Category: News from Oikosnet

Annual Conference 2017

„The Digital Revolution and its Children“

The Annual Conference of Oikosnet Europe is scheduled to take place upon invitation of the Evangelical Academy of Baden in Flehingen/Germany (near Karlsruhe) from 6 to 10 September 2017. For registrations and further details, please, consult the Oikosnet Europe website: www.oikosnet.eu.

“I am looking forward to an exciting Annual Conference,” Executive Secretary Rüdiger Noll said. “After so many years of internal reflection, we are now ready again to reach out to the environment around us. So many long-standing members and new partners have become active again in the framework of Oikosnet Europe and use it as a platform for mutual learning, sharing and common initiatives.”

“The Digital revolution and its Children” is the theme of the Study Day at this year´s Annual Conference – an issue about which many Oikosnet members are concerned throughout the continent. The Evangelical Academy of Baden is one of the members, which has a long-standing reputation in addressing issues of digitalization from an ethical as well as from a very practical perspective. The programme will include, inter alia, an excursion to the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe (www.zkm.de) as well as a practical workshop on internet security.

Main items on the business agenda of the Annual Conference are the election of a new Board (including a new President and Vice-President) as well as the dissolution of Oikosnet Europe according to German law. The programme will give ample time for discussing the activities of Oikosnet in the past and in the future and for developing common activities among members.

Deadline for registration is the first of  August.

In order to stimulate discussion within and among Oikosnet members, the Annual Report of the Board, the President´s Report and the more detailed agenda are issued already now to registered participants and to Oikosnet members.

 

 

 

What links the 16th century reformation with our age of modern media and digitalisation?

For many reasons the present exhibition in Wittenberg/Germany on “Luther and the Avantgarde” is worth a visit. Artists with a world reputation have been invited to present works on their perception of Luther and the reformation in the cells of a former prison. A contradiction in terms: the reformation is celebrated as promoting freedom and the artists’ perception is presented in a former prison.

It is amazing to see how many of the artists’ works deal with modern media. But this does not come as a total surprise as it is often stated that Luther used the modern media of his time, the printing press, in order to spread his ideas. Without these possibilities, it is said, the reformation would have been far from being as successful as it was. The artists’ group “Robotlab” installed a robot in Wittenberg, which writes within nine month all chapters of the bible. The artists say, Luther`s writing also were an act of freeing himself from his cell. Achim Molné is presented with a digital produced picture of Edward Snowden in the garden of the prison, thus merging the digital world with the real environment of Wittenberg. He says: “The Whistle-Blowers Luther and Snowden both aimed at exposing systematic injustices.” And both used the modern media of their times.

Of course, there are also the critical aspects. The Chinese artist Zhang Peili enriches the exhibition with a set of radios exposed in a circle. Their sounds are mixing to a sound wall in the cell of the prison. And a microphone is moving from radio to radio giving dominance to one sound for a while. Can we still distinguish the different voices in a time when there seems to be an overkill of voices and information? And who is the master of the microphone giving dominance to one or the other of the many voices? Another Chinese artist, Xu Bing, invites visitors in a messy office environment to translate biblical stories into globally understood symbols using the computer. Does this method transform the message into something trivial?

I would not call myself a computer literate. I use the computer and new social media like many others: I enjoy the possibilities being in touch with many long-standing and new friends all over the world. I try to protect my computer to the best of my knowledge and I try to be reflective on what I share publicly. I am interested as to how modern media, for instance, can contribute to establishing a European public, how new media can help civil society to share a different world view compared to some of the public news.

But I am also aware that there is much more to it. What´s about big data? Who controls the net? Did we already become slaves of other peoples’ algorithms? What´s about the internet of things? And most important: what are the ethical implications. What is the role and the underlying perception of human beings? Questions over questions. Certainly the digitalization and the use of modern media changes our world. It is a revolution, at least as life changing as the reformation and the invention of the printing press at Luther´s times.

It is with these questions and perceptions that I will arrive at the forthcoming Oikonset Annual Conference, which will take place in Flehingen/Germany, 6-10 September 2017 under the theme “The Digital Revolution and its Children”.  I am looking forward to learn more about the opportunities and challenges and to discuss with friends from all over Europa about their perspective.  It is for sure that the use of modern media and digitalisation are issues with huge ethical implications to be discussed by Oikosnet members in a European and global context.

