Rio+20 Portal

One month before the big UN Earth Summit Rio+20 (June 20th-22nd) Crossroads’ first edition will focus on the socio-ecological crisis, the destruction of nature and livelihoods and the worldwide struggles against it. The Festival especially wants to shed light on current developments, which only get minor, uncritical or biased cover in the mainstream media.

The program will have a strong focus on the global south and on the courageous people who fight for the preservation of their/our livelihoods on a daily basis. Award winning films (many of them will premier in Austria) and internationally renowned thinkers and activists will inspire critical discussions about some of the most important issues of our time. Promising alternative projects, initiatives and ways of living and organizing societies will be presented – with the aim of empowering people to get active and to help fight for a sustainable future in which nature is conserved and everybody is able to live well.

Films:

The official selection (around 30 films, *lots of them in English or with English subtitles!*) will be announced around mid April. Some films will already be presented before via the festival website.

Talks, Discussions, Workshops:

The issues:

• May 18th-20th: The socio-ecological Crisis and Rio+20

The Big Summit (Analysis, Critique, Alternatives), current developments of the crisis and (anti-)crisis policies, groundbreaking projects and initiatives, alternative political and economic strategies to achieve sustainability and a good life for all, future scenarios and perspectives

• May 25th-27th: Green Economies / Just Economies

„Green Economy“ (What does it mean? What is discussed in the UN-context? Which risks and opportunities are connected to it?), groundbreaking projects and initiatives, alternative political and economic strategies to achieve sustainability and a good life for all, future perspectives; Solidarity Economy, Degrowth, Commons, Buen Vivir

Speakers:

Ricardo Navarro (Former chair of Friends of the Earth International and winner of the prestigous Goldman Prize which is considered the “Nobel Prize for Ecology” / El Salvador), Birgit Mahnkopf (Professor for European social policy at the University for Economics and Law Berlin, author of „Limits to Globalization“), James Hansen (Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University / USA), Verónica Moscoso Cordero (Filmmaker and Journalist / Ecuador, USA), Ulrich Brand (Professor for International Politics at the University of Vienna), Bernhard Obermayr (Greenpeace), Barbara Ettinger (Filmmaker, Niijii Films / USA), Andreas Exner (Social Innovation Network), Irmi Salzer (Farmer, La Via Campesina), Mario Matzer (Economist, Arbeiterkammer Steiermark), Franziskus Forster (Political scientist and activist, AgrarAttac), Christian Zeller (Professor for Economic Geography at the University of Salzburg), Brigitte Kratzwald (Commons activist, commons.at), Ernst Schriefl (energieautark consulting, powerdown), and many more.

Venue: FORUM STADTPARK, Graz/Austria.