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Contemporary Societies

by Richard Meckien - published Jun 26, 2013 06:40 PM - - last modified Aug 26, 2015 03:35 PM

Manifestação no Largo da Batata, São Paulo

The Contemporary Societies Laboratory intends to articulate the IEA researchers and other invited professionals to the critical examination of social phenomena of our time and the role of the involved actors. The agenda of the laboratory includes political, institutional, economic, social and cultural themes.

Initially, the laboratory is linked to the 'The Common' meta-curatorship, facing a possible culture of human rights, democracy, social justice, accessibility, well-being and constitution of sociocultural ambiences/interfaces, among others.

Events

June 21, 2013

What’s Happening?


July 3, 2013

What's next?

ICU BRAZIL

The first initiative of the laboratory is the ICU Brazil*, a series of meetings to discuss the social movements that have taken over the streets of Brazil and some cities in the world in June, 2013.

The series dedicated to the meaning and impact of these events began on June 21, with the debate What's Happening?, which involved 14 researchers and aroused great interest of the public and the press. This event was the first public debate on the demonstrations organized by a Brazilian university.

The series had its continuation on July 3 with the meeting What's Next?, in which four experts were interviewed by researchers from the Institute on aspects linked to three main issues:

  • Do the measures and decisions adopted and proposed by the government meet the aspirations of the popular demonstrations in recent weeks?
  • Is a political, social national and economic pact feasible?
  • Is a significant political reform to reduce the representation deficit, to extend the mechanisms of participatory democracy and to bring greater transparency to the political and electoral system possible?

 

*The acronym ICU (Intensive Care Unit) has been suggested by Professor Euclides Ayres de Castilho, from the USP's Faculty of Medicine and former member of the IEA-USP's Board, to classify the reflection effort necessary for an understanding of the present situation of the country and the search for solutions to problems highlighted by the demonstrations.