Editorial by Rüdiger Noll, Executive Secretary of Oikosnet Europe

 

Since 1995, the Iconography Workshop of the Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC) cultivates the Byzantine art through the painting of icons and also by informing groups visiting the OAC on iconography. The Workshop provide iconography seminars to groups and to individuals from Greece and abroad. These seminars aim at offering a general orientation and acquaintance with Byzantine art. The main emphasis lies on the portable icon painting. The participants will learn and practice the techniques that are being applied during the different phases of its creation.

Parallel to the practical section of their training, the participants get information on the theoretical framework of Byzantine iconography.  The OAC scientific advisors deliver lectures on the theology of icons and the history of iconography. During the courses, the participants will visit places directly connected to the hagiographic tradition of the Orthodox Church, as it was experienced in the island of Crete. They have the opportunity to admire and study masterpieces of Byzantine and post-Byzantine art; many of them are to be found in their ‘natural place‘, in the churches and the monasteries. The participants stay at the OAC and taste the traditional Cretan cuisine. At the end of the courses, the participants receive a certificate from the OAC confirming their participation.

Dates of the iconography seminars
October 13th – 20th
March 14th – 21

For further information and registration please get in contact with Konstantina Stefanaki,Iconographer of the OAC Orthodox Academy of Crete 73006  Kolympari – Chania, Crete,
Tel.: +30-28240-22245, Fax: +30-28240-22060

E-mail: ksoac@otenet.gr ,   Website: www.oac.gr

September 27th – October 2nd, Presbyterian Women’s Centre – The mission House, Accra, Ghana

The Board of Stichting Oikosnet International (OI) invites for a Five Day Training in the DPC-methodology. DPC stands for Dialogue for Peaceful Change. This method is developed under the umbrella of Oikosnet International.

Basic Information:
Participants: Max 24 women from Oikosnet members, all over the world
Dates: 27 September – 2 October 2017
Arrival: Tuesday 26 September Departure: Monday 2 October
Place:  Presbyterian Women’s Centre – The mission House, Accra, Ghana
Fee: Euro 200
Language: English
Deadline:  27 July 2017

This training is financially supported by the – now informal – Board of Oikosnet International. This umbrella-organisation finished its work by the beginning of this year. The remaining funds are now dedicated to this training. The proposal came from Oikosnet Africa and is meant for women who want to play a role in developing peace and justice in their societies. Women from Oikosnet members, coming from all Oikosnet regions are invited for this training. Financial support for travel is available for non-European participants, especially for their travel costs.

In the attached file more specific information is available.

Applications have to be sent to the coordinator of Oikosnet Africa, Mrs. Afia Darkwa-Amanor (afiadarkwa.09@gmail.com). Please see the application form.

Coming from Europe, you are also invited to send you application to both Rüdiger Noll and Jaap van der Sar (both were members of the Board of OI). Please use their following addresses: rudiger@rudigernoll.eu and jaapvandersar@gmail.com. Here you can also receive further information. For Europe we have roughly 4 places available. Travel costs have to be paid by the participants. Some support from Oikosnet Europe is available for some participants. If required, please contact Rüdiger Noll and/or Jaap van der Saar.

Fake-news is a fact of life, definitely after 2016. The most new is the word ‘fake’ which is attached to parts of our daily conversations, since it represents something we are already used to. Gossiping has a smell of fake. As has the saying ‘I have been economically with the truth’. Deliberately presenting things in a way which will cause a changed mind-set for those who listen – it is part of the strategy to convince people about the wish that they should believe the source and therefore agree with the attached judgement.

In daily life it happens more often that the given representation of facts is perceived differently by different listeners. The representation is not correct – we sometimes say. And by consequence the outcome of the reasoning on these facts is considered false as well. To avoid this as much as possible we have an exchange of arguments, look for the reliability of the source of the presented facts, discuss different viewpoints. That is almost the normal attitude in most of the work of the members of Oikosnet Europe. We live from the uncertainty about facts and the interpretation of these facts. And we discuss them at our meetings and conferences.

