November 8, 2023
Dear friends and fellows of Critical Theory in Berlin (CTB),
First Things First: Berlin Declaration – In Defense of the Migration Society
The general elections in Bavaria and Hesse, two German federal states, showed an over-all shift to the right. An anti-Semitic scandal of Bavaria’s continuing deputy minister president had been indeed poll-boosting. The same holding true for the massive public debate portraying migration and migrants as a major social problem in Germany. Demands in this debate have been inter alia mass detention of migrants and the use of military force at Europe’s external borders, ruthless deportation of denied asylum seekers, and cuts to social welfare and medical aid for refugees. The heated public debate is still ongoing. It is an attack on the migration society, an attempt to divide an imaginary “autochthone” German population from those “who do not really belong here”. Against the far-reaching coalition of parties that share the consensus that migration is the source of all problems (including the persistence of anti-Semitism in Germany) and needs to be brought “under control” by repressive measures and even military force, we launched (as part of the Transforming Solidarities research consortium) the Berlin Declaration – In Defense of the Migration Society which you can sign here.
For those of you who are currently in Berlin, there is also an event on the Berlin Declaration at HAU 2. The event with Robin Celikates, Cem Kaya, Christina Clemm, Vanessa Thompson, Serhat Karakayali, Patrice Poutrus, Tsafrir Cohen, Esther Dischereit, Marcel Fratzscher, Heike Kleffner, Julia Eckert and many more hosted by Manuela Bojadzijev, Sabine Hark, Bernd Kasparek will take place this Saturday, November 11, at 7:30 pm.
And One Further Preliminary: We are moving, moving, moving
Since its foundation in 2018, our center had its premises in Charlottenstraße 42, near the sub- and railway station Friedrichstraße – just around the corner from Humboldt university’s main building. Now, we have to give way to the new Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Heritage in Transformation” which will start in January 2024. Therefore, we will move about two subway stations further south to Friedrichstraße 191-193, 4 floor, the same building that houses our friends from the Centre Marc Bloch. You will find us there in the future. So, tie a knot in your handkerchief and come and see us once we have moved our desks and the great Albrecht Wellmer library to the new premises.
And Now For Our Annual Focus 2023-24: Trajectories of Solidarity
It is the task of social critique to identify what is fundamentally broken in a society and say what does not and what cannot work. Social critique looks at crises aiming to understand how they come about and uncover systematic reasons that show that a given crisis is not just a result of random chance. Such an analysis is important because otherwise any attempt to overcome the crisis only leads back into a repeat of the same crisis or possibly into a subsequent one. Each and every time. To fail again is then always new, but never better. Just knowing what is broken is not enough to overcome a crisis without falling back into familiar patterns. Overcoming crises requires designs for how society can function differently, and indeed better. Read more …
Highlight: Benjamin Lectures “What Is Moral Socialism?” with Lea Ypi
Political theorist Lea Ypi from the London School of Economics will hold the Center’s Benjamin Chair in 2024. She is one of those rare talents who combine theoretical acuity with narrative power. Her award-winning memoir “Free” has been translated into more than 30 languages. In the book, Ypi does not only tell the story of growing up in Albania, when one of the most paranoid and repressive socialist regimes in Europe ruled the country; she also gives an account of the actualization of diverging concepts of freedom and their failure. This analysis also explains why Ypi still holds on to socialist ideas. For Ypi, socialism is not a cipher for the nostalgic return to her childhood days, a time before liberal shock therapy introduced capitalism to Albania. It is the name of an orientation that she believes is necessary in order to overcome capitalism, neo-colonialism, and anti-migration policies that have their most devastating effects in the peripheral zones of the capitalist centers. From June 19 to 21, 2024, Ypi will present her ideas on what is essential for such a moral version of socialism in her Benjamin Lectures at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Read more …
Coming Soon: Socialization of the Social [in German]
From the very beginning, the theories of capitalist economy have been concerned with the problem of reconciling the private and the social. Who produces what, and who can obtain what from the produced, and on what terms – these are all social questions. The same goes for the question how people produce, the answer to which is also socially determined. In capitalist economies, however, many of the decisions concerning such social questions seem to be in private hands. Economic theories usually seek to explain why the form of “unsociable sociability” (Kant) that has thus developed nevertheless works well. Campaigns for socialization, on the other hand, plead for finally treating the social as social again and for finding a form of decision making about economic questions that is appropriate to its social character. On December 8 and 9, 2023, our workshop with the Centre’s new fellows Rabea Berfelde and Jacob Blumenfeld as well as Silke van Dyk, Isabel Feichtner, Sabine Nuss and many more debating the “Socialication of the Social” will start from this insight. Read more …
Highlight: Critical Theory Summer School: Social Critique and Economics
With the newly created International Critical Theory Summer School Board, we have decided on the topic of next year’s summer school. From July 1 to July 5, 2024, we will explore the precise relationship between economic practices and other forms of social, political, and cultural agency. Economy and society permeate each other and form a compound of socio-economic practices – a form of life. Such a wide concept of the economy revives core claims of classical Critical Theory. Social critique must address the material foundations of society, i.e. the ways in which society reproduces itself. The International Critical Theory Summer School 2024 aims at the renewal of such an overarching concept of society without which social critique is in danger of deteriorating into mere moral appeals. You can find the complete call for application and further information soon on our website.
Books, Books, Books
There are a number of new and forthcoming books which we want to discuss with you. Sabine Hark, longstanding member of the Centre’s advisory board, will make the start on December 14, 2023. Together with co-author Johanna Hofbauer, Hark will discuss the theses of their book “Die ungleiche Universität. Diversität, Exzellenz und Anti-Diskriminierung [The Unequal University. Diversity, Excellency, and anti-Discrimination”]. On January 10, 2024, Rahel Jaeggi will present her book “Fortschritt und Regression [Progress and Regression]” at Roter Salon in the Volksbühne Berlin in a conversation with Oliver Nachtwey (tbc). And the day after (January 11, 2024) we will discuss Christian Schmidt’s book-length manuscript “Politische Theology [Political Theology]”. All three events will be held in German.
Ongoing Debate: Critique of Needs
The eleven theses on needs, published earlier this year, have stirred some discussion. You can find a number of contributions to the debate ranging from the nature and social character of needs, politics of needs, queer needs, and the historicity of needs. You can always find the newest contributions here. If you want to contribute yourself to the debate please write to: philohsc@hu-berlin.de