Talks and debate

Zwischen den Welten – Klima und Wirtschaft im Widerstreit (Between the worlds – climate and economy in conflict)

© Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche | Uwe Lewandowski

In view of the major challenges posed by the Corona pandemic, climate change has faded into the background as a central threat in recent months. With the recent ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, which obliges the legislator to amend the Climate Protection Act, the issue has come back into focus and also shaped the 2021 federal election. While environmental protection associations and especially the younger generation are hopeful, the new Climate Protection Act is increasingly meeting with criticism from the business community. Against the backdrop of the effects of the Corona crisis, voices were already raised months ago in favour of easing climate protection requirements in the economy.

Die Freiheit anders Denkender (The freedom of those who think differently)

© Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche | Uwe Lewandowski

Diversity of opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are three sides of the same coin, which is currently on the edge. In addition to pandemic-related assembly bans, disruptions up to and including the paralysis of events, university lectures and seminars have caused resentment. Freedoms long taken for granted have sparked fierce controversy. It is about polarisation to the point of refusing discourse, fears of shifting cultural boundaries (“cancel culture”), pigeonholing and fears of being applauded from the wrong side. It is about tolerance and mutual respect, about debate culture – a topic that touches the idea of the Osnabrück Peace Forum at its core.

Vergangenheit – Erinnerung – Geschichte (past – remembrance – history)

Sites of violence from the National Socialist era in the historical thought of European societies

© Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche | Uwe Lewandowski

Around the world, institutions dedicate themselves to keeping alive the debate on the crimes against humanity committed in the 20th century. Remembrance and historical work on the Shoah and the Second World War faces old and new challenges: How can information be conveyed when there is no one left to give an eyewitness account? How can society foster and sustain the interest of future generation(s)? How can we deal with political influence, and with nationalist or revanchist tendencies? What do the experiences from the “Age of Extremes” mean today and in a globalized world? The guests of Osnabrück Peace Forum discussed these issues and other questions concerning the past and the future of the culture of remembrance.

»Oma, was ist ein Schneemann?« (»Grandma, what’s a snowman?«)

Debate on the issue of climate justice

die Podiumsteilnehmenden im Gespräch

© Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche | Uwe Lewandowski

The debate on climate change, environmental destruction, and resource consumption harbors a wide range of conflicts; between the Global North and the Global South, between social classes and, in particular, between generations. Why is the implementation of the Paris Agreement failing, and is there a genuine danger that future generations will be affected negatively if we fail to tackle climate change?

Integration in der Stadt (Integration in the city)

How can it be achieved?

Gruppenfoto vor dem Rathaus

© Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche | Uwe Lewandowski

Integration – accommodating refugees first of all requires ensuring basic needs for decent accommodation, food and clothing. What started out with the assertion by the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel of “Wir schaffen das!” (We’ll manage this) in 2015 now requires staying power to integrate those people who will remain in Germany for the long term or permanently.

Die Ängste der Deutschen (The fears of Germans)

Does fear influence policy?

Gruppenfoto im Schloss

© Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche | Fritz Thormählen

“German angst” has been a term used for decades to characterize, both in a positive and negative sense, the German state of mind. The collective fear of revenge in the postwar period, of communism, nuclear war, forest dieback, the risk of BSE in food, avian flu, climate disaster, terrorism, inundation by migrants, poverty in old age, and the breakdown of society are supposedly “typically German.”

Das Endspiel (The endgame)

“Game Over” for the EU?

Gruppenfoto vor dem Schloss

© Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche | Uwe Lewandowski

Martin’s latest book “Game Over: Affluence for a Few, Democracy for No One, Nationalism for Everyone – and Then What?” (Game Over: Wohlstand für wenige, Demokratie für niemand, Nationalismus für alle – und dann?) was published in 2018. It weaves together a wide variety of developments – from growing inequality and the social divide to trade conflicts, from digitalization and neo-nationalism to the showdown in the EU. Professor Dr. Roland Czada and Professor Dr. Christoph König spoke to the writer.

America first!

Trump’s presidency: What will it achieve for his country and for the world?

Gruppenfoto vor der Schlossaula

© Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche | Uwe Lewandowski

The November 2018 Congressional elections marked the midterm of Donald Trump’s presidency – and despite all hopes of a premature end, the possibility of the most controversial US President winning a second term no longer seems that far-fetched. While for the Democrats, the Trump “nightmare” has become a daily-recurring reality, the Republicans celebrate the President’s successes, especially in view of the radical-conservative overhaul of institutions and the aggressive implementation of the program of relentless “economic nationalism” promised during electoral campaigns: America First!