.

AntifaFuturesTarots 3.30 - 7:30 pm | English, German, italian, Spanish, French 

Open format

Ecologías del Futuro are inviting to their workshop AntifaFuturesTarots, a collection of tarots about anti-authoritarian strategies, collectively produced in an open workshop. Throughout the centuries and all around the world there have been thousands of ways of resisting oppressions and building other ways of being and organizing together. Which are the most meaningful to us, that we want to keep in our toolbox and take with us into the future? The endless tarots collect anti-authoritarian practices, keywords, objects, songs, exercises, tips, strategies in the form of images. Pass by and create your tarot. Tarots not to read, but to build the future!

Activist Banner Sewing Workshop 3.30 pm 7:30 pm | English 

Open format

Ton Melnyk and Masha Ravlyk, artists, queer-feminist activists, seamstresses from Kyiv, participants of the Ukrainian-Russian art-activist group Sewing Cooperative Shvemy and ReSew sewing cooperative, are inviting participants to their Activist Banner Sewing Workshop, to create a collective action banner, and other textile banners on topics you are concerned with.

Dream Counter 3.30 pm 7:30 pm | English, Turkish 

Open format

With the Dream Counter Aylin Kuryel will provide a place where nightmares of the past and present resonate, and dreams dreamt under different forms of authoritarianism talk to each other. Between 1933-39, Charlotte Beradt, a Berlin-based journalist, secretly recorded people’s dreams under the Nazi regime, which resulted in the book, The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation 1933-1939 (1966). In the Dream Counter, you can find stickers on which nightmares from Charlotte Beradt’s book appear. One side of the stickers is left empty to write down dreams. Take the stickers; put them up on the city walls; invite passersby to read your dreams and share theirs.

Reclaim your antifascist future 3.30 pm 7:30 pm | German, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese  

Open format

Kollektiv orangotango, mujer gallina, nico baumgarten and friends invite you to design, print and put up your own antifa stickers. Create your own antifa! With the kind support of the Antifa Logo Archive.

Panel

Beyond Authoritarianism: Antifascist Futures! with Asef Bayat, Eyal Weizman (tbc) and Verónica Gago (tbc) 7:30 - 9 pm | German, English

We are witnessing a global expansion of nationalist, militarist, racist, colonial, and antifeminist ideologies and politics, and increasingly violent mechanisms of repression and exploitation. This authoritarian transformation is not confined to autocratic contexts — the "liberal centre" itself is increasingly shifting towards authoritarian governing mechanisms. This constellation requires us to rethink antifascist strategies and alliances. How do we explain authoritarianism's emotional appeal? How can we counter authoritarian affects? What potentiality lies in antifascism as a shared political horizon for reclaiming the present and the future against authoritarian neoliberal normality? How to regain utopian energy for social revolution?

Party!

Music with AL.Berlin

from 9 pm

Let's celebrate together and end the evening with AL.Berlin Crew!

Event location

Spore InitiativeHermannstrasse 8612051 Berlin

People involved

with AL.Berlin Crew, Asef Bayat, Aylin Kuryel, Ecologías del Futuro, Eyal Weizman (tbc), Verónica Gago (tbc), IRGAC, kollektiv Orangotango, Masha Ravlyk, Moses März, Ton Melnyk, Dimitra Zina and Hassandra.

Additional Info

Free admission. No previous knowledge necessary. The whole program is accessible for wheelchairs