Last Saturday the young DiEM25 Movement walked a thin line in Berlin. It should have been the first countrywide meeting of the movement in Germany. Due to time bottlenecks the project is threatened with failure. The meeting was announced only a few days ago and the lack of time is making finding a venue, planning the schedule, integrating speakers, and not least finding a content position a real challenge. Conclusion: we have to think out of the box!
DiEM from the Rooftops
It wasn’t just the amazing space: a glass Penthouse is already a rarity in the middle of red Wedding.
Warmed with sun light and inspired by the participants from every part of Germany, the project quickly picked up the pace. And it could have just as quickly lost tempo, if the initiative and ideas of the participants hadn‘t continued to fire the discussion, the united group effort hadn‘t continued to inspire. And all with a large symbolism.
Thus DiEM doesn’t need a Reichstag copula in order to cater to alleged transparency. Here questions were answered either directly by Yanis Varoufakis over Skype, or by representatives of the Coordination Collective. The personal proximity among the participants as well as the coziness of the sun drenched room provided a familiar atmosphere. The content was correspondingly hotter.
The Fart has no Nose
In order to turn numerous ideas into concrete propositions the brainstorming had to be channeled into concrete work. The themes read: best practices in DSC’s, new thinking on economy, gender equality, public works, rebellious cities and the inclusion of new DSC’s. None of the almost fifty participants wanted to hold back. The mobility between the groups was correspondingly high.
Thus the participants constantly changed theme areas to obtain a higher amount of information exchange. Each person had something to contribute everywhere, but never too much. All too familiar are the kind of political speaker who likes to overshoot the target. We wanted to avoid that because this day was about quality and not quantity. No one took too much pleasure in smelling themselves.
Green light in the Sunlight
The representatives of the DSC’s, as they found themselves in Berlin on December 3rd, had brought with them a lot of questions, motivation, and will. They were not disappointed. The conclusion of the closing counsel was thoroughly positive. Further meetings were wished for, further ideas solidified, further nets were spun. Above all, however, new acquaintances were forged.
And this is what every movement at the base shows: people want to work together with one another and improve something. Dissatisfied, rejecting the status quo, putting hope in their togetherness, and thus the capacity of changing something, but absolutely having already changed something. The exchange alone had brought at least some light for the participants over the thick, nebulous net of political complexity and recommended itself for further interaction.