When doing so, we mostly follow a pattern – which I learned to see after our former General Secretary Wolfgang Lenz showed me his model, named ‘The Four Resources for the Management of Meaning’. The first one in “information” – mostly presented as facts. More and more almost indisputable presented in the form of a 1 or 0. However, information in itself can be incorrect. Therefore we apply checks – in science known as the Popper principle of falsifiability – to discuss whether we should consider facts as correct facts on which we can build good conclusions. Information, facts only have a meaning when placed in a framework of knowledge. As an example: the statement “It is 3 ⁰C outside” represents a fact, the knowledge added is that this is very cold for human beings and by consequence they are advised to put on a coat. “Knowledge” is the second resource.

The third one is, in my representation of Wolfgang’s scheme, “values”. Through values we prioritise our behaviour, for instance when we are outdoors with a temperature of 3 ⁰C, but we stay there without putting on a coat since we meet with a friend who has had an accident. We stay outside and offer as much help as possible. Then we prioritise some of our values. Being cold, probably getting sick for some days, is not as important as helping the friend. Where does this priority comes from when dealing with our different values?

This questions leads to the fourth resource: faith, world view, belief-system. People generally use different words for this resource. The important thing: it deals with the background of our personal priorities in the values. Our view on life. Our accepted characteristics and convictions.

For me the big questions don’t deal with these four elements as such. Facts are part of our lives, as priorities and values are. The big questions deal with the availability to raise questions about them. And to be open for a reaction on these questions. If that is refused, the ultimate position is that no discussion at all is possible. Science doesn’t matter anymore. Logic isn’t helpful. A real exchange on views, on perceived realities are not required anymore. We just follow the first speaker. Or the dictator.

Today, while writing this contribution, we have general elections for the parliament in the Netherlands. Democracy at its best. A feast, some people say. The feast can only be recognised in this way when we continue the work to communicate about the different views, when we build arguments. When we do our work as members of Oikosnet Europe.

Jaap van der Sar, President Oikosnet Europe

A Europe of and for the people – Just and Participatory

Statement of the Board of Oikosnet Europe on the Future of Europe

In Rome, on 25 March 2017, the Heads of State and Government of the EU Member States will celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the founding document of what is now the European Union. As announced at the EU Bratislava Summit in September 2016, this will also be the occasion to look forward and to “set out orientations for our common future together”[i].

The present debate about Europe, however, is dominated by Europe being in a crisis. As the present and former Presidents of the European Commission  have indicated in their respective State of the Union addresses, the crisis of the European Union, and thereby of the European project, is an „existential crisis“[ii]. “This crisis is financial, economic and social. But it is also a crisis of confidence. A crisis of confidence in our leaders, in Europe itself, and in our capacity to find solutions.”[iii] The difference between the present crisis and the previous crises of the European Union is in it being an accumulation of several, mutually reinforcing crises.  The Financial Crisis, the Euro Crisis, the inability to develop a common response to the stream of refugees, the inability to develop a Common European Foreign and Security Policy and to respond jointly to new conflict situations and Brexit as an expression of the approach of some Member States, being less based on a joint vision and more a simple cost-benefit analysis.

Other underlying features of the crisis are the inequalities between EU Member States and a lack of solidarity. Increasing right-wing populism, re-awakening nationalism, the unilateral emphasis on economic growth and competition on the part of the European Union as well as its inability to come closer to the people, contribute to accelerating the crisis.

Given this situation, the European Commission emphasizes on “delivering“ in areas of its competence and on policies, on which the European dimension provides an added value compared to approaches of individual members states. In this regard, the Board of Oikosnet Europe[iv], meeting just prior to the celebrations in Rome, welcomes the five scenarios of the European Commission on the „Future of Europe“[v]. These scenarios offer some clarity on the future direction and force EU Member States to re-state their commitment to an agreed and community dimension of the European project.

Oikosnet Europe also believes that the scenarios offered by the European Commission are too technical and fall short of addressing the underlying root causes of the European crisis, such as the social crisis in many European countries and the gap between the European Institutions and the people of Europe.

Many people and civil society organisations in Europe under the name of “Pulse of Europe”, despite their fears, remain committed to the European project as signified, for example,  by the „March for Europe“ on 25 March 2017 in Rome and in many other European cities, for unity, delivery, solidarity, protection, democracy and hope.

