Corporate Mapping Project - Call for presentations: Regime of obstruction conference (deadline: Dec. 10, 2019)
James Rowe
Regime of Obstruction: Exposing and confronting the power of the fossil fuel industry
For those advocating for ambitious climate action and for a rapid transition away from fossil fuel dependence, a key barrier is obstruction by the fossil fuel industry. Over the last four years, the Corporate Mapping Project (CMP) — a multi-year research and public engagement partnership jointly led by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), University of Victoria, and Parkland Institute — has been investigating and documenting the fossil fuel industry’s influence on our economy, politics and culture in Canada. For more information about the Corporate Mapping Project, please visit: www.corporatemapping.ca.
About the Conference
On May 21-23, 2020, the Corporate Mapping Project will host Regime of Obstruction: Exposing and confronting the power of the fossil fuel industry, a conference that will take place at the University of Victoria, British Columbia.
Confirmed speakers to date include Winona LaDuke (Honor the Earth), Pam Palmater (Ryerson University), Paul Engler (“This is an Uprising”), and Avi Lewis (The Leap).
The conference will tackle broadly fossil fuel influence and power, including themes highlighted through the CMP:
- How the fossil fuel corporate network is structured and financed.
- Industry’s reach and influence into political and cultural life and civil society (including use of social media networks and citizen advocacy groups, and the politics of climate denial).
- How corporate power is exercised and resisted along the extraction/production/distribution chain, including at ‘flashpoints’ of resistance.
- Indigenous resistance and self-determination in the face of fossil fuel corporate power.
- How to phase out fossil fuel production in Canada in a manner that ensures a just transition for workers, communities and Indigenous people.
- Strategies for challenging fossil corporate power and holding industry accountable for its impacts on people, lands and the environment.
The conference will be a blended academic/activist/movement-building gathering with space for up to 200 participants. We invite people from a wide range of backgrounds to join us: academic and community-based researchers; Indigenous organizations, leaders, and activists; activists involved in climate and social justice movements; large and small civil society organizations and community leaders from a variety of sectors; and students and youth activists.
The conference will include 4-8 breakout sessions per day and 3-4 plenary sessions, and keynote talks.
We are seeking presentation proposals for both breakout and plenary sessions, on the broad themes outlined above.
We encourage a wide variety of proposals that will stimulate discussion and interaction, such as interactive sessions, panels, discussion groups, case study or strategy sessions, and skill-building workshops. You may submit more traditional presentation or panel formats, but note that space in the program for these is more limited than at academic conferences.
Submission deadline and format:
Applications should be submitted by December 10, 2019.
Please provide a 200-400 word description of your proposed presentation that includes the following: your name, organizational affiliation (if any) and presentation topic (and title if applicable); your topic’s relevance to the conference themes; the names (and organizational affiliations) of any co-presenters; the format of your presentation; and how your topic fits into a broader topic of climate solutions and movement-building.
We are particularly interested in presentations that are geared towards a broad and diverse audience.
Accepted presenters will be invited to (optionally) submit a blog post-style article/post that will be shared in advance of the conference with all participants.
Note that we have funds to support community-based people and organizations who would not be able to attend without financial assistance. If you would require a registration fee waiver or assistance with travel and accommodation costs in order to deliver the session you are proposing, please let us know when you make your submission.
Please send your presentation proposal to Thi Vu, Corporate Mapping Project Manager, at t...@policyalternatives.ca. If you have questions or would like to discuss a potential submission before putting a proposal together, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at t...@policyalternatives.ca or 604-801-5121 ext. 230.
Associate Professor
School of Environmental Studies
University of Victoria
Office - Turpin A143
Phone - 250.853-3574