SLOW POLITICS | International Conference:

All of the crises haunting Europe today – be it “Lampedusa” or “NSA-Gate” – indicate one major problem: our governments’ democratic
instruments are paralyzed by perpetual turbulence and hence unable to deal properly with the ensuing grievances. What now? It is necessary to
reinvent democracy! In this challenging moment citizen movements act as laboratories of the future.

The Slow Politics conference looks at the plurality of citizen movements as a greater whole and sets out to detect hidden commonalities: Only by
connecting the dots does it become possible to create a counterforce to the acceleration of crises. In that sense “slow politics” is our motto
for taking a bird’s eye point of view. From this decelerated perspective the conference explores the larger democratic project underlying various
grassroots efforts: to empower people as political actors who are able to tackle the uncertainties caused by the manifold crises.

Slow Politics investigates perspectives for a precarious generation that is deeply concerned about its liberties, privileges and rights: How can
a communal feeling arise in Europe if national self-interests prevail? How can we practice transparency if secret services are booming beyond
public control? How can our mobile societies restore inner peace if migrants are always “the others”? How can we save the environment if
consumerism and economics remain rampant? 

What happens to free access to culture and knowledge if public institutions continue crumbling? What
is the common denominator linking all these issues?

Slow Politics deals with these future concerns in five tracks: 1) The Big We, 2) After NSA-Gate, 3) We Are All Migrants, 4) Bitcoin Meets Blue
Marble and 5) Publics in Peril. Here representatives of citizen movements, media folks and researchers from more than 20 countries come
together. They introduce their problems and discuss solutions so as to network with others. Results will be made available for the public – as
data visualizations, stories and more.

Slow Politics is a platform for exchange and collaboration. The first two days offer 5 parallel workshops. A limited number of participants can register by contacting the following E-mail bgcon14@supermarkt-berlin.net. The third day, November 15, is open to the general public. Starting at 2 p.m., it offers five panels with prolific speakers including Marina Sitrin (The City University of New York), Max Haiven (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design), Claudia Núñez (MigraHack), Geert Lovink (Institute of Network Cultures), Sara Moreira (Generation E), Felix Stalder (Zurcher Hochschule der Künste) and Annika Richterich (Maastricht University)

. No registration is required. Admission is free.

Slow Politics is the 14th annual conference organized by berlinergazette.de and takes place at SUPERMARKT – an emerging event
center on the border of Berlin-Mitte and Berlin-Wedding, blending conference facilities with a café and co-working space.

Slow Politics has been prepared through a series of workshops in Berlin as well as a symposium in Japan. In addition, the conference is framed
by berlinergazette.de’s annual theme: http://berlinergazette.de/feuilleton/jahresthemen/slow-politics
Spread the word!

Programme:

November 13: Workshops
10:00 a.m. | Breakfast + Registration + Introduction
10:15  a.m. |  Collaboration in Workshop Groups
01:30 p.m. | Lunch
02:30 p.m. | Collaboration in Sub-Groups
06:00 p.m. | Summary of Day 1

November 14: Workshops
10:00 a.m. | Breakfast + Roadmap for Day 2
10:15 a.m.  | Collaboration in Sub-Groups
01:30 p.m. | Lunch
02:30 p.m. | Preparing Presentation of Results
06:00 p.m. | Closing Workshops

November 15: Public Talks
10:00 a.m. | Matinée: Presentation of Workshop Results
12:15 p.m.  | Lunch
01:30 p.m. | Keynote
02:00 p.m.| The Big We: Solidarity In The Euro-Crisis
Marina Sitrin (City University of New York)
Prof. Felix Stalder (Zurcher Hochschule der Künste)
Moderation: Zlata Veselinovic (Zagreb)
03:15 p.m. | After NSA-Gate: Re-Designing Democracy
Annika Richterich (Maastricht)
Prof. Geert Lovink (Institute of Network Cultures)
Moderation: Anna Sauerbrey (Berlin)
04:15 p.m. | We Are All Migrants: Stories From The Dark Side Of Data
Claudia Núñez (MigraHack.com)
Sara Moreira (Generation E)
Moderation: Verena Dauerer (Berlin)
05:15 p.m. | Coffee Break
05:45 p.m. | Bitcoin Meets Blue Marble: Sharing The Planet?
Luise Neumann-Cosel (buerger-energie-berlin.de)
Paula Bialski (Leuphana University)
Moderation: Ela Kagel (Berlin)
06:45 p.m. | Publics In Peril: Open Culture For All?
Nadja Vancauwenberghe (Exberliner)
Prof. Max Haiven (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design)
Moderation: Janet Merkel (Berlin)
07:45 p.m| Goodbye drinks

More info: berlinergazette.de/slow-politics
Registration for the workshops: bgcon14@supermarkt-berlin.net
Registration’s deadline: 10 November
Language: English
Hashtag ( #bgcon14 )

Photo: Mario Sixtus cc by nc