<synthesis> Black Box East · Workshop Results

[Krystian Woznicki]

Hi INC-folks,

the BLACK BOX EAST conference took place on September 23, 24, and 25,
2021. The keynotes were recorded as videos. Moreover, five workshops
brought activists, researchers, and cultural workers from more than 20
countries together. Using Big Blue Button, an open source alternative to
corporate data extraction tools like Zoom, participants were invited to
come up with cooperative projects. The results include various
multimedia stories, two games, a digital exhibition, and an audio play.
You can find an overview of all video talks and workshop projects on the
BLACK BOX EAST website: https://blackboxeast.berlinergazette.de

You can also look at the individual projects by scrolling down.

*New Cold War*
What imaginaries of the Other are intended to hinder “us,” whoever we
are, from unlocking and exploring the BLACK BOX EAST? What are the real
and virtual obstacles that Western propaganda (and Eastern
counter-propaganda) create? What does it mean to avoid the trap of
binary bloc thinking and revitalize, for instance, the legacies of the
Non-Aligned Movement? Aleksei Borisionak, Lara Luna Bartley, Max Haiven,
Ela Kagel, Andrea Liu, Greg McLaughlin, and Olia Sosnovskaya looked for
answers to these questions. The resulting workshop projects are bundled
here:
https://projekte.berlinergazette.de/workshops/2021/09/25/new-cold-war

*Shouldering the West*
Who are the Eastern workers shouldering the profits of the West? What
are current struggles inside and outside the labor union context? What
are the differences and commonalities between labor struggles in East
Germany and Eastern Europe at large? What role does the rise of platform
labor play here? And, last but not least, since “Eastern” workers are in
demand at home and abroad (hence doubly needed and doubly exploited),
what does it mean for mobile workers to struggle at home and abroad?
Sana Ahmad, Rutvica Andrijasevic, Miglè Bareikytè, Anna Calori, Stefan
Candea, Slobodan Golušin, Adela Hincu, Holger Kral, Dunja Kučinac, and
Rena Raedle looked for answers to these questions. The resulting
workshop project is accessible here:
https://projekte.berlinergazette.de/workshops/2021/09/22/shouldering-the-west

*The Wretched of the East*
What does it mean to tell, share, and listen to stories from within
historical and current social movements in former Yugoslavia (e.g., the
Balkan Route), the former Soviet Union, and other parts of the former
Eastern Bloc (Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc.)? Are these struggles
linked among each other? What are the gaps where interventions have the
best hopes of creating impact? How is it possible to pave ways for new
common grounds and create bridges between struggles? Sylvain Alias,
Marta Bogdanska, Mika Buljevic, Kalina Drenska, Alina Floroi, hvale,
Gosia Jagiello, Cristina Pombo, Lela Rekhviashvili, Karolina Sobel, and
Martina Staneva looked for answers to these questions. The resulting
workshop project is accessible here:
https://projekte.berlinergazette.de/workshops/2021/09/25/the-wretched-of-the-east

*Post-Covid-19 States*
What is the fall-out of the Covid-19 pandemic-related multiple crises in
the post-Soviet Union, post-Communist Eastern Europe, post-Yugoslavia?
What kind of information is available? What are the criteria to measure
the consequences? What are the political and economic dynamics in “the
East” that in the course of the pandemic further aggravate structural
problems? Jose M. Calatayud, Mark Cinkevich, Géraldine Delacroix, Anna
Engelhardt, Andrada Fiscutean, Adriana Homolova, Martina Freyja Kartelo,
Monisha Martins, Lira Ramadani, Sasha Shestakova, Sotiris Sideris, and
Dzina Zhuk looked for answers to these questions. The resulting workshop
projects are bundled here:
https://projekte.berlinergazette.de/workshops/2021/09/22/post-covid-19-states

*Politics of Liberty*
What notions of “liberty” manifest outside of an East vs West
ideological divide? What does it mean to disarm Western propaganda of
“liberty” as an imperial weapon of capitalist expansion without
replacing it with yet another oppressive system? And what does it mean
to work in the shadow of imperialism from both “the East” and West while
creating transnational solidarity for a more just and inclusive world?
Susanne Braun, Laura Burtan, Abiol Lual Deng, Aslı Dinç, Katrin Kämpf,
Mathana, Shintaro Miyazaki, Nina Pohler, Nicolay Spesivtsev, and Cagri
Taskin looked for answers to these questions. The resulting workshop
projects are bundled here:
https://projekte.berlinergazette.de/workshops/2021/09/22/politics-of-liberty

We documented the processes in a photo album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/berlinergazette/albums/72157719917837016

Please spread the word by sharing this email with your friends!

And please re-tweet this:
https://twitter.com/berlinergazette/status/1447464593249480706

Best wishes,

Krystian (for the BG team)

PS: We are happy to announce the second webinar of our cooperation with
the Transnational Institute Amsterdam and the editors of the book “The
Political Economy of Eastern Europe 30 years into the ‘Transition’: New
Left Perspectives from the Region.” Co-hosted on the Berliner Gazette’s
Big Blue Button server, the upcoming webinar is entitled “Beyond the
‘China threat’: Chinese investments in Eastern Europe and the
reorganisation of global capitalism” and will take place on October 14,
at 6 p.m. CET. Here is the link to more info and registration:
https://www.tni.org/en/webinar/beyond-the-china-threat-chinese-investments-in-eastern-europe-and-the-reorganisation-of

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BG – Berliner Gazette | since 1999 | https://berlinergazette.de

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BLACK BOX EAST – "Post-Communist" Laboratories of Globalization
BG Project 2021: Workshops, Texts + Artworks
https://blackboxeast.berlinergazette.de

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SILENT WORKS – The Hidden Labor in AI-Capitalism  
BG Project 2020: Exhibition, Conference + Texts
https://silent-works.berlinergazette.de

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MORE WORLD – How Can We Cooperate Across Borders to Tackle Climate Change?
Results from BG’s 20th Anniversary Event: Videos, Audios, Projects + Texts 
https://more-world.berlinergazette.de 

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