The IV International of Marxist Feminist Conference organized by Transform! Europe, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Iratzar Fundazioa, Critical Theory Bilbo-Barcelona (BIBA CT), Berliner Institut für Kritische Theorie (InkriT), Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and ParteHartuz will be held online on the 11, 12 and 13 of November.

Tithi Bhattacharya, Lorena Cabnal, Ochy Curiel, Christine Delphy, Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, Dilar Dirik, Elsa Dorlin, Jules Falquet, Silvia Federici, Nancy Fraser and Frigga Haug are, among others, the key-speakers of this edition.

The conference is organised in two main columns:

– First column: These key-speakers, world-renowned and historical feminists, will expose and debate certain aspects of their works such as the analysis of value, work, social reproduction, racialization, sexualization and the state. Moreover, they will also delve into certain dominant theses and practices in the traditional Feminist and Marxist field, guided by a decolonial, materialist, ecosocialist and transocialist feminism.

– Second column: the collective panels, in which will participate the spokespersons of the proposals, the organizations and the theories of the global south, as well as the nations without state of the global north.

The majority of participants come from both militancy and activism, as well as from the academic field, and they will present individual and collective presentations from organizations, social movements and trade unions.

The geopolitical axis:

– Proposals, criticism and analysis from Latin America: organizations and speakers from Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela, among others.

– Proposals, criticism and analysis from the Middle East: specifically, Syria, Afghanistan and Iran.

– Proposals, criticism and analysis from Asia: Indonesia, Korea, Pakistan and China.

– Proposals, criticism and analysis from Europe: Andalusia, Catalunya, Basque Country, Germany Italia, Greek, Croatia and Serbia, among others.

Main themes of the panels:

– Theoretical debates from intersectionality or overlap in various fields, such as value, state, law, subject, care, production and social reproduction; proposed around new organizations and repertoires of struggle and protest.

– Specific case studies, based on examples of struggle, resistance and organization. Apart from the various feminist strikes in the global north and south, there will also be time to delve into local and specific resistances in companies, internet, universities and the public eye. The new trade unions of women workers in feminized areas will also be discussed, as well as feminist unionism in the first sector, industrial sector and service sector, including analysis of the current digital and financialized capitalism

– Plenary on the Thirteen Theses of Marxist Feminism with Frigga Haug and other historical Marxist Feminists, to delve into the various Theses developed at the previous Marxist Feminism Congresses in Austria, Germany and Sweden

The conference will be broadcasted via the platform ZOOM. Morning panels will be issued in original version and evening plenary sessions will have simultaneous translation.

All the information about the conference is available on the web www.marxfemconference.com and on social networks.

The 4th International Marxist Feminist Conference, initially scheduled for October 15, 16 and 17 of this year, will be delayed until next year due to the COVID-19 crisis. This is what the organizers have decided, who are already working on the program for 2021. The new dates are November 11, 12 and 13, 2021 and the conference will be held on-line.

The main speakers have already confirmed their attendance. During these days, therefore, the voices of international references such as Silvia Federici or Lorena Cabnal, who have visited the Basque Country on several occasions, will be heard. The North American Nancy Fraser, the Italo-Mexican Francesca Gargallo and the Indian references Tithi Bhattacharya and Gayatri Spivak have also confirmed their attendance. In addition, more than a hundred communication proposals have been received. This will be the fourth edition of this conference that in other years has been held in cities such as Berlin, Vienna or Lund. The conference will be financed and organized by Tranform! Europe and the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), together with the Iratzar Foundation, Critical Theory Bilbo- Barcelona (BIBA CT), Institut für kritische Thoerie (InkriT), the Rosa Luxemburgo Foundation and the Basque research group Parte Hartuz.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Gina Dent, Surya Parekh and Jule Goikoetxea will take part in the webinar entitled “The Horizon of Black Lives Matter: How can marxist feminism connect with the BLM globally?”, which will be held next Sunday, 25th October, at 6 p.m. CET (10 a.m. PDT, 13 noon EDT).

Referents of feminism, the speakers will address issues such as the systemic racism, the conditions of subalternity and feminisms, which all of them converge in the BLM movement and provide a crucial practice to the marxist feminism. The webinar will last approximately one hour and the audience will have a chat to make questions and share critical opinions and reflections.

This seminar is part of the activities programmed by the International Marxist Feminist Conference that, due to the Covid-19 crises, has been postponed and will be held from the 11th to the 13th November 2021. It is organized by Transform! Europe, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Iratzar Fundazioa, Critical Theory Bilbo-Barcelona (BIBA CT), Berliner Institut für Kritische Theorie (InkriT), the Rosa Luxemburgo Foundation and ParteHartuz.

The meeting will be accessible through the MARXFEM 2020 YouTube channel.

After much reflection, in view of the forecasts for the coming months of the pandemic associated with Covid-19, and the nature of the conference itself, which is international, we would like to convey to you the decision that has been reached: in order to ensure the safety of us all, the conference as a whole will take place online on the same dates as previously scheduled.

The keynote speakers will remain the same. We will have with us: Tithi Bhattacharya, Lorena Cabnal, Christine Delphy, Elsa Dorlin, Silvia Federici, Nancy Fraser, Francesca Gargallo, Frigga Haug, Danièle Kergoat and Gayatri Spivak.

For this reason, as the conference will be webcast live and open for all, there will be no registration. In other words, those who did not sign up at the time, both those who remained on the waiting list and those who were unable to register, will still be able to attend. The link to access the platform will be sent to you at a later date.

However, holding the conference online has some disadvantages, for instance, due to format constraints, unfortunately we will have to reduce the number of communications and panels. Many of the panels that were approved at the time will therefore not be able to take place. The new selection will be communicated by the end of July to all those who sent us approved communications and panel proposals by email.

The criteria to be determined for this reduced selection will be as follows:

– Be among previously selected panels/communications.                                                                     

– Coherence of content with the reorganization of the conference program.                                         

– Geographical and scientific criteria.

– Priority will be given to both organized movements/groups and collective panel proposals (although we will also have individual scientific communications).