Oikosnet Europe expects that in addition to the emphasis on „delivery“, the celebrations on the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaty will also lead to the EU Member States re-committing themselves to a European idea that is more than just an accumulation of national self-interests. We believe that the celebrations of the Rome Treaty need to be the starting point for developing a new narrative[vi] for the European project, which allows people to identify and engage in. From its beginnings, the European Union was more than just a common economic space. It was a peace and reconciliation project after two devastating wars. This narrative is still valid and has to be kept in mind, although it might have lost some of its power of engagement as the war is not a reality anymore within the Union.  A new narrative is sought.  At a time when the gap between rich and poor is widening, not least due to austerity measures enforced on the European level, and there are less opportunities for people to engage with the project, key elements of such a narrative must include social justice within and between Member States as well as the participation of the people of Europe.

„Europe in Conviviality“[vii] might be a metaphor around which to develop such a new narrative. Living in conviviality in Europe and drawing on commonly held values and a common vision for the whole of the continent in a global perspective seems to us to be a viable vision for the future, which offers criteria for common policies in Europe. „Conviviality“ puts the people at the center of political action. It implies taking account of my neighbor and his/her needs as a basis of community policies. It fosters equal opportunities, engagement on an equal footing as well as social justice, thereby respecting freedom and diversity. Conviviality opens an opportunity to look beyond the EU territory and to take a fresh approach on the EU’s neighborhood as well as on its Common and Security Policy. Europe is bigger than just the European Union and the European Institutions have a responsibility which go far beyond Member States of the EU.

Oikosnet Europe is a network that is made up of members across the continent, drawing on the achievements of the European project.  They stand ready to engage in the open, transparent and regular dialogue between civil society organisations and the European Institutions as well as  to further develop an engaging narrative for Europe and to discuss European policies involving stakeholders from all walks of life, thus fostering conviviality and the European project.

March 2017

Statement Oikosnet Europe for print

[i] The Bratislava Declaration and Roadmap (16 September 2016)

[ii] Jean Claude Juncker, State of the Union Address 2016.

[iii] Jose Manuel Barroso, State of the Union Address 2011.

[iv] Oikosnet Europe is a network of 40 Christian academies and laity centers in Europe. Today the member organisations represent Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox confessions from 17 countries in Europe.
Every year more than 200 000 people from all walks of life participate in conferences, meetings and festivities around a wide spectrum of topics. During the last years the main focus for common projects of Oikosnet Europe have been religion and democracy, social development, ecumenical formation, sustainability, migration and gender issues.

[v] Cf. White Paper on the Future of Europe. The EU of the 27 in the year 2025. Considerations and Scenarios. European Commission, 1 March 2017.

[vi] We have learnt about the importance of common narratives, for instance, through our member center in Corrymeela/Northern Ireland, which has a long-standing commitment and engagement in mediating between the different communities in the Northern Irish troubles and their aftermath. At our Annual Conference 2015 leaders of the Corrymeela Community explained: „We can identify victims and perpetrators on either side, we know about the society which we envision, we have developed methods for community building, but also long as we have no common narrative conflicting parties will always fall back into their old and segregationist positions.“

[vii] Cf. Seeking Conviviality, ed. The Lutheran World Federation, and: Towards a Convivial Economy, ed. The Lutheran World Federation, Geneva 2016.

 

Schloss Flehingen, Oberderdingen, Germany  6th – 10th of September
September might still seem far away, but we all know that time flies much faster than we expect it to. This years annual conference  will be hosted by the Evangelische Akademie in Baden at Schloss Flehingen, Oberderdingen, Germany. The main thematic issue will be “The Digital revolution and it´s children.”
The conference starts Wednesday the 6th of September and ends on Sunday the 10th
More detailed information about the program with study days etc. will be provided to all members  with the letter of invitation that will be sent to you in the weeks to come.

The registration will be open from the first of April until August 22nd. 

The Evangelical Academy of Thüringen (Neudietendorf) is part of organizing an encounter and a conference for about 120 young people and young adults, mainly from Poland, Germany and France, at the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the so-called “Wartburgfest”. The Wartburg is not only symbol of the reformation, where Luther had to hide and translated the bible. It is also the symbol for one of the first big first student´s gathering 300 years later. Despite its national connotation, this Wartburgfest can also be seen, and should be celebrated, as a first step in the direction of a democratic society. The organisers of the anniversary event in 2017 want to discuss democracy from a European perspective. On the agenda are themes such as: refugee policies, and rising right-wing populism. Oikosnet members who are interested in participating or sending participants are invited to contact Michael Haspel at: haspel@ev-akademie-thueringen.de.