International Oikonomia - (De)colonization

International Oikonomia / Workcamp Camp

Dates
When: 2024-08-18 - 2024-08-23
Arrivals from 17:00 of the 18 August
Ends at 10:00 of the 23 August

“Colonialism thrives on the falsehood of superiority, where one group of people assumes their right to control and dominate others”

Nelson Mandela

“It is the final triumph of a system of domination when the dominated start singing its virtues”

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house

Audre Lorde

Any political and social regime which destroys the self-determination of a people also destroys the creative power of that people

James Baldwin

Why is it so difficult to grasp the complexities of colonialism and coloniality? And why do so many people live unquestioningly within a system that keeps on oppressing, damaging, dehumanizing, and believing in the superiority of some over others? How could this happen if we are all equal beings, a belief that most humans intuitively share? Also, how do colonialism and coloniality intersect with our notions of nature and humanity’s inability to tackle the planetary ecological crisis it produced? Did colonialism actually facilitate the destructive nature of the global production-consumption system and can we solve this problem without decolonising our minds?

To tackle these and other related questions to the Agape- Oikonomia’s topic of 2024, we invite you to join us on a 7-day journey where we will explore how colonialism shapes our everyday lives, how it influences our identities and opportunities on the micro and the macro scales, and how it governs our relationships all-in-all. On the one hand, we will explore the emotions and sentiments inside us as a consequence of living in this system, being aware of its complexities and trying to pay attention not only to its material dimension but also its psychological nuances; the oppressor and the oppressed. How can we find traces of this phenomenon in our personal lives, how does it influence us, how have we experienced it, and maybe subconsciously are part of it, how can we bring together the structures with our individual experiences, and what can we do to overcome them?

Nevertheless, we will try to understand how it creates and continues to shape the economic, political, and social macrostructures we live in nowadays. In other words, why do we continue to operate in political and economic systems that are rooted in the oppression and abuse of other people? How do internalization and enactment of neoliberalism play their role in keeping up with these structures? What does it mean to be the ‘Other’ in a world where every inch of your reality and experiences are a result of colonialism and coloniality? Is it possible to set yourself free and be one of the people to conceive and realize a decolonised society? Will we dare to decolonise our minds during this camp?

On our journey, we invite you to step out of our comfort zones and challenge ourselves to think of creative and practical ways to dismantle the evolving patterns of colonialism and coloniality influencing our lives and communities. We invite you to come on this journey with us to rebel against these chains. We will do so in an international group of people from all over the world through non-formal education activities, opening up debates and discussions, playing and living with each other, moving, dancing, speaking, discussing, writing: being together trying to figure out how to decolonise our minds. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what your educational background is, where you come from, or how society categorizes you: we invite you as a human being to disentangle this complex but fundamental phenomenon with us and its implication on humanity’s past, present, and future.