The “Initiative GG 5.3 Open-mindedness” consists of numerous renowned cultural and scientific institutions such as the Goethe Institute, the Humboldt Forum and the Hohenems Jewish Museum. The name of the initiative refers to Article 5 Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law, in which the freedom of art and science is guaranteed. This requires a public that enables controversial debates on the basis of the Basic Law. That is why the initiative advocates diversity of opinion. Cosmopolitanism, as the initiative understands it, requires being different to be understood as a democratic quality. Art and education are spaces in which it is important to endure ambivalences and allow divergent positions. This also includes guaranteeing freedom for polyphony, which puts one’s own privileged position at risk.
The declaration of the initiative GG 5.3 Open-mindedness is documented here:
As representatives of public cultural and scientific institutions, we are united by the state mandate to promote art and culture, historical research and democratic education and make them accessible to the general public. To do this, we depend on a public that enables arguable and controversial debates on the normative basis of the constitutional order. We also pay special attention to marginalized and hidden voices that stand for cultural diversity and critical perspectives. The common fight against anti-Semitism, racism, right-wing extremism and all forms of violent religious fundamentalism is at the center of our initiative.
A specific challenge for us today is to responsibly convey the characteristics of the German past to our cooperation partners all over the world in order to design a common present and future. A past that is shaped on the one hand by the unprecedented genocide of European Jews and on the other hand by a late and relatively hesitant coming to terms with German colonial history. This requires active commitment to the diversity of Jewish positions and an opening to other social visions from the non-European world.
It is unproductive and detrimental to a democratic public if important local and international voices are to be excluded from the critical dialogue, as was the case with the debate about Achille Mbembe. Germany’s historical responsibility must not lead to the general delegitimization of other historical experiences of violence and oppression, either morally or politically. Confrontation and discussion about it must be possible, especially in publicly funded cultural and discourse spaces. Against this background, we are also very concerned about the application of the Bundestag’s BDS resolution. Since we consider the cultural and scientific exchange to be fundamental, we reject the boycott of Israel by the BDS. At the same time, we also consider the logic of the boycott that the Bundestag’s BDS resolution triggered to be dangerous. With reference to this resolution, the misuse of the accusation of anti-Semitism pushed important voices aside and distorted critical positions.
For this reason we have come together to form the “Initiative GG 5.3 Open-mindedness”, in which we bundle our competencies and strengths in order to defend a climate of polyphony, critical reflection and the recognition of difference. With the name we refer to Article 5 Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law, in which the freedom of art and science is guaranteed. Cosmopolitanism, as we understand it, requires a political aesthetic of difference that understands being different as a democratic quality and art and education as spaces in which it is a matter of enduring ambivalences and allowing divergent positions. This also includes guaranteeing freedom for polyphony, which makes its own privileged position as an implicit norm critically available.
We defend the cosmopolitan society, which fights for the equality of all people with the means of the rule of law and public discourse and allows dissent and multi-layered solidarities. This is the basis that allows the arts and sciences to continue to exercise their original function: that of critical reflection on the social order and the opening up to alternative world designs.
Working group
• Berliner Festspiele, Thomas Oberender (Artistic Director)
• Berlin artist program of the DAAD, Silvia Fehrmann (head)
• Alliance of international production houses:
• FFT Düsseldorf (Forum Free Theater), Kathrin Tiedemann (Artistic Director and Managing Director)
• HAU Hebbel am Ufer / Berlin, Annemie Vanackere (General Manager)
• HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts / Dresden, Carena Schlewitt (General Manager) • Kampnagel / Hamburg, Amelie Deuflhard (General Manager)
• Mousonturm / Frankfurt am Main Artists’ House, Matthias Pees (Intendant)
• PACT Zollverein / Essen, Stefan Hilterhaus (Director)
• tanzhaus nrw / Düsseldorf, Bettina Masuch (artistic director)
• Deutsches Theater Berlin, Ulrich Khuon (Artistic Director)
• Einstein Forum Potsdam, Susan Neiman (director)
• Goethe-Institut, Johannes Ebert (Secretary General)
• House of World Cultures, Bernd Scherer (Director)
• Jewish Museum Hohenems, Hanno Loewy (director)
• Federal Cultural Foundation, Hortensia Völckers (Artistic Director)
• Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies, Miriam Rürup (Director)
• Museum am Rothenbaum – Cultures and Arts of the World (MARKK), Barbara Plankensteiner (Director)
• Humboldt Forum Foundation in the Berlin Palace, Hartmut Dorgerloh (General Director)
• Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger (Rector)
• Center for Antisemitism Research, TU Berlin, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (head)
Further signatories of the plea
• German Stage Association, Carsten Brosda (President)
• DOK Leipzig, Christoph Terhechte (Artistic Director and Managing Director)
• Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Wilfried Schulz (General Director and Festival Director Theater der Welt 2021)
• Forum Transregional Studies, Andreas Eckert (Chairman of the Board)
• Münchner Kammerspiele, Barbara Mundel (Artistic Director)
• Nationaltheater Mannheim, Christian Holtzhauer (acting director)
• Cologne Theater, Stefan Bachmann (Artistic Director)
• Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Joachim Klement (Artistic Director)
• Theater Krefeld-Mönchengladbach, Michael Grosse (General Director)
• Thalia Theater, Joachim Lux (Director of Thalia Theater and President of the German Center of the International Theater Institute (ITI))
• Ethnology museums in Leipzig, Dresden and Herrnhut, Léontine Meijer-van Mensch (director)
• Württembergischer Kunstverein, Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler (directors)
The working group thanks for technical advice and contributions to the discussion:
• Aleida Assmann (Professor em. For English and general literature)
• Stephan Detjen (Journalist)
• Emily Dische-Becker (journalist)
• Anselm Franke (curator)
• Andreas Görgen
• Wolf Iro (cultural manager and author)
• Wolfgang Kaleck
• Christoph Möllers (Professor for Public Law and Legal Philosophy)
• Michael Wildt (Professor of German History in the 20th Century with a Focus on National Socialism)
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