KROKODIL in Cottbus at a workshop on the role of culture in resisting authoritarian dynamics and regimes

06 Nov KROKODIL in Cottbus at a workshop on the role of culture in resisting authoritarian dynamics and regimes

Last month, we were in the German city of Cottbus for a two-day workshop which gathered a significant number of governmental and non-governmental cultural organizations from various countries – Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, among others. We discussed how culture can resist authoritarian regimes and, through concrete examples, learned from each other about the best practices for stakeholders. Milena Berić presented the work of KROKODIL, as well as the situation KROKODIL faces concerning SLAPP lawsuits and attacks from extreme right-wing groups.

One of the strongest impressions from this trip is the realization that Nazism in this region of Germany was never fully eradicated and is currently flourishing, thanks to pan-European contacts and networking, as well as the support of the German right-wing party AfD. A number of Cottbus residents are extremely frightened by this development and are trying to resist this dangerous tendency.

During our joint visit and discussion with a local non-governmental organization, the doors had to be locked for security reasons, and we were shown the emergency exit, as it is not uncommon for Nazis to break in and threaten people, and unfortunately, the police only react when the media is alerted.

The situation faced by the NGO sector there closely resembles the situation here in Serbia and what KROKODIL has been going through in the past couple of years.

All of this has strengthened our belief that such networking is extremely important, as we can learn a lot from each other and mutually empower ourselves in the context of resisting growing right-wing and authoritarian tendencies, which represent one of the most alarming phenomena of today.

The workshop was held at the Department of Cultural Management of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, and was organized by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb).