CIVILIZATION OR BARBARISM

The International Meeting “Civilization or Barbarism”, which takes place at the end of September in the cities of Serpa and Moura , in the south of Portugal, has, as its main purpose, the debate of the great challenges and problems of the contemporary world. The name chosen for the event – Civilization or Barbarism – simbolizes the threats that hang over the World at the threshold of the XXI st century.

The web site resistir.info and the Portuguese magazine "Vértice" are the promoters of the event which counts with the support of cultural institutions from Europe and America as well as local governments in Alentejo.

The promoters of the event strongly believe that Humanity is undergoing a global crisis – simultaneously economic, social, financial, ecological, military and cultural – unseparable from the project of a planetary domination that poses a threat to the very continuity of life on Earth. The Meeting aims at the thorough reflection of the devastating effects of a power strategy that, by its ambition and dehumanization, only finds precedent in that developped by the German III Reich. At the same time, it hopes to contribute to an acquired conscience of the existing danger, responding, thereby, to the objectives of the World Social Forum, and to the interventiveness of the people in the great upcoming struggles.

The belief that the capitalism crisis, in its present stage, having assumed a structural character, is leading humanity to an abyss through the so called “preventive or anticipative wars”, oriented towards the plunder of the natural resources of the peoples' of the Third World, is shared by an ever increasing number of world reknown historians, writers, sociologists and economists.

Among the international guests invited – are the Egyptian Samir Amin, the French George Gastaud, Georges Labica, Henry Alleg and Remy Herrera, the Hungarian István Mészaros, the Cuban Isabel Monal, the Argentinean Nestor Kohan, the Mexicans Arturo Huerta and Alberto Anaya, the Chilean Oscar Azócar G., the Brazilians Ademar Bogo, César Benjamin and Umberto Martins, the Venezuelan Rodolfo Sanz, and the North Americans John Catalinotto and Brett Le Clark. The prestigious "Rebelión" will also be represented by their respective directors, Luciano Alzaga.

Amidst the national guests there will be the former Prime-Minister General Vasco Gonçalves, Urbano Tavares Rodrigues, Francisco Melo, Rui Namorado Rosa, Miguel Urbano Rodrigues, Jorge Figueiredo, Abílio Fernandes and José Maria Pós-de-Mina.·

The presentations will focus on a wide range of themes, namely:

• The structural crisis of capitalism and socialism as an alternative to barbarism.
• The crisis of capitalism. The complementarity in the struggle of social movements and of revolutionary parties and organizations. The question of alternatives.
• The State Terrorism of the US and the imperialist agressions in the strategy of «preventive wars».
• Revolution and Counter-revolution in Latin America. ALCA as a project of total re-colonization. The relevance of Marxism. The institutional “means” in the struggle for power.
• The struggle against imperialism in the European Union. Strategies of social change in dependent capitalist societies.
• The mediatic perversion and hegemony of the transnationals in the media. The role of alternative information, namely on the Internet.
• The structural crisis of capitalism and the social struggles in the European Union and Africa.
• The role of Local Government in the power structures and as a factor of social change.
  

The Meeting is open to the general public both in Serpa and Moura.

Interpretation services in English and French will be available.