friday 09:45 – 11:15

We, the invisible hours, spaces and relations of the city: Labouring Istanbul, labouring Berlin
Moderated Participation of Audience

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The interactive panel will concentrate on making labour in the city visible and encourage the audience to participate in the discussion. It will lay out the grounds for a comparison between Istanbul and Berlin, delineating lines of continuity and difference between labouring experiences in the two cities. Capital accumulation in Istanbul accelerated through emergency laws and neo-populist consensus building. Yet the everyday narratives of the masses of the working population remain invisible not only to the public but also to the working people themselves. When has the labouring city actually been visible during the last decade in Istanbul? Only if it dies or resists? The panel will focus on the construction of Istanbul’s third airport – the largest construction project the city has ever experienced. While the European Union was hit by the crisis, both the economy and population of Berlin continued to grow, especially the service and information technology sectors. Who is benefitting from these expansions? From popularised images of shiny IT-startups to the hidden backrooms of restaurants, the labour landscape of the city has remained unequal. However, struggles are emerging with visible protests on the streets and the silent construction of networks of resistance. The panel will address recent labour struggles in both cities, focusing on their forms of protest and organisation.

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Stefania Animento, Aslı Odman

// hgs festsaal

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