This workshop will seek to develop dialogues between activists across Europe, sharing experiences and perspectives. It starts from the analysis that three interconnected dynamics led to Brexit: the triumph of British/English colonial nostalgia, the interconnected cultural rejection of multiculturalism and immigration, and the consequences of neoliberal economics, specifically post-industrialism in the UK. In the workshop participants will review the current state of Brexit negotiations, outline how progressive Remainers in the UK are challenging the nationalist and neoliberal agenda of their government, explore opportunities for common action, and reflect on the possibilities opening up for a better Europe.
Confirmed facilitator: Luke Cooper
Luke Cooper is a senior lecturer in Politics at Anglia Ruskin University and the convenor of Another Europe Is Possible, a UK-based campaigning organisation working for a progressive outcome to the Brexit negotiations. His research interests are wide-ranging but particularly focus on the relationship between nationalism and capitalism in the modern world system, and the potential construction of alternatives ‘beyond the nation-state’. He is the co-editor of a forthcoming volume, Citizenship, Identity, and Social Movements in the New Hong Kong (Routledge), which is one of the first book-length English language publications looking at the recent rise of Hong Kong localism.
