Muwatin Institute to hold annual conference on shrinking spaces, resilience strategies

Birzeit University’s Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights will hold its 28th annual conference, “Societal Change Actors: Shrinking Spaces and Resilience Strategies,” on October 14-15, 2022.

Held both on campus and online, the conference will address shrinking spaces for societal change actors and possible resilience strategies at the Palestinian, regional and international levels. Theoretical concepts related to spaces for societal change and action will be analyzed and reviewed within the public sphere by shedding light on the spaces and frameworks of societal work in Palestine and beyond and the mechanisms for enhancing resilience strategies.

Six sessions will tackle key topics on social change actors and the realm of change: the Palestinian experience; liberation and social movements; paradoxes of public sphere interactions; steadfastness and alternative strategies for emancipating the public sphere; and the dynamics of struggle in the public sphere.

Prominent local and international researchers, academics, experts and activists will reassess the nature of Israeli colonialism, asking questions about what interests this system serves. Speakers will delve into the characteristics of anticolonial movements working in Palestinian society, and the dynamics between the liberation movements in Palestine and its allies and the imperial powers and their allies. They will discuss the tools and strategies used to impose hegemony and resilience.