A workshop for anyone who wants to learn more about climate debt, neocolonial power relations and solidarity-based forms of resistance – and who would like to turn this knowledge into a zine!
The climate catastrophe is profoundly unjust. While countries and companies in the Global North have historically profited disproportionately from greenhouse gas-intensive production methods, colonialism, and global inequalities, communities in the Global South are left to bear the brunt of the consequences.
What does this mean for people from the Global North? How can we address questions of responsibility, justice, and reparations? And what might a grassroots politics look like that doesn't remain symbolic but actually changes existing power structures?
In this workshop, we will explore the concept of climate reparations . We will examine the connections between colonialism, extractivism, the climate crisis, and global inequalities, and ask what "repair" and "reparation" can actually mean. This involves not only financial compensation, but also questions of responsibility, redistribution, and shaping more just futures.
However, we will not only provide theoretical input, but we will also approach this complex topic practically through a medium that itself has a long history as a tool of social movements: the zine.
Zines are self-made, usually independently produced small publications. Feminist, queer, anti-racist, and other activist movements have used them to create alternative public spheres, make their own perspectives visible, and share knowledge beyond the mainstream. Zine-making doesn't mean being able to design or write perfectly. The focus is on DIY, experimentation, and collective knowledge production.
After a joint introduction to the topic of climate reparations and the political history of zines, we will work in small groups with materials and facts on various aspects of the topic. We will search for stories, questions, and perspectives that we consider important and then translate them into our own texts, collages, drawings, comics, or other forms.
This can result in a collaborative zine – or a collection of different pages and perspectives. What's crucial is not so much the finished product, but the collaborative process: learning, discussing, questioning, and taking ownership of knowledge.
This workshop is aimed at activists, politically engaged individuals, and anyone interested in climate justice , regardless of their prior knowledge. The goal is not to produce ready-made answers. Together, we want to ask questions, highlight diverse perspectives, and explore what a solidarity-based and decolonial perspective on the climate crisis might look like.
No prior knowledge or artistic skills are required.
The event will take place at Pöge-Haus, Hedwigstraße 20, 04315 Leipzig-Ost.
The workshop will be held partly in German and partly in English. Please let us know if you require translation into either language.