About us
This English translation was done by Chafyn Hörnecke. Thanks a lot!
The acronym iz3w stands for Informationszentrum 3. Welt (information centre Third World) in Freiburg. The association Aktion Dritte Welt e.V. (Action Third World) is independent of political parties, churches or foundations. The main focus of our activities is the issue of the magazine iz3w – Zeitschrift zwischen Nord und Süd (Journal iz3w - Journal between North and South). We keep an extensive journal archive and are involved in educational work on South-North issues. The project freiburg-postkolonial.de operates a comprehensive website about German colonialism. Our house is a place of critical policy work and a meeting point for initiatives that will not accept unequal global conditions.
Our views
iz3w projects do not at all view themselves as "neutral" sources of information and analysis on world events. Instead we criticize the organization of a world that we do not consider to be the best of all possible worlds. Although there are sufficient material resources to enable all people to lead a reasonable life, to this day billions of people must live in misery and oppression.
In iz3w we will not accept a world that is comfortable for only a small proportion of the population. To maintain awareness of the irrationality of the existing order, we criticize the prevailing social, political, cultural and economic relations between the North and the South and we name struggles for allocation for what they truly are. Even if the abolition of global domination and conditions of exploitation is currently not in sight, our objective remains a good life for all people.
The discrepancies between losers and winners, which are manifested on a regional and global level, are increasingly forgotten in favour of harmonizing concepts like "one world", "multiculturalism", "opportunities of the global market", "universality of democracy and human rights" or "transnational networks" and " civil society". At iz3w, in contrast, we question how the capitalist world functions globally and how it establishes itself over and over again. What are its social, political, environmental and cultural consequences in the North and the South? And what ideologies justify the ruling world order?
Our criticism of the world order is the starting point for ideas that point way beyond existing circumstances. We follow different theoretical approaches, which reflect the political plurality of collaborators in the iz3w.
Our Topics
The various projects of the iz3w work on the following topics:
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Globalization of politics, economy and culture
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Social movements
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Migration and racism
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Human rights
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War and peace
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(post-) colonialism
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Gender and feminism
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Development policy and theory
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Ecology / social relationships with nature
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Tourism
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Media, literature, film and art
We analyze these and other topics in the light of unequal power relations between North and South.
This English translation was done within the project “Free translation of websites for NGOs and non-profit-making associations”, managed by Mondo Services. Translator: Chafyn Hörnecke
