Democracy and respect for human rights are the common values that form the rule of law and the self-image of the European Union. However, authoritarian or totalitarian tendencies have become increasingly noticeable again in Europe in recent years. In many countries, governments are taking steps that could undermine universal human rights and democracy in the medium term. The project "Democracy & Puppetry" enables young European citizens between the ages of 13 and 16 to deal with the issues of democracy and human rights in a creative way. They learn in the course of the project and are able to explore their social environment. In this way, they can gain important insights into the topics of democracy and human rights and their significance for freedom and equality. The participating students are taught basic knowledge on the topics of democracy and human rights in workshops as part of the regular lessons at school. In the further course of the program, they will examine their personal environment against this background and that of their national and regional realities in "Action Researches". They will transform the insights gained from this into short puppet theater performances, which they will then perform in public, urban buildings in front of their families, the peer group, politicians and other interested citizens. In this way, they bring their thoughts and wishes regarding the topics of democracy and human rights directly to the authorities in their home country and enable the audience, which is actively involved in the event, to see places that might have negative connotations (e.g. due to migration backgrounds) from a different perspective. In doing so, the artistic methods of puppet theater help them to express controversy, to get to the heart of what is difficult to say and to bring relationships into completely new relations. Five to ten school classes participate in the project. The young people are accompanied by their teachers and by figure theater artists. The methods used in the thematic work with the young people will be taught to the participating teachers and artists by "Zentrum polis - Politik Lernen in der Schule", with the final development taking place together with the participants. For this purpose, a workshop will be held in Vienna for several days, with representatives of all participating partners from four countries: The project takes place simultaneously in Budapest, Belgrade, Ravne na Koroskem and Vienna. Students, teachers, artists and also the indirectly involved participants, for example the visitors of the performances as well as the numerous contacts who come into contact with the project via social media, will be sensitized more or less lastingly to the topics of democracy and human rights through "Democracy & Puppetry". Thanks to the broad mix of participating schools, students from weaker social, "culturally distant" strata are reached as well as from "good families". This contributes to the universal applicability of the final methods. The teaching methods developed in the course of the project will be made available free of charge for further use after the end of the project. They are shared via the networks of participating teachers, artists, students and theaters and are thus widely distributed. A wide-ranging PR strategy developed by the team contributes to the greatest possible international dissemination. The goals of the project are on the one hand to promote understanding of the importance of democracy and human rights for the maintenance of peace and cohesion in the European Union, and on the other hand to develop and make available free of charge reproducible methods of democracy and human rights education for teachers, youth workers, artists and interested parties throughout Europe. The project sees itself as a contribution to "Global and European Citizenship Education". Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Our aim was to provide children in middle schools and high schools with basic knowledge about democracy. What are the pillars of democracy? What are the fundamental human rights that underpin it? Students were asked to look at the direct impact of democracy and human rights on their own lives. They should actively investigate their immediate environment, question their own habits and subsequently evaluate and process the insights gained in an artistic and creative way. To make this possible, teachers and artists were to be trained in a citizenship education workshop to teach democracy to children. In addition, we also wanted to involve the families of the children participating in the project in the process by actively involving them in the project as spectators of the performances. This, as well as the use of social media, was intended to significantly increase the reach of the project. In this context, it was also particularly important to attract the attention of local politicians to the project. This was to underline the importance of the project and optimise its sustainability, e.g. through follow-up projects.
Rarely if ever before in the history of the European Union has there been such a systematic and obvious erosion of democratic structures and rights as in the last ten years. Since then, the spectre of illiberal democracy has haunted Europe. But aren't the terms "illiberal" and "democracy" mutually exclusive? Already Erich Fried said: "Freedom does not rule!" In this sense we say: "Democracy is not illiberal!" Yet what is particularly remarkable about these "illiberal democracies" is that their rulers originally came to power through democratic processes, only to then start weakening basic democratic rights step by step. Eventually, they manage to hold on to power for many years and legislative periods. But is this really the will of the people? We asked ourselves how this can come about and suspect a lack of information in broad sections of the population as one, but certainly not the only, important reason for this. We wanted to counter this with "Democracy & Puppetry", a project to promote knowledge about democracy and human rights among schoolchildren. After all, they are the voters of tomorrow!