Occupy the Future: Social Movements, Social Media and the Fight for Economic Justice

Hosted by Deutsche Welle

States around the world have been battered by economic crisis - and not for the first time. Up till now it was mostly the familiar entities who took it upon themselves to analyze and manage such crises - governments, institutions, corporations and conventional media outlets. They observed and evaluated the processes, explaining the big picture to predominantly passive populations.

But the latest economic crisis has a new element in the equation: Citizens taking action. Around the globe, people are using social networks and technologies to launch initiatives to alleviate poverty, hold governments accountable, join forces, and develop their own campaigns.

In the United States, the Occupy movement spawned the Rolling Jubilee fund, which buys and strikes the debt of overburdened people. In Germany, a start-up called "Fraisr" aims to support good causes while helping people shop and turn a profit. For each product bought on the online marketplace, a share of the proceeds goes toward a project or non-governmental organization. The initiators call their concept "Commerce with a Cause".

How can people use the Internet to effectively and sustainably put their ideas of alleviating social and economic imbalances to work? What opportunities do social media channels have for these new social movements? And what are their limits? The workshop will focus on these and related issues from a variety of perspectives.

Moderation:

Zeier, Kirstin
Department Head, Background English, Deutsche Welle, Bonn, Germany

Panelists:

Akter, Mahfuza
Infolady at Dnet, Gaibandha, Bangladesh

Fischer, Lukas-Christian
Co-Founder, fraisr GmbH, Berlin, Germany

Hannemann, Paula
Campaigns Director Germany, Change.org, Berlin, Germany

Complete workshop on soundcloud:

WS25 - Occupy the Future - Social Movements, Social Media and the Fight for Economic Justice