February 1 & 2, Utrecht – 2.Dh5 Festival – Defeating Dystopia?
(Note: The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund will have a stand at 2.Dh5 festival, why not come say Hi if you’re in the neighbourhood!)
=: Defeating Dystopia? :=
The fourteenth edition of the yearly 2.Dh5 festival is coming to BAK basis voor actuele kunst, and the ACU Utrecht on 1-2 February 2020, with the theme “Defeating Dystopia?”
=: programme :=
Data-mining the far-right; De rol van vrouwen in de strijd tegen racisme en onderdrukking; Desert (Anonymous) discussie; Does the future have to be incorporated?; Surveillance caplitalism and the future of data activism; Feminist & intersectional takes on the climate crisis; De dystopie die het Anthropoceen heet; Dystopia war gaming; Onderzoek als basis voor actie; Praktisch perswerk; Climate change, conflict and migration; De dystopische controlestaat en ‘verwarde personen’; After denial: Right wing answers to climate change; Support & Recovery: heftige ervaringen en tools voor herstel; Bewegingsgeschiedenis: Acties tegen Shell in de jaren ’80 en ’90; “Fossil Free Culture: Disobedient Art How To; Hoe de groei van hiërarchie tegengaan? Een wiskundige benadering; Fighting industrial agriculture; Art, Joy & Utopian Imagination; Building a Transportation Commons: The Carry Goods Network; Autonoom vastgoed; Lessons from Rojava; Bloed aan de Muur: Utopia aan het Spui?; Reflecting on Extinction Rebellion; Dennis Bos: De Rode Familie? Strijdbaarheid en erfelijkheid; Saturday Evening Extravaganza; Resisting gentrification: strategies for the housing struggle; ACU Party with dinner, spoken word, protestsongs, antifa hip hop and DJ sets
=: Defeating Dystopia? :=
Society is being disintegrated by ecological, economic and social crises and the extreme right and techno-dystopian reaction to these developments. For the oppressed and exploited our current reality is already a dystopia. Nonetheless, if current trends continue, as seems to be the case, this situation will only deteriorate further.
“The probability of apocalypse soon cannot be realistically estimated, but it is surely too high for any sane person to contemplate with equanimity.” ― Noam Chomsky
Does this realisation mean we should toss aside our hopes for a free and caring world? Raymond Williams wrote: “To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing.” But is it not naive to hold on to hope when we acknowledge our current powerlessness to change anything fundamental about our trajectory? Is the dream that ‘another world is possible’ not exactly that: a dream? Should we not be looking for a new way to continue the struggle while retaining our dignity? Look the future straight in the eye and scream into the abyss: “Bring it on!”?
“Well of course I get depressed sometimes, yes I do.” ― Angela Davis
At times, this feeling of powerlessness can become overwhelming and paralysing. We aim to prevent this by tackling this feeling head-on and discussing it collectively, to break open the taboo that surrounds it. We hope this will have a liberating effect, and inspire us to continue the struggle, no matter the odds.
Because if there is hope to be found, we will find it in resistance. In the struggle. It is there that prefiguration of radically different futures and fleeting utopias take shape. Besides, far from everyone has given up hope. From renewed interest in Afro-futurism to the commons, post-work and even fully automated luxury communism; hopeful ideas abound.
Next to the theme “Defeating Dystopia?”, the festival will host several dozen workshops, discussion and talks about strategies, in depth exploration and action around feminism, queer, anti-racism, anti-fascism, de-colonisation, anti-militarism, international solidarity, climate/ecology, labour & class struggles, migration/no-border, internet freedom/privacy, right to the city/gentrification and all their intersections.
Frantz Fanon wrote: “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.” Despite everything, we are the generation that will determine the impact of the current crises. Let’s use this edition of the 2.Dh5 festival to figure out how to make this change.
LOCATION:
The festival takes place at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst in Utrecht, a base for art, knowledge, and the political. It is part of the program series BAK, basis voor…, in which BAK join forces with other organizations in addressing shared urgencies and developing propositions for a future of “being together otherwise.”
The party on Saturday evening and on Sunday the closing of the festival with dinner and the programme arranged by The Barricade will take place in ACU.
https://www.2dh5.nl/en
