The Pandora’s Box

For a peaceful coexistence in a society, which is getting more diverse and colourful,  a culture of esteem based on freedom, rule of law, and cosmopolitanism is essential. The democracy should not be taken for granted; for a peaceful coexistence, a democratic behaviour must be learned and required every day. In order to achieve it, a permanent attention and commitment are needed. That’s why Prime Minister Dr. Dietmar Woidke welcomes the initiative, which gives young people an additional chance to advocate for a democratic togetherness, and he is happy to be a patron of this project. It’s good to know that in mythological history there is always a hope, which stands  against the darkest and hardest times.  So, today we call on each of us to stand up for acceptance, tolerance, and moral courage.

Prime Minister Dr. Dietmar Woidke

We offer a democracy workshop for young people as a follow-up to the play. 

Target group:from 9th gradeand older (workshop for 60 participants)
Registration: 10. April 2019/ 9.30-13.30 Uhr

FEZ, Straße zum FEZ 2 in 12459 Berlin
Anmeldung: Dr. Monika Dobrowlanska / info@multiculturalcity.eu / 0176 34 58 07 70 oder
Michael Raj Kunsmann, FEZ-Berlin / m.kunsmann@fez-berlin.de / 030 53 07 12 98

Democracy workshop with three workshops to choose

Writing workshop,  where the young people will develop their own short stories on the subject: through different writing and creative exercises, the participants will receive suggestions for developing their own stories, in which they will describe racist and discriminating incidents from their everyday live. We will use the technique of automatic writing, which aims at reproducing images, feelings, and thoughts without self-censorship. The written stories will be then staged as role plays.

Workshop leader: Michael Kunsmann

Information brochures for young people: This workshop focuses on bringing together information on right-wing populism, discrimination, and racism in school life for classmates and teachers. On the other hand,it also focuses on reflecting on such questions like:What can we do in order to better protect us from right-wing extremist propaganda? How can we support classmates of other religions, skin colour, nationalities?  How big is  their need for help? How and by what means can we avoid and fightthe stigmatization and discrimination of these children? How can wesensitize classmates and teachers?What kind of preventive measures can we offer at schools? The ideas will be used to present possible support projects and recommendations for everyday life. 

Workshop leader: Monika Dobrowlanska, Nina Rühmeier

Arapsong, written from the perspective of a young person who has been discriminatedbecause of his/herreligion, culture or skin colour.In this way, young people put themselves into a situation where a discrimination takes place and process the emotions, thoughts and problems of those affected.This approach helps to develop poetic and music skills of the participants, but also their empathy, sensitivity and sense of justice.  The young people will deal with the question of how to express emotions not only through the text,but also through music and body language,and last but not least, how to successfully combine these forms of expression. The songs will be developed in groups of two. Afterwards the participants will choose one of the songs and study it under our guidance.

Workshop leader: Florian Steindle

Finally, a presentation is planned in which the different groups will show each other their results.

Supporters: Stiftung Between Bridges, Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend im Rahmen des Bundesprogramms “Demokratie leben!”, Aktion Mensch e.V.