In September, we joyously welcomed hundreds of TNI friends and family, both in person and virtually, to ‘IGNITE! Festival of Radical Ideas’. The festival kicked off with an evening of thought-provoking dialogue, music and poetry. In a packed room in Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam, leading global activists and thinkers offered their take on today’s crises and their visions for a new world based on justice, equity, democracy, peace and liberation. Video clips from the evening’s conversation, including Jason Hickel’s succinct explanation of why a liberated Palestine threatens global capitalism, have received an extraordinary 2.5 million views.
On day two of the IGNITE! Festival, 150 people took part in a series of insightful plenaries and interactive workshops on some of today’s most crucial topics. The workshop ‘Energy Transitions: From Big Oil to Decolonial and Democratic Public Power’, TNI provided a valuable space to hone our collective analysis. A workshop on militarism and climate, organised with StopWapenhandel, brought together peace activists from the Netherlands and neighbouring countries to discuss strategies for (re)building the peace movement in the face of escalating militarism worldwide. Other sessions focused on cross-movement solidarity with Palestine, the path to emancipatory rural futures, the need for a post-growth economy, and issues of migration and rising fascism. The event drew to a close with music by Palestinian rapper QAQ, and was followed by a celebratory party at TNI, complete with birthday cake, good music and conversation.
During the festival, we invited people to write a message for the future, which was sealed in a TNI time capsule. In 2074, we hope the next generation, will open these messages in a world that’s more just, more peaceful, and truly democratic. As the late TNI Fellow and writer John Berger once said, ‘Hope is not a form of guarantee; it’s a form of energy, and very frequently that energy is strongest in circumstances that are very dark.’
