Talk

• Sat 21 05 2016 / 5 pm •
Stop Speaking for Me!


with ELIZABETH NGARI, REX OSA, BAHAREH SHARIFI und SINTHUJAN VARATHARAJAH

The media often depict the German public’s reactions to the latest migration movements into Europe in black-and-white terms: it’s a showdown between right-wing terror and the proponents of tolerance. But in fact, matters are more complex. Classical mechanisms of discrimination are at work even among anti-racists, with actual people of color and migrants being championed but excluded—spoken for but silenced. The most valuable interventions into public discourse have come from those who have had their own experiences of migration and integration—those who recognize the current polarization between non-European newcomers and the white majority as an expression of structural racism. Why are these positions excluded from the mainstream? What are the perspectives for anti-racist engagement beyond a homogeneous national self-understanding? Elizabeth Ngari, Rex Osa, Bahareh Sharifi and Sinthujan Varatharajah in an open discussion on how to counteract the monopoly of a homogenous national self-understanding under today’s increasingly embattled conditions.
Venue: ACADEMYSPACE, Herwarthstraße 3, 50672 Cologne
Free admission
In German and English

This event is part of the campaign week “Kultur öffnet Welten”—a joint initiative of federal, state and local authorities, artistic confederations and actors from civil society, kultur-oeffnet-welten.de