The 15th Federal Congress on Civic Education was opened yesterday, organized by the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb under the motto “Interpretations of the Present – Narratives of the Future. Political education in times of social upheaval” from 2-4. November in Weimar. The Federal Congress on Political Education is a cooperation event between the bpb and the German Association for Political Education and the Federal Committee on Political Education.
In Germany, too, tensions within society are increasing as we deal with numerous current crises. The Federal Congress on Political Education 2023 sees itself as a forum to discuss social upheavals and to support the creation of a future worth living with new findings, particularly on political education. In 15 sections and over 70 workshops, over 1,000 participants can choose what they want to talk about from a range of topics. The program includes many of the big topics of our time, such as sustainability, queer empowerment and the power of the media. Topics also include Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.
In addition to numerous well-known scientists, the Federal Minister of the Interior and Homeland Nancy Faeser a greeting to the participants of the congress and highlighted the value of political education: “The terror of Hamas in Israel and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine are also attacks on our shared democratic values and the free system in which we live. Our democracy is defensive and we must and we will continue to defend it, both externally and internally. We do not tolerate hatred and agitation, anti-Semitism on our streets, or racism of any kind. Anyone who wants to defend democracy must understand the sometimes complex relationships that lie behind the attacks on our democracy. Civic education does exactly this: it is indispensable for our democracy by imparting knowledge, explaining connections and backgrounds and thereby strengthening people’s ability to judge. Civic education encourages people and gives them the strength to stand up for our values and our democracy. I am therefore extremely grateful to everyone who commits themselves every day to political education and thus to a robust democracy.”.
Also Thomas Krüger, President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpbcommented on the importance of political education in times of crisis: “The climate crisis, Russia’s war against Ukraine, Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel – all of these are events that represent challenges for the entire world – but also put pressure on individual societies. So does ours here in Germany. We are called upon to use the means of political education to help ensure that these tensions within society are discussed productively.”.
You can find more information about the Federal Congress program at External link: www.bpb.de/bundeskongress.
Parts of the congress will be streamed live. All links to the live streams can be found here:
You can find the press invitation as a PDF Internal link: here.
Press contact:
Federal Agency for Civic Education
Daniel Kraft
Adenauerallee 86
53113 Bonn
Tel. +49 (0)228 99515-200
Fax +49 (0)228 99515-293
E-Mail Link: presse@bpb.de
External link: www.bpb.de/presse
2023-11-07 07:51:09
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