The symposium Wir sind das Volk examines the political significance and changing meanings of the concept of Volk (the people). In the autumn of 1989, the slogan »Wir sind das Volk« (We are the people) became one of the central rallying cries of the Peaceful Revolution, directed against the SED’s monopoly on power and police units prepared to use force against protesters. Its use is documented, among other occasions, during the Leipzig Monday demonstration on October 9, 1989, in which around 70,000 people took part. The slogan articulated citizens’ demands for political participation and democratic self-determination. By November 1989, however, calls for German reunification and the transformation of the slogan into »Wir sind ein Volk« (We are one people) marked a shift in the political meaning of Volk. From the early 2010s onward, »Wir sind das Volk« was once again appropriated by right-wing populist and nationalist movements—including protests against the accommodation of refugees in Leipzig-Schönefeld and Schneeberg and against the construction of a mosque in Leipzig-Gohlis.

In this context, the slogan was reinterpreted in ethnonationalist and exclusionary terms and mobilized against migration, religious diversity, and social pluralism. Against this backdrop, the symposium examined how notions of »the people« and belonging are constructed, politically instrumentalized, and transformed, and what role art can play in critically reflecting on these processes.

Concept: Sven Bergelt, Prof. Dr. Dieter Daniels and Susan Baumgartl

Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig in cooperation with Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH, 2014

Speakers: Prof. Dr. Ralph Jessen, Dr. Oliver Decker, Radjo Monk, Uwe Schwabe, Ulrich Polster, Elske Rosenfeld