Review Across Awareness 2022

Even though it's been over 2 months now, we wanted to review Across Awareness 1 & 2 and share some impressions with you.

Friday was all about Saxony and the challenges of awareness work in this federal state. And although we assumed that most of you would arrive the next day, there was already a lot of interest on that day. Especially in the well-filled cinema hall of the Cineding this became clear. For me, the first panel on "Awareness Practice in Saxony" was already a highlight. Although I have been active in the field of awareness for a long time, my practical experience has so far been limited mainly to Leipzig stores and clubs, especially at events of a clientele that sees itself somewhere between left-wing and alternative.

That's why it was even more exciting for me to be able to compare these experiences with others: On my "nice to do" list (the other one is just called "to do") are now definitely tekks in the forest in the Dresden countryside and more trips to queer events in rural areas. At the same time I have to revise my image of Berlin as the pulsating metropolis of progressiveness a bit: At least in terms of awareness, Berlin is apparently not supposed to be the perfect role model either. Basically, there was a lot to do everywhere, that was already clear, but what exactly and where which problems lie, that became a bit clearer to me. 

Afterwards there was the performance of Hana Hazem. The piece was written especially for our event and although I could already see it at the dress rehearsal, which took place on the same day, I stayed again. And I was fascinated again. I think especially the own vulnerability, the struggle with oneself and in the field of tension with an environment that always seems so oppressive, touched me. Unfortunately, between the organization, the dismantling and the premiere drink, there wasn't enough time to delve further into the topic, as my thoughts were already too absorbed in the program points and organizational challenges of the next day.

With Across Awareness 2, things continued. But unfortunately not for everyone. Some were kept away by a first wave of early autumn infectious diseases; others had their travel plans thwarted by the sabotage of the rail network.

Really annoying. At the symposium, of all times. At the same time, I was told that fewer people went to the Nazi demonstration in Berlin as a result. For me, a scant 3 out of 5 perceived consolation plasters.

Nevertheless, the Saturday was also well attended and besides seeing some familiar faces again, I was also happy to have some short but stimulating conversations with initially unknown people. All in all, I was there rather little on the second day, because some background orga stuff kept me pretty busy.

But I talked to Flo and while they had a lot to do on Friday with the final orga of the panels, the evening moderation and all the trimmings, there was also the opportunity for Flo to take content with him on Saturday. That's good, too, because we still want (and need!) to learn a lot.

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As organizers, however, we took the floor first. It would have been a somewhat strange move to sit on the podium at our own event, and yet we also had something to say in terms of content. Alex and Pauline went into a few aspects that are very relevant for us right now:

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• Awareness not only as a trend, but as a long-term and sustainable change of structures that also have a story. Rather, several stories. Stories of hard, intensive work, radical struggles and tough confrontations.
• the lack of intersectionality and stakeholder-centeredness in many recent awareness approaches, which is also expressed in current efforts to establish common minimum standards.
• Appreciation, self-care and collective ownership as the "heart" of awareness.

After this introduction, which dealt with general and current topics, we started with "Safer Spaces". Lotte Hiller played a central role: First she sensitized us to the problematic nature of the term, the subjectivity of the "feeling of safety" and then, directly afterwards, she sat on the podium with Noah Anderson and Niis Warsame.

There was then further discussion about what Safer Spaces actually are, why and how we strive for them, and the challenges involved.

• We can understand them as utopias and use them as a target. Then we have to ask ourselves the question: How do we establish a sense of security or at least a welcome to all ? And who is everyone anyway?
• Or we approach Safer Spaces with more realism. This means paying closer attention to and considering their importance, but also needs and voids.
• So when we talk about safer spaces, we usually refer explicitly or implicitly to certain communities, safer cultural spaces, which should not only fulfill the condition that everyone can be "safe" there, but also that everyone can safely be themselves. Such "more exclusive" safer spaces can create empowerment.
• In this sense, a safe space also thrives on exclusion, as otherwise it cannot create security.
• If we apply the more exclusive, realistic image of safer spaces, we can address how to create intermediate spaces that build bridges between different safer spaces in the medium & long term.

Before the start of the second panel, Allia E. Sadeghipour presented her film "Club Awareness and Safety Educational Video". A very entertaining part of the day. You can also watch it again:

This also resulted in the Consent Gallery, which you can find on the platform. During the symposium the gallery was exhibited in the theater foyer. Actually, the plan was that several projects would present themselves there on walls and that we would do a kind of project fair, but apart from the drug scouts, little was done about the offer. Maybe that was a bit much for one day, even though I still find the idea very exciting.

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In the evening there was the final panel on the topic of sustainability, more precisely it was again a bit about the extent to which awareness is a self-label or scene trend or to what extent things are really changed in the long term and implemented responsibly.

Of course, it is not only the individuals in the awareness teams that are important, but also the change in attitude of the whole store. That is, both the organizers, who somehow have to be on board, and the visitors. In this respect, there were also very different reports of experience: from scene locations where the collective sense of responsibility already works quite well and guests also approach guests, but also from locations where it is still a hard struggle to get the entire team behind them.

This has also led to a new strategic question: Do we want to put more energy into those areas where things are already going halfway in order to promote sustainability, secure safe spaces and work from within them? Or is it better to continue working tirelessly where things are going wrong and the desired change is not really happening?

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In the panel discussion that followed, some exciting topics came up as well; it was about ways and accesses to safer spaces, the intersectionality of awareness work and our perspectives in general, tokenization of people due to their experiences of discrimination, and about the problem of the poor distribution of resources and their concentration in some cities. All in all, again super exciting but way too much to present here aptly. We also recorded all the panels, will make some fine podcasts out of it and let all our newsletter subscribersknow about it ;)

Oh, and then there were seven workshops and two empowerment spaces, but Flo and I didn't record much of that. Fortunately, there is at least the documentation.

Overall, they should have been good. In any case, we received a lot of positive feedback and are very grateful to our speakers! Together with the panels it was a bit too much input for some, for others a packed program suited well. For me it was very understandable, it was really a bit ambitious and yet there is still so much we need to talk about. But maybe there will be time for that at the next symposium. Basically, to leave more room for networking and exchange and also to be able to digest information a bit, we take ourselves along for this.

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