Veranstaltungsprogramm

The contribution addresses the question of where and how transition processes towards what the author calls tech-autocracies can be analyzed and assessed. AI and its use through social media play a crucial role in this. The contribution first outlines what is meant by a functioning democratic public sphere and then argues that while AI programs (and especially large language models) now have a 'minimal rationality', they do not meet other conditions of rationality such as coherence, inclusivity and equality. They also promote a positive user reaction and an affirmative, almost servile communication culture. Coupled with certain social and political conditions, it is argued, this reinforces a 'culture of indignation' and degradation, an addiction to affirmation and ultimately a loss of trust in democratic institutions.

Commenting on the panel presentations, the author will rely on the framework offered at the introduction and the detailed analyses presented by the panelists in order to highlight two general perspectives and conceptions of “transitions”: a) the descriptions of recent regressive social changes in countries such as Brazil, Germany, Mexico, and the United States; and b) the search for possible normative guidance to help define a new progressive understanding of participatory democratic practices in these contexts. Recent social changes brought about by Neocolonialism and Neoliberalism have led to a questioning of the modern linear understanding of progress and the realization that both progression and regression are possible in contemporary multicultural democratic societies. New theories and practices are necessary to address these processes in light of recent political trends, and more imagination is required to design comprehensive normative models to promote stable democracies. The comments will insist on the need to integrate more accurate critical descriptions of both regressive and progressive social transitions in order to fulfill two urgent tasks today: a) to understand how supposedly dormant and weakened forces may reemerge in different contexts and support autocratic regimes; and b) to identify the existing alternative resources that are also available and may be able to generate positive energy and changes that contribute to participatory democracy.

The present Mexican context is characterized by a political transformative project of the neoliberal structures as well as of the current impealism featured by a neofascist coloration. This should be understood under the following: in Mexico, the long period of control by one party led to the development of new social movements and political changes, culminating with the election of a new left party and the election of the first female president in the history of Mexico.This political goals reinforced a period of transitions in which the political movement of women, that one led by indigenous communities (pueblos originarios), the social movements of workers, and that of the sexual and gender differences converge.

From this perspective, the paper discusses the link between important social and sociological theories that allow us to explain as well as to understand political historical processes of transitions with the current historical moment of transformation in Mexico - which is a part of the long history of emancipation in Latin America. Enrique Dussel and Aníbal Quijano are two authors who allow to understand the two concepts the paper will be take explictly into account: political transformation (explained by the Dussel's political theory ) and decoloniality (supported mainly with the Aníbal Quijano's social, and cultural theory). A third point considered in the presentation is the justifications of some normative criteria for the critique to political movements of transformation.

The contributions by Latin American scholars such as Aníbal Quijano, Maria Lugones and Marlene Chauí provide foundations for the discussion of coloniality, violence against women, and authoritarian tendencies in Brazil as well as the United States. Both Brazil and the United States have a shared history of colonization of indigenous peoples, enslavement, gender oppression, and migration which resulted in the settling and formation of nations of continental size with diverse geographies and populations. While the rise of autocratic governments in both countries is often discussed within the conceptual framework of European fascism, the study of the particular context of the Americas also provides insights for understanding regressive and anti-democratic tendencies especially in relationship to gender and race.

The decline of democracy throughout much of the world is directly tied to the rise of neoliberalism and market fundamentalism. I will argue that a major reason for the drift away from social democracy has been the US. Its economic, military and cultural influence bolstered neoliberal forces throughout most (but not all) of the world. But the hold and influence that the US has had on even the ring of its peer liberal democracies (New Zealand and Australia, through East Asia and across Canada to Europe) has been weakened thanks the Trump. I will discuss how this creates an opening to reorient these societies and the wider world back towards social democracy. In addition to speculating on these new, exciting possibilities, I will discuss some of the ways that the left can or should take advantage of this moment.