47th Linz Conference: 29 September — 2 October 2011
Coordinator: Berthold Unfried (Vienna)
BACKGROUND AND APPROACHES
The purpose of the Conference 2011 is to discuss Solidarity and Development at international level as practiced by social movements, organizations and states acting in the tradition of the Labour Movement. International Solidarity is perceived as a concept for dealing with others on the basis of common interests and concerns, genuinely rooted in the traditions of the Labour Movement. International Development is perceived as a transformation of society by means of deliberate active intervention to achieve certain objectives like “Modernisation” or, alternatively, “Socialism”. Both concepts were realized through transfers: transfers of concrete resources, knowledge, working and living modes as well as norms and standards. Solidarity, at least conceptually, can be described as a reciprocal transfer process, Development as a unilateral transfer process. These transfers were operated by solidarity activists, (party and union-) internationalists, development workers and experts.
The universal concepts of Solidarity and of Development basically aimed at the creation of one (single) world in which the material standards, working conditions, orders of social justice, and ways of living according to the yardstick of the “most highly developed” societies were to apply. Every individual and every society can develop the entrepreneurial spirit, and the attitudes and practices linked to it, leading to prosperity, is the credo of those who fundamentally believe that “development” is tantamount to increasing material prosperity. Every society and every individual can be set on a “socialist developmental path” which, based on a planned economy and collectivisation under the leadership of the Party, will lead to an “all-round development” of individuals and collectives would be the credo of a competing concept of development as progress towards socialism. We are pursuing a struggle on the basis of a joint social position political stance and interests, would be a stance based on “Solidarity”.
The question is if the implementation of these distinct concepts converged in practice. The contributions discuss situations in which practices of Solidarity and Development were actively conceived and implemented. They further concentrate on forms of transfer: material assistance, trade at preferential conditions; personal commitment; collective actions and campaigns. At an institutional level, “development aid” and “socialist aid” – also referred to as “international solidarity” – as competing systems for Development and Solidarity in the “Third World” in the era of global systems competition are at the centre of attention. Temporal focus is the post-colonial era in the second half of the 20th century.
The conference will take place from 29 September to 2 October 2011, in Linz, Upper Austria, in the cultural and educational centre of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labour: Bildungshaus Jägermayrhof, Römerstraße 98, 4020 Linz, Austria.
All listeners are required to register.
Deadline for registration is 15 August 2011.
Please send your registration by by e-mail (ith [at] doew.at), by fax (+43-1-22 89 469-391) or by post (ITH, 1010 Vienna, Wipplinger Str. 8, Austria).