The international public conference organized by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Brussels and Athens Offices, aims to analyse aspects of the current energy model both in Greece and worldwide, and, mainly, to work on leftist alternative strategies and political practices.
The current model of energy production, distribution and consumption leads to a dead end. The exploitation of energy sources and the effects imposed on the environment by the current fossil-fuel-based energy model trigger major conflicts in society, resulting in tensions between struggles and state, corporate and international financial interests. In Greece, interventions by the “Troika” (EU, ECB, IMF) result in new conflicts on the energy model, as, amongst others, the energy costs for the private households rise. At the same time, privatization of public energy companies and deregulation of the energy market, struggles for energy democracy and the general dispute of the extractivism-based development model mobilize the society on a local, national and international level to search for alternatives – such that question the role of the market as the absolute regulator of energy systems and pose different priorities than just profits.
Participants of the RLS conference are researchers, academics, politicians, union members and activists from different regions of Greece (Northern Aegean, Cyclades, Crete, West Macedonia), as well as international guests from research and educational institutes, campaigns and organisations, from Germany to the UK and from Ecuador to Venezuela.
The conference is open to the public. Languages: English/Greek, with simultaneous translation. The opening event will take place on Thursday, October 10, at 18.30 in the auditorium of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), Nikis 4, Syntagma, Athens. On Friday, October 11, and Saturday, October 12, the conference will meet in TitaniA Hotel, Panepistimiou 52, Athens.
