Panel discussion: Much more than politics. Much more than Germany. Cultural and European dimensions of the German East-West differences

With Florian Lippert, Uni Groningen, Piotr Kocyba, EFBI Leipzig and Anna Barth, Projekt Mothek
For the first time in the history of the post-war Federal Republic, parties that challenge or even reject the liberal democratic system could take control of several federal states or at least co-govern. The rise of these parties affects fundamental aspects of identity, worldviews and values and is based on a number of particular grievances, fears and resentments. These in turn have social, economic and cultural roots in the region, some of which go back long before the Communist and National-socialist eras.

In German language with English translation
A cooperation event with the College of Eastern Europe/ Kolegium Europy Wschodniej (KEW) as part of the »Protecting European Values« project co-financed by the European Commission

Florian Lippert AAssociate Professor Dr Florian Lippert teaches European Culture and Literature and is Director of the Research Centre for the Study of Democratic Cultures and Politics (DemCP) at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, the Netherlands. He researches everyday and political conceptualisations of ‘culture’, the role of culture in questions of European unity and cultural aspects of the European ‘refugee crisis’, as well as contemporary literature and film. Among other things, he is currently working on a study on ideas of ‘European culture’ in various contexts – from the European Commission to right-wing populism.

Piotr Kocyba Piotr Kocyba is a researcher at the Else-Frenkel-Brunswik Institute for Democracy Research in Saxony (EFBI) at the University of Leipzig and affiliated with the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. His research focuses on the study of civil society, social movements and demonstrations, with a special emphasis on East Germany and Eastern Europe. In particular, since the emergence of Pegida, Kocyba has been studying right-wing protest mobilizations and the normative implications of the self-organization of social actors who use the freedoms of liberal democracy to reject it. His research critically examines how these actors formulate their ideas of social order and how they introduce them into the public debate. He is a member of the Institute for Protest and Social Movement Research and a board member of the Johann Gottfried Herder Research Council.

Anna Barth Anna Barth is the initiator and driving force behind the Mothek in Schloßkulm (Thuringia). She writes about the Mothek: ‘MOTHEK appears as a travelling library and exhibition. It can’t do anything, doesn’t have to do anything, isn’t allowed to do anything, doesn’t want to do anything. But it is. And it invites us to transform public spaces and engage in dialogue with one another.’ Books, films, audio works, art and cultural objects from the region and beyond are offered here on changing themes. www.mothek.de

Hosted by Jessica Ramczik