On the weekend of November 17-19, 2023, the School of Transnational Organizing will host its Winter Academy 2023, under the title »Moving at the Speed of Trust«. We have invited activists, organizers, educators, researchers, artists and civil society organizations from Europe and around the world who all dedicate their work to inquiring, re-thinking and building trust and solidarity within and between societies and/or social movements across and beyond Europe.

On Friday evening, as part of the public gathering of the Winter Academy, we will host an assembly, inspired by the film screening of the documentary movie »From Here« (USA/GER | 2020 | 89'). Hopefully inspired by watching small elements from the movie, we invite you to participate in our assembly on site or in our online space. After the first plenary, we will host small-circle discussions facilitated by the filmmakers and protagonists, and the »With Wings & Roots« team, to reflect deeply on the topics of migration, democracy, belonging, and solidarity. Together, we will consider how these issues have shaped not only our trajectories but also the arc of political organizing that drives our civil engagement.

In small groups we will deliberate how disinformation has influenced civic participation and community engagement in the past years and share best practices and strategies to counter it. These group discussions serve as spaces of trust and sharing and will be an opportunity for participants to reflect on how to involve more citizens and EU residents in civil participation. The online space will be facilitated separately and later fed into the plenary discussion. In the later stages of the assembly, participants will be able to voice their opinions in the larger plenary, bring their recommendations to the wider audience and deliberate on the best strategies to be taken forward in recommendations.

 

About the Film »From Here«

»From Here« is a hopeful story of Tania, Sonny, Miman, and Akim - artists and activists based in Berlin and New York. Their lives and futures hang in the balance of immigration and integration debates. As the US and Germany grapple with racism, nationalism, and a fight over their national identities, our protagonists move from their 20s into their 30s and face major turning points in their lives: fighting for citizenship, starting families, and finding room for creative expression. Spanning a decade in two of the world’s largest centers of immigration, this sensitive and nuanced documentary captures their journeys. They redefine what it means to “belong” in societies that are increasingly hostile to their existence. FROM HERE offers four distinct visions of resistance and resilience – showing not only their struggle, but enormous power.

 

Schedule
 

• 18:30 – Arrival & Welcome

• 19:00 – Opening of the Assembly & Excerpts from the Film

• 20:00 – Assembly facilitated by filmmakers, protagonists and local community organizers

• 21:45 – Closing & Farewell 

• 22:00 – Meet & Drink

 

Please note

• The Childcare Section will be open from 18:30 until 22:00, through advanced registration only. 
• The assembly will be held in English and German and the excerpts from the movie will be in English and German with English and German subtitles. For the online participation, the small group discussion will be held in English. We cannot guarantee a German-speaking small group discussion but encourage a self-facilitated space if that is what the language needs require. Additionally, you will get the opportunity to experience an installation developed by »With Wings & Roots«. Online participants will have the opportunity to access some of the exhibition's content after the assembly.
• Online participants are encouraged to enter the Zoom space no later than 18:45 for a brief welcome exercise online (register here for online participation). 

 

Venue

 

In Cooperation With

From Here

PASS(t) uns allen

With Wings & Roots

 

With the Support of

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb)

European Commission