transform! europe, Cultra/Abril Is Now, Civitas-Braga and the Braga Democrats’ Committee orgnise the International Conference “The Far Right and the Assault on Democracy – 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution”, with the participation of researchers from different backgrounds, on the 13th of April 2024 in Braga (Portugal).
The participation in the conference is free but requires prior registration here. |
The conference aims at promoting reflection and debate on the growth of far-right movements, which are gradually positioning themselves in the political system, threatening democratic regimes and processes. These far-right movements are calling into question civilisational achievements with the aim of undermining all the political, social, economic, educational and cultural achievements that were made possible, especially in the second half of the 20th century or, in the case of Portugal, since the 25th of April 1974, the day of the Carnation Revolution.
Nowadays, the resurgence of more or less extreme, conservative, nationalist, xenophobic, misogynist, racist, intolerant movements, based on loose religious beliefs and hand in hand with the world’s high economic and financial interests, are preparing to bring about profound changes in political systems and society.
In turn, people are powerless in the face of the regression of social and labour rights and the welfare state, and are vulnerable to populist “saviour of the fatherland” rhetoric.
This phenomenon is not unrelated to the decades of neoliberal governance, the “third way”, or other political orientations yet to be categorised, which are increasingly dependent on a transnational economic and financial oligarchy, almost always anonymous, and which sees the return of totalitarianism as a new possibility for accumulation, free from the social obligations and human and environmental rights that democracies impose.
Programme
Opening session – 9.30am
◊ Anaïs Fley, transform! europe
Session 1 – 9.55am
Why is the far right growing? The crisis of neoliberalism
◊ Cecília Honório, Fernando Rosas, Jaime Roque
Session 2 – 11.40am
The new far right and historical fascism
◊ Bruno Madeira, Hugo Palheta, Manuel Loff
Lunch – 13h15 to 14h30
Performance by the April choir
Session 3 – 14.40
Feminism and the far right
◊ Andreia Peniche, Sheila Khan, Virgínia Ferreira
Session 4 – 16h10
The Far Right, Immigration and the Welfare State
◊ José Soeiro, Manuel Carlos Silva, Rita Ribeiro
Session 5 – 17.50
Culture and the far right
◊ José Manuel Lopes Cordeiro, Manuel Sarmento
Closing session – 19h15