The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Summer School on Political Participation will bring together activists with a Leftist political background from Egypt, Germany and Tunisia. It will take place from September 24 to 28, 2012 in Berlin, Germany, and will focus on different forms of political participation, particularly those taking place outside of established (party or organizational) structures. Participants will be given the opportunity to exchange ideas and report on experiences from their political struggles, and will build a network of partners to work with in the future. They will learn about current debates as well as contests and issues in extra-parliamentary political work in all three countries. The actual topics of discussion will be determined in an interactive manner prior to the event, bringing in the views and experience of all participants. At the heart of the Summer School is the fostering of a dialogue on all three countries’ perspectives on political participation, as well as on the opportunities for and limits of creating such participation.

Based on the topics and statements provided by the participants before the event, a detailed curriculum will be created. Preliminary suggestions on the part of Rosa Luxemburg Foundation include the following:

• Debate and theoretical background on political participation;
• The presentation of examples for citizens’ participation in infrastructure projects (e.g. in Berlin’s energy and water supply management), social work (“Kiezmütter”) or economic planning (citizens’ budget for Berlin-Lichtenberg);
• The debate surrounding direct democracy and public referenda, as well as alternative constitutional committees;
• Citizens’ participation in urban planning and the presentation of protest campaigns in this field (Mediaspree, “Recht auf Stadt”)
• Reports on the formation of student parliaments, on organizing student protests, as well as on unemployed persons’ parliaments and unions;
• Debates with representatives from unions and Germany’s Die Linke party on workers’ rights, reduced working hours and minimum wages; presentation of human rights campaigns;
• Gender debates in politics and in the workplace, presentation of various feminist campaigns;
• Migration and international solidarity;
• Strategies and techniques of mobilization, for increasing participation and for networking;
• Thinking about utopia: what are ideal conceptions of political participation for all citizens?

The Summer School will accommodate a maximum of 30 participants from Egypt, Germany and Tunisia. English will be the working language of all presentations and discussions. We are planning to offer a mix of plenary, group and small-group discussions and there will be plenty of time for socializing and informal debate. Travel, accommodation and board will be covered for all participants from North Africa.

If you are interested in participating, please email your application to Eva Dingel, dingel@rosalux.de by July 14, 2012 and include the following documents:

• One-page motivational letter: why are you interested in taking part in this event? What experiences, projects and ideas are you going to contribute to the discussion? What topics interest you the most?
• Curriculum Vitae
• Indication of language skills