Friday December 2 2011 / Internationalization
Globalisation Lecture #33 with Manuel Castells: Another life is possible
Film: 19.00 hrs
Debate and Lecture: 20.30 hrs
The world over, people are expressing their discontent with the current economic system. The Occupy Now movement clearly shows that they are fed up with outright capitalism. Change is possible, according to the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells in his lecture The crisis of global financial capitalism and its social consequences: An European Perspective. The economic downturn not only affects the economy, but also has cultural and social effects. It forces us to leave the beaten tracks. However, we do not have to re-invent the wheel; there are plenty of alternatives available.
Castells (University Professor and Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles and recipient of the 2011 Erasmus Medal of Science from Academia Europaea) was a student leader who was banished from Spain in the Sixties by General Franco. He is renowned as one of the most cited sociologists and analysts, publishing on the information and network society. In 2008 he formed a think tank with top international scientists at the request of the prestigious Gulbenkian Foundation. This think tank, The Aftermath Network, tackles the cause and effects of the economic downturn.
Pictures: Rebke Klokke
Castells also recently made a documentary in which he shows the various new ways people in Spain have discovered to recover from the crisis.
The only journalist member of the think tank is producer Bregtje van der Haak. On the occasion of the 33rd Globalisation Lecture by Manuel Castells, the VPRO presents a DVD-Box of three VPRO/Tegenlicht broadcasts by Bregtje van der Haak, as well as Castells' film.
Prior to the Globalisation Lecture at 7 pm, this documentary will be showed, entitled Another life is possible - Homage to Catalonia II by Joana Conill, Manuel Castells & Raul Ruiz.
Bregtje van der Haak and Manuel Castells
After the lecture there is a debate with Castells and, a.o. Paul van Seters, Professor Globalisation and Sustainability at the TiasNimbas Business School.
The Globalisation Lecture is an initiative of the NCDO, De Volkskrant, VPRO/Tegenlicht, Felix Meritis, Uitgeverij Lemniscaat, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep and Sandra Rottenberg.
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