8 November 2024

COUNSEL OF THE MANY: Taking action against right-wing extremism

Thursday, 28 November, starting at 10 am
Locations: Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz, and GRIPS Theater, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Humboldt Forum, Maxim Gorki Theatre

“Democracy is capable of defending itself”, writes Minister of State for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth in her welcome address to the COUNSEL OF THE MANY,“ if we, as democrats, stand together to defend our values, our basic rights, our democracy.”

With this in mind, the initiative DIE VIELEN (“THE MANY”) has succeeded in bringing together a broad-based alliance of cultural institutions, associations and artists on 28 November 2024. In light of recent election results by the far right and the anti-democratic developments of recent years, in the face of agitation, violence and new right-wing hegemonic strategies, the COUNSEL OF THE MANY convenes to discuss the responsibility of society, politics, culture and the arts, and asks: What freedoms does this society need, but also, what protection and perhaps even bans? How can we as a society deal with the fact that some people are already now sitting on packed suitcases, and not just in a figurative sense? These questions are urgent and pressing – because it is not only democracy and its culture that are vulnerable, but also the people who are at their heart.

The COUNSEL OF THE MANY invites participants and guests to take part in a day of exchanging experience and expertise with the aim of building durable connections and generating concrete knowledge that can be applied to action. Participants in the keynote speeches, panel discussions and working groups include Anh-Linh Ngo (Vice-President of the Akademie der Künste), Carsten Brosda (President of the Deutscher Bühnenverein and Senator for Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg), Olaf Zimmermann (Managing Director of the Deutscher Kulturrat and spokesman for Initiative kulturelle Integration), Holger Bergmann (DIE VIELEN), Heinrich Horwitz (performer/director), Jagoda Marinić (author), Bijan Moini (lawyer and author), Jean Peters (Correctiv), Gerhild Steinbuch (author), members of the German Bundestag and many more: Together with the VIELEN, we seek answers to the question of how to take action to keep democracy open.


Programme
10 am – 1 pm
ART, FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY: IMPETUS AND DISCUSSION
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz, Plenary Hall

Turbo Pascal kicks off the event with an invitation to all guests to reflect on freedom and boundaries. A welcome address by Holger Bergmann (DIE VIELEN) will be followed by two keynote speeches: The author Jagoda Marinić, also known for her podcast “Freiheit Deluxe”, reflects in her contribution on the relationship between freedom, art and democracy. In the second keynote speech, lawyer and author Bijan Moini explores the idea of a defensive democracy and looks at the controversial option of banning political parties. These positions will be discussed in a subsequent panel discussion with the Vice-President of the Akademie der Künste Anh-Linh Ngo and Carsten Brosda, President of the Deutscher Bühnenverein and Senator for Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The discussion will be moderated by Prasanna Oommen.

2:30 pm – 4 pm
THE COUNSEL OF THE MANY IN MOTION: Five working groups for concrete options of action
Locations: Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz, and GRIPS Theater, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Humboldt Forum, Maxim Gorki Theater

In the afternoon, the COUNSEL will set out and confer in decentralised working groups at five Berlin institutions, where experts and visitors will develop concrete options of action against right-wing extremism.
In the working group “Art of democracy”, experts and guests will discuss how the arts and culture can currently meet their societal responsibility, and how they can actively promote and protect democracy. Participants include Claudia Schmitz (Deutscher Bühnenverein), Olaf Zimmermann (Managing Director of the Deutscher Kulturrat and spokesman for the Initiative kulturelle Integration), Barbara Rüschoff-Parzinger (Regional Cultural Director of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe), Marion Neumann (Head of KUNSTWELTEN, Education Programme of the Akademie der Künste) and Mithu Sanjal (tbc) in the Akademie der Künste.
At the Maxim Gorki Theatre, Hungarian director András Dömötör and Austrian author Gerhild Steinbuch present international perspectives as the focus of the group “Art of collaboration” and ask how action against right-wing extremism can be successful across Europe.
The group “Art of law”, made up of Hendrik Cremer (German Institute for Human Rights) and Berkan Kaya (Bucerius Law School) and moderated by Sabine Reich, will meet at the Humboldt Forum to discuss how to deal with the legal aspects of a defensive democracy.
At the GRIPS Theater, the working group “Art of action”, made up of Manja Präkels (author, journalist), Rolf C. Hemke (Kunstfest Weimar) and Kirstin Fuchs (author), exchange experiences made with activism in the arts and explore possibilities of critical and empowering work.
In HAU Hebbel am Ufer, the group “Art of the political”, made up of Alexander Karschnia (andcompany&Co.), Lino Agbalaka (lawyer, Berlin), Julia Dück (“AfD-Verbot jetzt” campaign) and Maike Weißpflug (political scientist), discuss possible scenarios for cultural policy developments as well as controversial options for action.

5 pm – 7:30 pm
ADVICE OF THE MANY: THE NEXT STEPS
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz, Plenary Hall

Back at the Akademie der Künste, in theOPEN SPACE,artists and activists including Jean Peters and Tina Pfurr, willassume the role of advisors for concrete subject areas. The performative reading “IN BETWEEN (If the majority feels comfortable, can you speak of dictatorship?)” by András Dömötör asks when it will be too late to stop right-wing extremism in Europe.
Starting at 6 pm, in the group “Art meets politics”, Members of the German Bundestag from various democratic parliamentary groups will discuss with representatives of the arts and culture from around the country, the VIELEN and other participants what action against right-wing extremism is now needed.

DIE VIELEN/THE MANY in cooperation with the Akademie der Künste and Burg Hülshoff – Center for Literature (CfL), Deutscher Bühnenverein, Deutscher Kulturrat, Fonds Darstellende Künste, Maxim Gorki Theatre, GRIPS Theater, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Initiative kulturelle Integration, Kampnagel, Kulturforum der Sozialdemokratie, Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss and MANY more – curation and organisation: Sabine Reich and Michael Wehren in cooperation with the partners of the Counsel, production management: Sascha Kölzow, Paul Marwitz-Seyffert and René Ritterbusch, design: Oktober Kommunikationsdesign Bochum

Event information
COUNSEL OF THE MANY: Taking action against right-wing extermism
with Carsten Brosda, Jagoda Marinić, Bijan Moini, Anh-Linh Ngo, Jean Peters, Gerhild Steinbuch, Olaf Zimmermann and others
Thursday, 28 November 2024, 10 am – 8 pm
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Free admission, remaining tickets: 030 200 57-1000 or ticket@adk.de

Press tickets available at030 200 57-1514 or by email at presse@adk.de