I was never one of the brilliant students. I fulfilled what I was asked to. I didn’t question the system I was embedded in. School was school: a teacher in front of a class, and some group projects once in a while. I didn’t really think about any alteratives. Also growing older, I never took […]
theory empowering practice: deepening democracy
Is liberal representative democracy a feasible system to create spaces for active engagement? Is it enough to ensure inclusiveness and equality? Or should democracy be more than a one-day-event in which people can express their opinion through a single vote? Liberal representative democracy increasingly comes under criticism. Luckily, over the past years a whole area […]
viennese foodcoops & grassroots democracy
When I moved to Vienna in Spring 2017, I was full of energy and enthusiasm. I wanted to take up my role in social change – or at least take a first step towards that direction. Having worked in Brazil the past year, I was full of this Brazilian activist-ness. I wanted to go to […]
5 questions to horizontal decision-making
In 2016 I worked together with the hub of Casa Fluminense (short: Casa), a network that provides space for social leaders, activists and researchers to connect, align their strategies and projects, and – together – foster their collective voice in the public politics debate in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Casa aims […]
pixação – art lies in the eyes of the beholder
Tagging. Graffiti. Disturbance of public order. Vandalism. – Or something else? Pixação is a unique form of tagging that developed in São Paulo. Different from conventional street art pixação unfolds its beauty not to the outside, but reveals it to the inside: It exists for those who make it, the pixadores, the painters. Drawing on […]
nuit debout and prefiguration
Nuit Debout won my heart in the very first second. French for ‘rise up at night’ [1], Nuit Debout is a French movement that gathered for the first time on 31st of March 2016. First, it was only a couple of people that protested against new law reforms, occupying la Place de la République in […]
unruly politics & why we need activism
When I was younger (and with this I mean probably until last year), I never purely understood activism, state resistance and illegal acts. I always agreed that demonstrating was important, but believed in the limits set by the state, the rule of law. In fact, I never really got engaged – not even in what […]
unconditional basic income as solution to capitalism?
Unconditional Basic income (UBI) is ‘an income paid by a political community to all its members on an individual basis, without means test or work requirements’ (Van Parijs, 2000). As such, it differs from the minimum income guarantee or welfare state securities as It is being paid to individuals and not to households; It is […]