Robert, what is a democracy café and what is it supposed to achieve?
Our society is built on systems that are designed to function over long distances: We often elect representatives who lack a direct connection to local communities. The idea of the democracy café is to turn the tables: We think from the bottom up and look at what the people who live here actually want. If the shoe pinches somewhere, we can use the democracy café to find collaborators to help us achieve our aims. In most cases, it’s not all that hard to make the changes we want to see actually happen, as the space we inhabit on a daily basis is not all that large. Caring about your own doorstep is the key to becoming active.
“The Gasteig is a public space that’s open to everyone; easily accessible and free from the need to consume, it allows us to be equals among equals.”
The democracy café is a new participatory event format that will be held regularly throughout 2024. Do we already have an idea what’s on people’s minds in Sendling?
An open programme like this, where everyone contributes their own topics, may seem unfamiliar at first. Each democracy café has a fixed running order, with a moderator ensuring a structured meeting and guiding the participants. Ideally, the format is eventually continued by the group itself, but this takes time. The first Café at HP8 in September showed that everyone felt the need for a place to meet. There was a wish to make the Gasteig HP8 even more into a space where you can do things yourself. That’s encouraged the local residents to promote the democracy café even more vigorously. It represents a completely new way of exchanging ideas and having conversations about them.
Help shape our neighbourhood together!
Why is the Gasteig HP8, of all places, a suitable location for a democracy café?
Whether or not we feel at ease in a place greatly affects how we interact with others and how we choose to coexist. The Gasteig is an accessible public space; in sociology, such spaces are also referred to as “third places”: you don’t pay admission, you don’t have to do anything in particular, and anyone can simply come and contribute to setting the tone. Places like this are great for our format because they allow us to come together in a relaxed atmosphere, meet each other and achieve common goals. Decisions are not made by the democratic principle of rule of the majority, which tends to favour those with strong arguments, but sociocratically: everyone contributes their own perspective and experiences their active participation as something positive.
Want to know more about democracy cafés?
Find out here where this new format already exists and how to start up a democracy café yourself.
Text: Maria Zimmerer