[Spotykach] to be or not to be?

[Nicolas Wirz]

dear Olga,

thank you for your ultimatum : the question you are asking is central ; 
it is natural that some people take initiative, and then that they have 
to assume the role of putting wood into the fire ; what is "unnatural" 
is this situation been exploited by the others in the long run. This is 
typical of bourgeois politics : a lot of good fellows having put 
themselves in the situation of trumpet or drum players for calling to 
action become tired after years, before all these followers, and then 
they begin to enact a politic of leaders adressing to followers. That is 
the very soul of capitalism. So we'll have to discuss this problem more 
deeply.

My response to your call is : I'll come to Berlin 26-30 April.

I'm not working especially on East-West problems, but fully about the 
cultural crisis of capitalism. Developping the concept of 
"creolisation", which means the process of living together of people 
from different cultures. Neither "integration", nor getting back to 
"roots" or "identity" ; because every time people of different cultures 
live together, the process of creolisation does exist, just because life 
exists. Then the question : what can we do to create better conditions 
for this already existing process to extend.

So i will work with you on the third point Katerin is speaking about : 
the cultural question.
It means : making in advance an inquiry among the spotycatch 
participants about what they have to say on the matter ; and preparing a 
presentation of it. Necessary some person from East and another from 
West, so we could heat the cooking pot together, and have pleasure. 
Because a meeting is a fest. I'll help also for parctical stuff, and 
comme to Berlin some days in advance for that..

I think the meeting is very important, also if very few people, because 
we have to dig this field before lots of people can join : more, ist 
exactly because we successed to create more light about this central 
question for our lives, that this light will bring people together.

Thank you !

(It remembers me Oscar Wilde saying : "It's exactly because humanity 
don't know where she is going to that she found her way.")

Nicolas, Geneva.



olhas a écrit :

