Global Solidarities and the Margins

This paper uses Lee Edelman's theorization of queer negativity to read the crucifixion of Jesus together with the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell in protest of the Palestinian genocide, arguing that Edelman's construction of the "nothing" as critique of the social order can interpret (some of) the inarticulable power of these public deaths. In the context of Western biopolitics, both events present a confrontation of the "meaninglessness" of a painful, innocent death against the explicit meanings stated before their deaths and by interpreters. Through Edelman's theory, this meaninglessness becomes itself an affective political force which exposes the fantasy of invulnerable wholeness that sustains the illusive rational subject and the intersecting axes of marginalization that both enable and maintain that illusion.

My paper addresses the intersection between environmental harm brought about by capitalist production and the societal and religious solidarity in response to violent eviction. I will contextualize the politics of extraction by examining the Rempang Eco-City in Indonesia that infuriated residents over the governmental policy of forced eviction and elicited distress among Muslim leaders. I will first discuss the relationship between indigenous people and their land and show how their violent removal is unjust. I will secondly connect the indigenous people’s claim to their land to the legal discourse on land inquisition by the state as expressed in the 2023 Omnibus Law on Job Creation. I will finally examine Muslim leaders’ grievances over the forced eviction in Rempang island, their attribution of the Islamic theological notion of unjust (ẓulm) to the land-grabbing practices, and their advocacy for an Islamic ethics of repair (iṣlāh) to address violent measures directed toward indigenous people.

Myanmar is a diverse country, divided along ethnical, political, social, and religious lines. Amidst the unresolved internal problems due to differences, the three-year-long military coup is ongoing. I posit that the Myanmar people are establishing a just and liberated country by resisting the regime, embracing the “deep solidarity” among different ethnic groups, and establishing mutual understanding among differences. First, I briefly introduce the political background of Myanmar, and then, different marginalized groups’ experiences will be discussed. Lastly, the oppressed people’s collective efforts for liberation will be presented. I will analyze the current political turmoil in Myanmar and the oppressed groups’ struggles for liberation from the lens of the margins by using postcolonial liberative and feminist approaches. It is a timely, intersectional, and insightful proposal for different disciplines.

This presentation will examine the intellectual trajectory of liberation theologian and economist Franz J. Hinkelammert. The paper will offer an analysis of three major contributions his scholarship made to the development of Latin American liberation theology and three theses pertaining to each of these aspects of Hinkelammert’s work. First, the paper will offer an account of the development of Hinkelammert’s theological critique of capitalism and argue that it gained shape through a theological stylization of Marx’s critical project. Second, the presentation will investigate Hinkelammert’s call for a critique of utopian reason which will be described as the setting up of a liberatory social-epistemic analysis about the limits and possibilities of transformative action in the world. Finally, Hinkelammert’s more recent writings (2003-2023) will be summarized to demonstrate his engagement with contemporary political theology and mark how his work might highlight new development within liberation theologies.