ZOMBIE CATEGORIES --
RIO+10 AND THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE
Debating the Jo'Burg Memo
Date: August 26
Time: 18h15-18h45 (theatre) and 19h00-20h00
(debate)
Venue: Boell Forum at the Global People's Forum +
[ where is it ]
With Ricardo Navarro, Friends of
the Earth International and Wolfgang Sachs, Co-ordinator
Jo'burg Memo
"'North' and 'South'
are nothing else than 'Zombie categories', i.e. concepts that clumsily
survive in everyday speech despite the fact that they don't reflect
political realities. The classical juxtaposition of the G7 (plus
Russia) and the G77 (plus China) still exists in international fora,
but it fails to represent the political dynamics of the real world.
The collective 'South'comprises the most heterogeneous situations,
ranging from the financial capital Singapore or the oil-rich Saudi-Arabia
to the poverty-stricken Mali. As such, a common unifying interest
is difficult to discern. The same is true for the North, though
to a lesser degree. 'North' and 'South' are therefore mainly diplomatic
artifacts. Most importantly, though, the conventional North-South
distinction obscures the fact that the dividing line in today's
world, if there is any, is not primarily running between Northern
and Southern societies, but right across all of these societies.
The major rift appears to be between the globalised rich and the
localized poor." (The Jo'burg
Memo, pp. 19+20).
Are "North" and "South" "Zombie categories"?
What meaning do they still command if we look at an increasingly
complex international scenery. Do these categories still reflect
important realities? In our Memo debate, we'd like to discuss these
issues in depth.
The debate starts at 19h00. It will be preceded from 18h15 to
18h45 by "Fair Wealth?", a theatre play inspired
by the Jo'burg Memo, by the Sibikwa
Community Theatre Group.
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