The crisis is here. The effects of the financial crisis and the recession have already reached a multitude of people - worldwide. And these people are by no means "needy bankers". Migrant workers in the Chinese industrial centres are being fired, companies are shut down ignoring owed wages and salaries, leaving  workers with the problem how to get by and firstly get home, to the family which is dependant on constant money transfers. The big US automotive corporations drive massive state-subsidized layoffs of the traditional unionised workers, under the label of “inevitable rationalization". At the same time, thousands of workers of the dead-beat family-run company Schaeffler cheer their "boss" in Herzogenaurach, demanding government aid for this company that got driven to the edge of bankruptcy by the "Schaeffler-Clan".

These examples only describe some of the impacts that the economic crisis has on several million people in all five continents. Its impacts will be felt for years. Furthermore, the examples illustrate  that transformations of the living conditions do not necessarily lead people to criticise social and societal circumstances. Nor do they necessarily lead to a radical questioning of the capitalist structure of economies. Even if the crisis is global and affects every aspect of life, it is those that currently only possess the bare essentials for surviving - and often not even these – who are hit hardest. Those getting laid off first are those with precarious working and income situations: contractors in the factories of the metropoles and migrant workers worldwide. Farm workers are fighting for survival due to the initially heavy fluctuating and now fallen prices. And climatic changes as a result of the human-made environmental crisis add to the disaster.

For capital and governments on the other hand, securing resources and markets through warfare and by military means is imperative. In times of crisis self-appointed stock market experts recommend investing in state debts and stocks of the weapons industry.

While some see this situation as a chance for the radical left, perceive an increasing of critical stances towards capitalism and therefore prepare for revolts in the face of the crisis, others see the radical left being caught up in business as usual.

Both effects of the crisis, the global transformation of social and economic conditions and the theoretical and practical quest for loopholes out of the misery of commodified living conditions, will be discussed at BUKO32.

It is the human beings - the thinking, acting, feeling and fighting individuals - that our analysis is focused on, without, however, loosing sight of the societal conditions under which the act. Assuming such a perspective does not mean concealing those elements of the crisis that either connect or divide us, but rather developing a mindset that refuses to accept or make suggestions from a ruling perspective. A radical analysis and criticism of the crisis management of the ruling classes and the global political impacts resulting from it are, from our point of view, necessary elements of leftist discussions and practices that open new spaces. Our criticism has to aim for the de-legitimization and transformation of the existing circumstances.

The congress's global economic crisis “thread” is about making voices and perspectives heard which are rarely and for the time being barely audible: those of laid off migrant workers in China, activists from Eastern European countries, comrades in rebellion from Greece or those radical left people from the US, who report on struggles taking place in the midst of a deep recession. For us, it is important to look at things with precision - we want to understand what is happening in other places: What are the impacts that the crisis has on the lives of people elsewhere, what kind of struggles are they leading, what kind of networks are they building and how can their struggles be linked with ours?

We are of the opinion that we can and have to learn from each other; especially in times of crises. This is why we have to find out what is common to our forms of protest and resistance, but also what separates us from each other. We have to talk about the differences in our respective circumstances of life. Networking with activists from different countries whom we have invited to the congress is therefore a vital part of the global economic crisis thread – and debates that are lead in the spirit of solidarity are another central element.

Last but not least, we need to develop perspectives on how societies could look like that are not based on principles of the market and commodity exchange, but the fundament of which is solidarity among human beings and a way of life that does not destroy our means of livelihood.