Letter to the Author of " Kontrovers", Wolf-Dietrich Weissbach, "Nummer", 132, April 2018, p. 30. who reacted critically to the dialogue event of pics4peace with minister and mayor:

Dear Mr. Weissbach,

thank you very much for your critical and committed article on the dialogue kick-off of pics4peace at the Fortress, which appeared in "Die Nummer", 132, April 2018, p. 30, under the headline "Controversial", "Kontrovers". What pleases me is that you have dealt with pics4peace's project approach in such detail, which certainly gives me food for thought.

Better is always possible

As for the format, we didn't have any speeches planned, only questions and answers. These were deliberately limited in time in order to give the youth sufficient speaking time. However, I absolutely agree with you that the format could have been much younger. The fact that everyone stood at the front, for example, was stiff. We noticed that ourselves in retrospect. But all beginnings are difficult. Leaving familiar paths always involves the risk of stumbling at first.
Only those who never leave the beaten track will never reach new goals!

I would also like to point out, dear Mr. Weissbach, that elite failures in the past have always been caused by the arrogance of not talking to each other.

Listen at last. Don't be afraid of conflicts

It is of little use to merely bemoan the situation that fewer and fewer young people are participating in democracy while at the same time not talking to them and listening to what they really have to say. "Listening instead of ignoring," is the title of the book "Hört endlich zu!" by Frank Richter, the director of the State Center for Political Education, who - in order to get closer to the AfD phenomenon - brought supporters and opponents of Pegida to the same table. In it, Richter shows what is important: "Listen with concentration. Not afraid of conflict. Open to emotions. Defending democracy."

Listening always pays off

Listening instead of ignoring must also be the motto for overcoming the speechlessness between youth and decision-makers in business and politics. I think it is counterproductive to classify the topics of the youth and the discussion about them in advance with the intellectual expectation horizon of an academic and to classify them into "worthwhile" or "not worthwhile discussions". pics4peace wants to get to know the totality of what moves the young!

Politics also consists of topics of the daily life

For some, this may be exclusion, anti-Semitism, equal rights for women and men, abuse of power, violence or political extremism, as the students have formulated it, who have dealt with their topics for 10 weeks; for others, it is the situation that rooms in shared flats are too expensive, the Straba does not go to Hubland, the old diesel may have to be disposed of, although it is urgently needed to get back home to the country at night as a carer... Politics does not only consist of big topics.

Analog alone is no longer enough

And as for your assumption, esteemed Mr. Weissbach, analog would also do it: analog alone does not do it! Both have to come together. Analog discussions, actions and workshops with young people, like the last one on April 19, 2018 ,with over 70 young adults in the large hall of the Matthias-Grünewald-Gymnasium (can also be seen digitally on Instagram via www.pics4peace.de) and online actions that invite all 16- to 26-year-olds, no matter where they come from in Germany, to join in and express in their own way what they think and want. Not everyone can write or photograph as well as you, Mr. Weißbach, to express his opinion or intention. But he can make music, for example, and transports his demand in a song, which he then posts. What is wrong with that, please? That is not "digital spicing up", an "uncritical use" of digital media and certainly not something that could have a "devastating effect on society and democracy"!

It all depends on the content

You write: "... the net promotes socio-political extremes." That can, allow me to point out, also be a newspaper article or a book. It all depends on what it says.
Why don't we give it a try with pics4peace? Without prejudice. My experience, as the last workshop showed again, is that young people - who use the Internet - know what they want and what they don't want. They are rational AND emotional. Fortunately!

pics4peace should make people want to participate

Studies show that most under-30s don't feel represented by politics; most think they can't make a difference anyway; and: the age group with the highest percentage of non-voters is the under-30s. pics4peace wants to counteract this.
The aim is to encourage young adults in a creative way to stand up for peace and democracy, to express their opinions and to motivate them to participate in democracy. This happens in conversations, in workshops with exciting, current topics analog; and digitally on an online platform that is visible to all, easily accessible, and on which participants are given the opportunity to express in their own way with their "pics4peace" (text, image or audio contributions) what moves them. The combination is important.

Example for others as well

At the same time, the online platform creates the prerequisite for other communities to use these resources in subsequent years to implement their own pics4peace projects. In this way, the project can expand from Würzburg to other regions and hopefully have a lasting effect.
I want to do everything I can to try. What is your alternative?

Hoping that you will continue to critically accompany pics4peace in the future, dear Mr. Weissbach, I remain with warm regards,

Yours
Pia Beckmann,
initiator of pics4peace

P.S.: By the way, the concerns of the young people will be forwarded to the responsible politicians in the local, state and federal government. Their answers will be returned to each young person in the same way.