Kulturkosmos: Against police surveillance on peaceful art festivals!
Joint Declaration for the Freedom of Art and Culture
We are fighting against this!
Sign Now: kulturkosmos.de/mitmachen/en
For years, the answer to all social, societal, and political questions has been: more police, more surveillance and more control. That obviously means less self-determination, fewer fundamental rights and less freedom.
A big part of the essence of cultural and artistic freedom is the ability to shape the style, form, and appearance of how something is staged and orchestrated. Clubs, stages, performances and festivals are all spaces of creation, experimentation, invention, wonder, and experience that fuel the existential development of the self, creativity, and the nurturing of the critical spirit.
Cultural freedom of expression is an essential component of any open society and democracy – and not only in times of a political shift to the right. It simulates and stimulates the experience of the Other. The “shrinking spaces” trend – the increasing restriction of public space for political discussion and cultural exchange – has to be halted.
So it’s about a lot more than the future of our beloved Fusion Festival, which is under threat due to the extreme demands being made by the police. Ultimately, it is about the political question of whether or not we as a society can continue to have free spaces that are not restricted by the police and subject to repressive measures.
It’s about the freedom of expression for all cultural and artistic venues and, viewed this way, affects all kinds of other places and spaces where cultures and subcultures flourish, including concerts, festivals, independent theatres and the entire club culture.
It is about nothing less than everything. It’s about the protection of a free and liberal society.
That is what we’re standing up for when we sign this Joint Declaration!
Sign Now: kulturkosmos.de/mitmachen/en
We therefore demand:
• That the cultural and artistic freedom be strengthened, supported, and defended!
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That art, culture, and civil society have the spaces they need to thrive, free of constant state control!
• That police powers be defined more narrowly and for the benefit of basic and civil liberties!
• That there be no police surveillance of peaceful cultural events!
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