EC Meeting Papers July 2018

Free Trade or Fair trade?

42 INTERNATIONALISM EVENTS HOW TO SIGN UP ADVANCED SKILLS ARTS & CULTURE FUNCTIONAL SKILLS FOUNDATION SKILLS EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES xx xx

Days: 1

Date: 14 October 2018

Location: Quorn Grange Hotel

We live in a profoundly unequal world, where economic democracy is rarely acknowledged – let alone realised – and were the dominance of neoliberalism institutionalises inequality and the pursuit of greed. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. This GFTU day school examines the way in which practical (and often surprisingly modest) alterations to the rules governing world trade might result in the extension of democracy

to trade and investment policies that promote a more equitable distribution of wealth across the globe. Case studies, from Africa and Latin America, do indeed show that ‘another world is possible’ and that international trade union solidarity can provide a means to unravelling and opposing strategies of ‘off-shoring’ industries at home, and ensuring the promotion of human rights and environmental protection, abroad.

Tutor: Bert Schouwenberg

Kurdistan: Its’ People & Politics

Days: 1

Date: 11 May 2019

Location: Quorn Grange Hotel

There are 30-40 million Kurds living in a region that stretches through Turkey to Syria in the West, Iran to the East, and Iraq in the North. Though they are a people without a state – and despite repeated persecutions – their culture and language sets them apart from their neighbours. This day school, building upon GFTU’s highly successful Kurdish Festival in 2017, aims to immerse Reps and activists in a culture that is vibrant, free and open, and which stretches back beyond the 12th Century CE.

At the same time, the sessions are designed to forge links with the struggles of today, whether for national self-determination; freedom for Ocalan; or the ongoing campaigns for freedom and recognition in Turkey and against Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria. This promises to be a unique opportunity to get the inside story of a deeply progressive people and their politics, and a means of suggesting practical actions of solidarity that can help promote an understanding of Kurdish culture and politics.

Tutor: S. Sweeney

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