East-West Conference 7-11 June 2006, Berlin
www.checkpointeast.info
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Mutual understanding expresses, and brings to our lives a special sense of an interest in each other, and brings us into the lives of others. Respect and equality implies that we understand that political and cultural ideas and practices are diverse because they have different histories and that these histories are all equal. How can mutual understanding and respect be brought together in examining different constructions of values, beliefs, backgrounds, experiences and ideological convictions without being racist, xenophobic or dominant?
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It's almost a century now that Europe has dealt with two polar constructions. The so-called West and East used to stand in direct opposition to each other and, it was/is claimed, have two different kinds of mentalities: the 'rational, individualistic and profit-oriented' West and the 'irrational, communal, full-of-Soviet-achievements' East. They both claimed a right to exist without engaging in mutual exchange, yet, what should be done if
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? one claims domination in order to suppress the other by imposing (its) 'civilised' values
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? another one constructs and blindly believes myths of Western paradise and well-being
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? the criteria for what is correct/desirable is only profit-oriented, pushing human values down the list of priorities
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This seminar is a meeting for politically active individuals and groups who don't want to blindly accept, and who actively seek to change
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? common prejudices, labels and false identities about East and West
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? one-sided negative approaches towards Soviet history and ex-Soviet peoples' values
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? Western dominance and Eastern passivity towards a neo-colonial approach to the East
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? a repressive border/visa regime towards Eastern European citizens
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? a mainstream discourse that depicts EU enlargement as unavoidable and 'positive' and as an absolute and perceived desirable 'Europeanisation'
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? the current hegemony of neo-liberal ideology, with its corresponding market ideology, the economisation of life, mass consumption and mass entertainment, where human life and happiness are valued only according to economic criteria.
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Are you interested in looking for alternatives and put the right accent on East-West relationships, particularly with regard to political activist's collaboration? Then come and join us for the seminar "Moja tvoja ne ponimaj" (Mine don't understand yours) which is an landing of virtual community of spotykach-mail list in Berlin 7-11 June 2006 get to know each other in face, meet new people and develop a new level of understanding.
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With this seminar, we want to provide space for listening to personal stories and opinions and sharing experiences of being 'foreign' in the East/West. This includes discussions on cultural differences, language barriers and differences in humour, commonly accepted social behaviours in order develop a better solidarity between those who are not indifferent to how our world is being constructed. The concept of this conference is therefore to include workshops not only on political and economic but also cultural and personal issues and create awareness of differences in conceptions of gender, race, etc., so that we can create common understandings.
Politically, we would like this seminar
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? to identify what underlies conceptions of the "shiny" West and "dirty" East
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? to encourage actitivists to speak honestly about their own experiences in frame of a former socialist and current capitalist state systems of oppression
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? to use our discoveries about each other to create practical collaborations without stereotypes, clich?s and dominance as those imposed by states propaganda as personal one
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? discuss recent developments and experiences of past East-West projects with all their positive and negative achievements
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? to give more space to Eastern European initiatives, projects and ideas to be presented and discussed with an intentional reduction of those that have traditionally enjoyed more exposure, namely, well-established western European initiatives
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? to create a space within western activism to explore new modes of organisation, strategies and interrelations, benefiting from the knowledge of those successfully employed amongst eastern activists
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? to allow western activists a self awareness that ensures models of domination are truly called into question and not unintentionally repeated and the possibility discover the East as a valuable source of human experience
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? combine our efforts to express our protests against discriminative and humiliate economical as cultural models, imposed by current propaganda as on the West as on the East
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If you are interested in joining this seminar and become involved in the discussions on the programme and the above issue as a whole, or just join a discussion on the topic virtually, please send an e-mail and introduce yourself to the spotykach-mailing list community spotykach@lists.nadir.org
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*Application form* with information about you mainly for visa procedure can be filled out on-line http://informal.benn.org/
Deadline: 15 April 2006 for those who need a visa to come to Germany and 1 May - for others.
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*Organisers*: spotykach-mailing list community
https://lists.nadir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spotykach
together with volunteers from EYFA (European Youth for Action) network
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*Contact persons*:
Olga Samborska: samborska@gmx.de
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_Location of the seminar: _
Alte Feuerwache
Axel-Springer-Stra?e 40/41
10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg__
_http://www.alte-feuerwache.de/___
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Mehringhof
Gneisenaustr. 2a
10961 Berlin
_http://www.mehringhof.de/_
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