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<DIV align=justify><FONT face=Sylfaen><STRONG>**Moja tvoja ne ponimaj - Mine
don’t understand yours**<BR><BR>***East-West Conference****<BR><BR>7-11 June
2006, Berlin<BR></STRONG><BR>About the East-West Conference___ _ _<BR><BR>Mutual
understanding expresses, and brings to our lives a special sense of an interest
in each other, and brings us into the lives of others. Respect and equality
implies that we understand that political and cultural ideas and practices are
diverse because they have different histories and that these histories are all
equal. How can mutual understanding and respect be brought together in examining
different constructions of values, beliefs, backgrounds, experiences and
ideological convictions without being racist, xenophobic or
dominant?<BR><BR>It's almost a century now that Europe has dealt with two polar
constructions. The so-called West and East used to stand in direct opposition to
each other and, it was/is claimed, have two different kinds of mentalities: the
'rational, individualistic and profit-oriented' West and the 'irrational,
communal, full-of-Soviet-achievements' East. They both claimed a right to exist
without engaging in mutual exchange, yet, what should be done if - one claims
domination in order to suppress the other by imposing (its) 'civilised'
values</FONT></DIV><FONT face=Sylfaen>
<DIV align=justify><BR>- another one constructs and blindly believes myths of
Western paradise and well-being<BR>- the criteria for what is correct/desirable
is only profit-oriented, pushing human values down the list of
priorities<BR><BR>This seminar is a meeting for politically active individuals
and groups who don't want to blindly accept, and who actively seek to
change<BR></DIV>
<DIV align=justify>- common prejudices, labels and false identities about East
and West<BR>- one-sided negative approaches towards Soviet history and ex-Soviet
peoples' values<BR>- Western dominance and Eastern passivity towards a
neo-colonial approach to the East<BR>- a repressive border/visa regime towards
Eastern European citizens<BR>- a mainstream discourse that depicts EU
enlargement as unavoidable and 'positive' and as an absolute and perceived
desirable 'Europeanisation'<BR>- the current hegemony of neo-liberal ideology,
with its corresponding market ideology, the economisation of life, mass
consumption and mass entertainment, where human life and happiness are valued
only according to economic criteria.<BR><BR>Are you interested in looking for
alternatives and put the right accent on East-West relationships, particularly
with regard to political activist's collaboration? Then come and join us for the
seminar "Moja tvoja ne ponimaj" (Mine don't understand yours) which is an
landing of virtual community of spotykach-mail list in Berlin 7-11 June 2006 get
to know each other in face, meet new people and develop a new level of
understanding.<BR><BR>With this seminar, we want to provide space for listening
to personal stories and opinions and sharing experiences of being 'foreign' in
the East/West. This includes discussions on cultural differences, language
barriers and differences in humour, commonly accepted social behaviours in order
develop a better solidarity between those who are not indifferent to how our
world is being constructed. The concept of this conference is therefore to
include workshops not only on political and economic but also cultural and
personal issues and create awareness of differences in conceptions of gender,
race, etc., so that we can create common understandings.<BR><BR>Politically, we
would like this seminar</DIV>
<DIV align=justify><BR>- to identify what underlies conceptions of the "shiny"
West and "dirty" East<BR>- to encourage actitivists to speak honestly about
their own experiences in frame of a former socialist and current capitalist
state systems of oppression<BR>- to use our discoveries about each other to
create practical collaborations without stereotypes, clich?s and dominance as
those imposed by states propaganda as personal one<BR>- discuss recent
developments and experiences of past East-West projects with all their positive
and negative achievements<BR>- to give more space to Eastern European
initiatives, projects and ideas to be presented and discussed with an
intentional reduction of those that have traditionally enjoyed more exposure,
namely, well-established western European initiatives<BR>- to create a space
within western activism to explore new modes of organisation, strategies and
interrelations, benefiting from the knowledge of those successfully employed
amongst eastern activists<BR>- to allow western activists a self awareness that
ensures models of domination are truly called into question and not
unintentionally repeated and the possibility discover the East as a valuable
source of human experience<BR>- combine our efforts to express our protests
against discriminative and humiliate economical as cultural models, imposed by
current propaganda as on the West as on the East<BR><BR>If you are interested in
joining this seminar and become involved in the discussions on the programme and
the above issue as a whole, or just join a discussion on the topic virtually,
please send an e-mail and introduce yourself to the spotykach-mailing list
community </FONT><A href="mailto:spotykach@lists.nadir.org"><FONT
face=Sylfaen>spotykach@lists.nadir.org</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT
face=Sylfaen>*Application form* <BR>with information about you mainly for visa
procedure can be filled out on-line </FONT><A
href="http://informal.benn.org/?db=56"><FONT
face=Sylfaen>http://informal.benn.org/?db=56</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Sylfaen>Deadline: 15 April 2006 for those who need a visa to come to
Germany and 1 May - for others.<BR><BR>*Organisers* <BR>spotykach-mailing list
community </FONT><A
href="https://lists.nadir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spotykach"><FONT
face=Sylfaen>https://lists.nadir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spotykach</FONT></A><FONT
face=Sylfaen> together with volunteers from EYFA (European Youth for Action)
network<BR><BR>*Contact persons*:<BR>Olga Samborska: </FONT><A
href="mailto:samborska@gmx.de"><FONT
face=Sylfaen>samborska@gmx.de</FONT></A><BR><BR><BR><FONT face=Sylfaen>*Location
of the seminar:<BR>Alte Feuerwache<BR>Axel-Springer-Stra?e 40/41<BR>10969
Berlin-Kreuzberg__<BR></FONT><A href="http://www.alte-feuerwache.de"><FONT
face=Sylfaen>http://www.alte-feuerwache.de</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT
face=Sylfaen>Mehringhof<BR>Gneisenaustr. 2a<BR>10961 Berlin<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.mehringhof.de"><FONT
face=Sylfaen>http://www.mehringhof.de</FONT></A><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>