At the same table!?
English
At the same table!?
We’ve saved a seat for you. Sit down and take a look around to see who else is sitting at the table with you. Are you all on an equal footing with one another? Who can’t sit at the table, who can’t participate? What does participation in our society mean to you?
Thanks to participation, everyone can help shape their environment. It doesn’t matter whether they have social, societal or physical limitations. In this way, tolerance strengthens and consolidates a society. If participation is no longer assured, a society can become imbalanced. Given such a breeding ground, devaluation, exclusion and intolerance towards people can grow.
Equal rights are a foundation of democracy. They had to be hard-won. For centuries, only White men were allowed to vote. Women, workers and later so-called Gastarbeiter („guest workers“) had to struggle to gain political co-determination. That is still the case today. If these people do not participate, important opinions and perspectives on our society and our coexistence will go lost.
Wall, back:
- You can go anywhere
- You can have your say everywhere
- You can learn whatever way you want
- You can love whoever you want
Wall, front:
- I can’t afford it
- I can’t get everywhere
- I’m not welcome there
- I don’t speak their language
- I’m too „young“
- I can’t read
- I love the „wrong“ person
- I’m not so „educated“
- I’m not allowed to vote
- I’m not taken seriously
- I can’t be „me“
Table, above:
The chance to get involved—i.e. to participate—is the cornerstone of a democratic society. But does everyone really always participate everywhere? Are all of us sitting at the table really at eye level? Participation takes place at different levels. Even if you feel like you’re there, participating and deciding, others may not be able to.
Table, below:
Instructions:
In society, we have to negotiate between different interests. Our coexistence is a balancing act that requires sensitivity.
There’s a wide variety of people sitting at the table today. They speak up with confidence. This makes negotiation processes trickier. That’s why respect and tolerance are all the more important as rules of the game.
Here, you can practise achieving such a balance. The object of the game is to build as high a tower as possible from the participation building blocks, all with different shapes and sizes. And to do this together with other visitors.
Take a seat at the table, deal with the variety of building blocks and build a new „us“ together.
Table, side:
Tolerance and respect come alive when we offer everyone a seat at the table, i.e., when your as well as your fellow human beings’ opportunities to participate are respected.
