This was the World Congress 2012

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Dear friends, artists, speakers, musicians, activists, everyone!

It’s yet over once again: the hedonist international world congress 2012. Everyone has now left the location in Kuhlmühle and with each and everyone all their wild, colourful, random and unique memories. Some may have already started perceiving a feeling of emptiness because it’s already over, others are still filled up with impressions and zest for action.

We are thrilled about the amount of new contacts and networks that have emerged, about how many activists attended and how well everything went together.

Now, we have to gather ourselves up. This unique combination of conference, activists meeting and festival is only possible due to you as participants. As participants, we don’t mean guests, but everyone that made the world congress what it is with their action and responsibility.

That’s why we want to say thank you:

Thanks to Coolmühle for allocating your fantastic location. And thank you to the residents of Kuhlmühle for your tolerance.

Thank you for giving back the location in such a good condition: 50 cigarette butts on a dance floor that has been rocking for 12 hours is in fact hard to beat.

Thank you for thinking forward and that everybody could trust each other on the congress. This raises hope for many, making believe that we’re not doomed on this planet after all.

Thank you that it was possible to give everyone on the congress 50 Euros and ask: can you run and get some change for the bar please? And it actually worked. Just like that.

Thank you for assisting in so many ways: screw together the Whisky bar, rinse glasses, carry the sound system – whenever there was anything to be done, people were there to help.

Thank you for coming early for the setup. This year, there were already more than 50 people on Wednesday evening. We’ve never been more.

Thank you for the wonderful hours on the dance floor. This is not only to the DJs that made the music but also to the crazy crowd on the meadow.

Thank you for the great food, dear VoKüs: You were labouring day and night and constantly provided food to everyone. Thank you for this!

Thank you for the great talks and discussions: You really got everything straight if people stay two hours longer and continue the discussion. Thank you to all speakers for the exciting program, motivating impulses and ‘activistic’ exchange.

Thank you for the music and colourful entertainment, thanks to all bands and musicians!

Thank you for the beautiful light and fantastic decoration.

We would love to hear some feedback from you:

What did you like in particular?
What could we change?
Were there enough interactive workshops?
Was there too much culture programm (concerts, djs, theatre, …) or too little?
Do you want a compact world congress like you just experienced or is it better to divide workshops and talks on 4 instead of 2 days?
Did you feel involved enough?
Which topics should we focus on?

Information about the world congress and a beta program

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The World Congress of the Hedonist International will take place from May 31st to June 4th 2012 somewhere between the cities Hamburg, Greifwald an Berlin. The will be three main topics/tracks on the Congress Protest, Party, and Action. The congress will bring together people from all over the world who are interested in hedonism & politics, to promote their networking and to open new perspectives for resistance. We will discuss theoretical concepts, try new forms of action, talk about social conflicts and about alternative methods of political intervention. And we will dance as well.

The World Congress of the Hedonist International isn’t based on long-term preparation. It will be born out of the spirit of do-it-yourself, the creativeness and the ideas of the participating people – like you!

Tickets are available in a presale from now on.

Program:
Over 90 hours of program is confirmed until now (Status as of May 18th.) Workshops and Talks will take place mainly on Friday and Saturday from 10AM to 10 PM. Conference languages are English and German. It is foreseen that contributions, panels, and workshops will be added spontaneously to the already booked program. If you want to contribute something to the congress, just come along with your idea and realize it on-site!

Find the whole schedule here in the next days.

Excerpt from the program:

  • Ahmed Asery (Jemen): Music and Revolution in Yemen
    The yemeni musician and revolutionary founded not only the first Reggae band of the country but also composed the soundtrack of the revolution. Ahmed Asery tells about the arab spring from a yemeni perspective – and hopefully plays some songs.

  • Aktionskollektiv Ztohoven: Kommunikationsguerilla in Tschechien (Culture jamming in the Czech Republic)
    Ztohoven is an award-winning Czech guerrilla artist collective known for its pranks. The best known of these pranks – and the one which led to six of its members being prosecuted – was the June 17, 2007 “Media Reality” incident, in which they hacked into a weather forecast being broadcast on Česká televize and inserted a digital image of a nuclear explosion and a mushroom cloud on a live panoramic shot of the Krkonoše Mountains.

