The last week was crazy! Three different debates, in different places. And not only debates, different things as well. Trust me, if someone invented a teleport, I would gladly use it that week. Maybe add one more debate. Just for fun. 😂
But first things first, lets start from the beginning.
On 9th June 2024 all European Citizens will be able to vote in European Elections to select the new Members of the European Parliament. Apart from that, everyone living in Stuttgart for longer then 3 months, is able to vote in the local elections.
Both take place every five years, so naturally, everyone is excited. And since the voting age was changed to just 16 years old, there is a lot of events made especially for young people which I could take part in, either as a participant, or a part of the organising team. So, I did.
On Monday, I went to a really nice place called Junges Ensemble Stuttgart where I took part in a political discussion called „Globale Gerechtigkeit – Junge Perspektiven für die Zukunft der EU “. It was an event where young people could connect with politicians from three different parties. Some time before, I took part in the zoom meeting where we discussed how this event will look like: what type of debate will take place, what questions should appear there. We decided that there should be some chairs next to the politicians, so the people from the audience could come, and ask their own questions and get into a direct dialogue with the politicians. After the discussion, there was an improv performance by a local theatre group. We also got a chance to listen to a live music performance. To my discontent, the method fish ball method wasn’t used. I was already picturing the politicians swimming in the big aquarium answering questions. Can you imagine how fun would that be? Unfortunately, not only, this method turned out to be way less cool than that. Maybe that is why it wasn’t chosen. Soon, however, we put politicians and young people in, perhaps, even more uncomfortable, and unusual situation. And this one didn’t require water. Just a lot of curtains.
Dunkel Discussion: a pretty exciting project focused on politics, of course, but also educating about vision impairments. Not a usual combination perhaps, but it worked out quite well. Thanks to the people from Aus:sicht, a inclusion project that my colleague Mark is a part of, as well as Lia, we organised a political discussion in a complete darkness. And by complete darkness, I really mean complete darkness. No light allowed, no mobile phones, no fluorescent clothing, no smartwatches, nothing. I learned it the hard way after my Scooby-Doo T-shirt temporarily banned me from entering. The people from Aus:sicht walked us all into the room, where we sat at the tables, and listened to a few politicians, answering questions asked by Lia, and the audience. It was really weird but also quite refreshing. You couldn’t see anyone or anything. You could only hear them. Politicians couldn’t use notes, so their answers were more real. There was no body language that would help you understand them better or see reactions of others around you. We were together, but it felt as if we were all alone. It felt freeing and terrifying. Liberating and confining at the same time. It made us understand better how the world feels, for the people who cannot see it.
But the discussions in the dark, were not the only part of the project. There were also workshops. Participants could try to walk with the white mobility canes, guess the name of a substance in the jar, by smell, or guess what object they are holding. All those activities were done while being blindfolded. There were also some where we could see everything of course. Those were the braille workshops, where we deciphered what the text in braille says, and then have our names written in braille. I learned how the braille typewriter looks like. It was really cool. Mark also let us wear special glasses that simulated different types of visual impairments.
If you want to learn more, you can check out:
Junges Ensemble Stuttgart Website: https://www.jes-stuttgart.de/ or Instagram @jesstuttgart
Aus:sicht Website: https://www.aus-sicht.de/
