2009/2010

The public and trust – what do we need to survive?

Today, we are questioning everything: our idea of capitalism, education, work, globalisation, communication – only the public itself, the instrument with which we as a society ought to conduct our self-examination, the area in which we should be negotiating our conflicts regarding values and utopias, is hardly ever discussed. We appear to be adrift in the crisis but do not question this instrument so essential to the survival of a democracy.

Why?
If it’s true that globalisation and the Internet signify a compression of time and space and an acceleration of communication, then the question of the structural change of the public is one of fundamental political relevance. How far has society changed due to fragmentation and individualisation of the public, brought about by the Internet? In what way has the Internet indeed made it more possible to participate in communication but reduced the common experiences that we can communicate about? Who does the media still represent? Who does it control and who controls it? Should it not in fact be the media’s job to create a social critique in a democratic society?

At the same time we ask the question, what do we need to trust another person? How much does a society need to leave unquestioned? How irrational or rational is trust in the social functions of our institutions? This season, the Debate Room will engage itself with the question of what kind of media we need in order to be able to trust in it once again –and in order for reality and discussions about reality to be critically and politically reflected.

The Debate Room is an event supported by the Schaubühne and the Bundeszentrale for political education. Media partner: die tageszeitung.

Entry costs 2.50 Euro. School children, students and anyone else entitled to a concession can attend for free.

Concept

Since January, 2000 the Schaubühne has presented the monthly series »Streitraum«, inviting for public discussions leaders from around the world in cultural studies, the humanities and social sciences. Recent panelists have included Pierre Bourdieu, Jean Beaudrillard, Naomi Klein, Richard Rorty, Benjamin Barber, Joseph Stiglitz, Judith Butler, Eric Hobsbawn and Ryszard Kapusziski.

The series had its origin in the Baracke am Deutschen Theater, Berlin, where Jens Hillje began running it in 1996. Since then “Streitraum” has enjoyed great resonance through its high standard.

Carolin Emcke

Born in 1967, Carolin studied philosophy, politics and history in London, Frankfurt am Main and Harvard. She got her doctorate in philosophy on Collective identities. From 1998 to 2006 she was a staff writer at the Spiegel and a correspondent from several war zones. In 2003/04, Carolin was Visiting Lecturer for political theory at Yale University and gave seminars on Theories of violence and Second-hand testimony of war crimes; since 2007 she has been an international reporter for ZEIT.magazin. In 2005, she was awarded ,The Political Book of the Year’ for her book Echoes of violence – letters from a war reporter by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and in 2006 she won the Ernst Bloch förderpreis.
www.carolin-emcke.de

Partners

The Streitraum (Debate Room) is an event of Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz and Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.

www.bpb.de


Media Partners:
die tageszeitung
www.taz.de
der Freitag
www.freitag.de