  • Dmytri Kleiner: Venture Communism
    The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it. Dmytri Kleiner, member of the Telekommunist network and author of the Telekommunist Manifesto, will present a short introduction into Venture Communism and it’s related tactics, Counterpolitics and Insurgent Finance. The talk will examine how a revolutionary strategy can operate the narrow bounds of class conditions, yet none the less prefigure a new society.

  • Jani Leinonen (Finnland): The Food Liberation Army
    The Food Liberation Army kidnapped Ronald McDonald. And had a lot of fun with the finlandic police.

  • Frank Rieger: Erzähl mir eine Geschichte (Tell me a story)
    Rieger ist Spokesperson of Chaos Computer Club. At the congress he will not speak about computer related security and privacy but about the good spin of a story. The talk is about media mechanisms, playing with media and the necessity of a good story.

  • Barbara Petersen: Das Büro für ungewöhnliche Maßnahmen (Bureau for unusual actions)
    The Büro für ungewöhnliche Maßnahmen (BfM) was a 1987 founded political Artist Group which was active till mid-nineties in Berlin. The Bureau´s methods were Theater, Performance and installations. A lot of their actions were related to Culture Jamming. The main goal of the Bureau was bringing politics to public space. Barbara Petersen was one of the founders of the group.

  • Unbekannte Aktivisten: Praxisworkshop – Politiker und Promis torten (Workshop – Pieing VIPs and Politicians)
    This workshop will give practical experience and knowledge about pieing your political enemy.

  • Alexander Müller & Montserrat Graupenschläger: Politik Hacken (Hacking Politics)
    New political protest is organized decentral and collaborative and f.e. uses culture jamming for discursive intervention. The talk wants to give a toolset of possibilities to intervene peacefully into politics with a method of violate rules and conventions.

  • Helmut Schwickerath: Die heilige Unterhose (The Holy Pants)
    “Everything could be a relic, if you invent a good story”, says Helmut Schwickerath. The artist from the city of Trier invented the “Holy Pants of Karl Marx” against a the Pilgrimage to the “Holy Robe” of Jesus in his city. He will bring the reliquary to the congress and talk about his action.

  • Gert Postel: Doktorspiele (Doctor Games)
    Gert Postel is Germany´s most famous con man. He was doctor and medical director in hospitals without having studied medicine. On the congress he will talk about his experiences.

  • Markus Beckedahl: ACTA und das Urheberrecht (ACTA and Copyright)
    Netzpolitik.org-Blogger and Activist Markus Beckedahl talks about ACTA and the protest against it.

  • Activist from Leeds (UK): Riots in England 2011
    Talk on the riots that took place in England last summer, including media representation, the law, and their background in social and economic issues affecting all of us across Europe and the world.

and much more….

Cultural Program:
There will be a cultural program as well, with cinema, theater, concerts and other things we yet don’t know anything about. As you may guess from the postings above: the cultural program is open to your ideas and support as well!

Tickets:
There is only limited space on the location. Please get a ticket in advance. Ticket is 20 Euros for all 4-days.

Location and how to get there
Exact coordinations of the location will be published in the next days here. Location is about 100 Kilometer north of Berlin. So try to get to Berlin…

Busses from Berlin:
Thursday 7pm and Friday 6pm there will be direct busses going to the location from Berlin city-centre. Busses will go back to Berlin on Sunday and Monday. You can book your bus-ticket here: http://bassliner.org/weltkongress

Accomodation:
You can camp on the location. Bring your tent. The congress provides infrastructure like Toilets, Water, Showers.

Concept/Idea:
The World Congress of the Hedonist International isn’t based on long-term preparation. It will be born out of the spirit of do-it-yourself, the creativeness and the ideas of the participating people – like you!

Everyone who will be attending the congress will act as a host as well. Everyone will share responsibility for a colorful, informative, peaceful and joyful event – because that’s the way will have fun together.

No one will make money at or with the congress. Whoever wants to help, please feel free to contact any of us or just give a hand when you notice it is necessary. You can announce your help in advance or just come along spontaneously. There will be plenty of things to do.

There will be a cultural program as well, with cinema, theater, concerts and other things we yet don’t know anything about. As you may guess from the postings above: the cultural program is open to your ideas and support as well!