> *Dear people,
>
> Now I wanted very seriously ask you about attantion!
> This is important to react (in positive or negative way): but please 
> react!!!
>
> the time comes that it need to be realized or implemented what have 
> been discussed for one year in small circles and also on the list 
> concerning the seminar (look reminder information below). Or leave it 
> not implemented. The original idea was to do it togather in not 
> institualized way, as a alternative to mainstream way to organize 
> seminars (organizers do a work, participant consume and in the end all 
> it forgotten).
> The question is for the seminar: to be or not to be. The reason why 
> the question stays in this way is because of recent slow-down of the 
> discussions mainly because of my less involvement (cause of baby) and 
> others cause of many other reasons. This all show that we still far a 
> way of working without pushing by one or two on mutual respectful way 
> towards others input. Then those one or two also getting down without 
> feedback. This is how it works: the initiative has puninished in the 
> end. So without a lot of bla-bla, now I need to ask directly and 
> personally (we are 24 people on the list), please give us a short 
> reply who is interesting in continuing discussion and realy to meet in 
> Berlin. If there is not much interest, then we probably will decide to 
> do just workshop on our topic on ESF in Athen, Greece, 4-7 of May and 
> try incorporate it into the frame of this event.
>
> regards, Olga
>
> Moja tvoja ne ponimaj - Mines don’t understand yours*.
> Subtitle: /Understanding east-west misunderstanding / redefining 
> east-west imbalance
> /
> *The main idea,
> * Since the Berlin wall fall down two extra polar politically and 
> artificially established worlds of the East and the West try face each 
> other presence after being a long time isolating from each other. 
> Unfortunately invisible wall still exists in minds of people together 
> with intention of some to rebuild a wall back. Unbalanced 
> relationships between western and eastern socially active and 
> politically engaged people still exists, not saying about the rest, in 
> a sense of perceiving each other and tolerate each other 
> identities/past/the way of being.
> Western European politics, economics, concepts like 'civil society', 
> and lifestyles are generally considered as one standard for all, and 
> uncritically copied and implemented in Eastern Europe. East-West 
> cooperation is often carried out as a rather one-sided process: West 
> pays and “has right” to show the East how to work and live.
> During previous meetings especially Eastern participants have pointed 
> out that this tendency has huge impact on the way western and eastern 
> activists interact, often with a predefined sense of dominance from 
> western counterpart. Such an 'eurocentrism' prevents alternatives from 
> blossoming and needs to be critically examined. We want to disrupt the 
> fatalism of the ‘transition’ from real-socialism to capitalism and 
> from a ‘soviet’ union to a European ‘union’. We do not want a 
> ‘transition’ from A to B where B is defined by Western and global 
> interests, but a collective search for new ways to shape our lives.
> For this we want discuss as recent development/experience of already 
> happened east-west communication with all positive and negative 
> achievements, as try a new ways/approaches in giving more space for 
> eastern initiatives, projects, ideas to be presented and discussed 
> with intentional reduction of the experts (know better) involvement 
> from the West.
> The detailed translation of all presented information might be a main 
> target according to the tendency that English-speaking activists have 
> more chances express themselves. Such decision is a lesson of many 
> round-tables, conferences happened, which had a 'the West for the 
> East' viewpoint.
> Eastern Europeans make themselves fit to the “European standards“ and 
> thus increasing hypocrisy in relationships between both sides. Western 
> organizations charity (financial supports, covering travel 
> reimbursements) produces certain level of passivity and NGO-tourisms 
> where people learn to play “beggars” and consumers of information 
> without having really a ground for it.
> As a result a civil society in the east loose its authentism and 
> self-initiative. The barrier of misunderstanding, which exists as a 
> real obstacle due to different social-economical developments, covered 
> with certain politeness from both sides. Proposed schemes to challenge 
> patriarchat, gender disbalance relationtions, implement democratic 
> principles coming as a “plan from above” which after many years 
> experience with soviet type of authoritarian style of ruling and plan 
> economy is a dangerous way which suppress an autonomy of eastern 
> population and their right to come to a civil society in own way 
> according to the local need in freedom and justice. Acceleration of 
> such a process violently might be a bad experiment of Western 
> theorists try approbate on obedient subjects that due to bad surviving 
> conditions pushed to serve and can be trained in any possible way. If 
> an older generation need a longer time realize such disbalance and 
> danger, young activists might be more open to discussion as the future 
> belongs to them.
> Realization and discussion of mentioned problems we see as a necessary 
> topic to establish a equality, justice and freedom not only in the 
> East but also improve/reconsider it in the West which in the end might 
> loose notions: mines, yours, west, east etc.
>
> *With this meeting we aim:
>
> *· to find ways to overcome predefined organizational and 
> psychological east-west inequalities and make intercultural and 
> political east-west dialogue and cooperation a truly multi-sided 
> process with equal participation and input from all sides;
>
> · to find ways to deal with occurring misunderstandings and cultural 
> differences between westerners and easterners in an equal, 
> non-hierchial way;
>
> · to bring together previous experiences and achievements in the 
> fields of intercultural understanding, east-west cooperation and 
> non-hierarchical organizing and to use these skills to train ourselves 
> and others;
> · to bring down to proportion and reconceptualise the ongoing tendency 
> of 'east'-'west' thinking, partly being a persistent notion of polar 
> thinking as a rudiment of leftover cold war discourse.
>
>
>
> *Our objectives are:
>
> *· define and reconsider a notion the west and the east: what is 
> perceived under it and till which extent it makes sense keep using it 
> as reconfirmation of past centuries political schemes;
>
> · analyzing differences in perception of globalization process, 
> feminists and autonomous theories, socialist/capitalists ideas due to 
> different historical and political development, educational systems, 
> societies moral values (collectivism/individualism), philosophical 
> schools, clichés, prejudices and develop concrete tools for both 
> westerners and easterners to avoid falling in predefined and 
> prejudiced traps of east-west thinking and behavior by means of 
> libertarian, non-hierarchical way of thinking;
>
> · look for a new solution in coexistent and collaboration of different 
> autonomous youth groups according to the common ideas and aproaches 
> out of geographical or political frames to overcome an isolation of 
> groups from each other;
>
> · discuss a need of political, environmental and feminists engagement 
> of activists from a whole European continent as a common project to 
> fight with common social illnesses: hidden patriarchat/matriarchat 
> (gender inequality), rasism, prekarisirung, corruption, , oppressions 
> etc which belongs as to the West as to the East;
>
> · critically examine western 'eurocentrism' and democratic missionary 
> and eastern subordination (EU, NATO, WTO enlargement) with proposing 
> multilateral warning about possible traps each side experience from 
> own perspective (negative/positive aspects of social experiments: 
> capitalism, socialism, anarchism, utopias, globalization etc) ;
> · analyze a diffusion phenomenon of uncritical cultural exchange 
> (folk-rooted Eastern European music expansion to the West) and public 
> space isolation culture (night clubs life, parties etc) to the east;
> · create an anti-east-west network of young activists who want work 
> together abolishing paternalist national, geographical criteria’s to 
> stand up for common human needs using libertarian principles
> · propose and discuss a conception of a newsletter “Bread and salt” 
> (“Western salt and eastern bread” as an issue of provoking polar 
> discussions, reflection to get a new dynamic in anti-east-west 
> approach with following esteem and hospitality to each others;
> · discuss further development of spotykach-mailing list ( 
> https://lists.nadir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spotykach as a tool 
> for described above ideas.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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