Long Night of Democracy – Politics is so exciting – District of Munich

The general election came too early for Benedict Freundl – two weeks to be precise. Because the teenager from Unterhaching will not celebrate his 18th birthday until October, which is why he was not allowed to vote in the polls the weekend before last. “That was frustrating for me,” says Benedict Freundl. After all, he is very interested in politics in general as well as current political debates.

Because of this interest, the 17-year-old plunged into the – well – nightlife on Saturday. Although he and his school friend Nicolas Kleinekorte of the same age do not head for a club where you can dance again recently, or the nearby landscaped park, which attracts young people late at night like television cameras every politician. No, the two high school students are out and about on Saturday in the Unterhaching town center, where the Long Night of Democracy is being celebrated – with readings, workshops and discussions at six venues. For young and old, from 6 p.m. to midnight.

The Long Night of Democracy is a Bavaria-wide campaign that was launched in 2018 and in which more than 30 municipalities in the Free State took part this year. The fact that Unterhaching is one of them is thanks to the adult education center and the municipal children’s and youth office. Independently of each other, they came up with the idea of ​​participating in the campaign and, together with the community library and the youth culture workshop, put together a remarkable program. For example, there will be a lecture on democracy and sustainability, a workshop on conspiracy and fake news, and a panel discussion on the United Nations’ “17 goals for a better world”.

In addition to all of this, the Democracy Bus is parked on Rathausplatz, in which visitors can take a Europe quiz, play computer games on the subject of democracy or debate with Mayor Wolfgang Panzer (SPD). Astrid Abou El Ela from the Children’s and Youth Office stands in front of the bus and emphasizes: “We want to talk to people – especially young people.” It sounds similar with Barbara Sporrer, who hurries from one event to the next that evening. “The idea is that we bring older and younger people together,” says the VHS director. “They should discuss together what kind of democracy we want and how we want to live together in the future.”

The community has had experience with long nights, after all, the popular Unterhachinger Reading Night has been held here for many years. She always ensures that you can see crowds of people pilgrimage from one venue to another until late in the evening – which is not the case on Saturday. However, the comparison lags. Because unlike the established Reading Night, the Democracy Night is taking place in Unterhaching for the first time. In addition, the free lectures and workshops are all offered as hybrid events. In other words: You can also be followed on the screen at home, at least after the initial technical problems with the live stream have been resolved.

In the “Democracy Bus”, visitors can take a quiz about Europe, play computer games on the subject of democracy or debate with Mayor Wolfgang Panzer (SPD).

(Photo: Claus Schunk)

Meanwhile, Katharina Matecki from Unterhaching and her friend Sarah Hüsken are sitting in the VHS. The two 17-year-olds understand democracy above all to mean taking part in political decision-making processes in which young people are unfortunately often underrepresented, as Matecki thinks: “That is a shame, because our future is also at stake.” In the here and now, however, it is first about the past – namely about famous philosophers from Herodotus to Hobbes and their understanding of democracy. “The Philosophy of Democracy” is the name of the entertaining lecture by the Unterhachingen philosopher Ludger Pfeil, to which, in addition to Hüsken and Matecki, a handful of other visitors in the VHS room are listening. At the same time, the rush is much greater in the community library, where the “star of the evening” is connected via video conference, as the library manager Tanja Keller puts it. This is the journalist Mirko Drotschmann, who as “MrWissen2go” operates a YouTube channel with 1.6 million subscribers and who today speaks about fake news as a danger to democracy.

“Very interesting” was the lecture, says Benedict Freundl afterwards. The 17-year-old thinks it’s good that someone like “MrWissen2go” is part of the Long Night of Democracy. “Everyone in our class knows that. And it is certainly helpful in attracting young people as well.” Say it, and then say goodbye together with his school colleague Nicolas Kleinekorte. After all, the two of them want to go to the next event, this time about democracy in the European Union.

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