arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Crossover Conference 17. -20. January 2002 Bremen, Germany
Feminists, anti-fascists, dykes, gays, heteros, bisexuals, disabled, intersexuals, queers.. … came together to discuss and "attack networks of power"

In January the northern German city Bremen has been place of one of the biggest German ‘radical left' conferences in the last years. Over 600 people joined the ‘Crossover Conference' to discuss and ‘attack networks of power' – as the motto of the meeting was. Issues had been: the links between patriarchy, sexism, racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia, globalisation, neoliberalism, nationalism and also more practical issues like the demonstration concept of ‘Pink and Silver' and its perspectives and chances and chances and limitations of Queer politics.
The intention to organize the conference, which was planned and carried out by the anti-racist, anti-sexist summer camp project (http://www.summercamp.squat.net ) was to embed (pro-)feminist perspectives in the radical left discourse and let them become a matter of course, to observe networks of suppression systems as a whole and to bring people with different political focuses and from different countries together.
The latter was obviously successful: people from Poland, Greece, France, Spain, England, the Netherlands and other countries participated. If the first listed intentions will become true won't be clear until the next years, but the unexpected huge number of interested people seems promising. There will be continuing events:

19/04/02 - 22/04/02 the ‘Crossover seminar' in Berlin. Topics will be an evaluation of the Crossover Conference and the question how to link theoretical inspirations with practice.

03/08/02 – 10/08/02 the ‘Crossover Summercamp' in Germany, Poland or somewhere else (it depends on the people who will join in the preparation group!) The new preparation group was founded during the conference in Bremen, but it still searches for more participation especially from other countries than Germany.

The Conference in Bremen
Two days before the beginning already five hundred people have been registered. In the evening of Thursday the 17th the majority of people arrived for registration and check-in. Different prices for different wages or people with no income, and travel-cost- support enabled many people financially to take part..
Very soon it became clear that more than 700 people arrived and would need a sleeping place for the following days. Many people went to the different organized sleeping places in the city, most of them really close to the different venues. Shared flats/houses and housing coops offered people space to live during the gathering.
The ‘Paradox', a self-organized, left lecture and workshop centre became the information point and one of the eating places during the conference. Rampenplan a cooking collective from the Netherlands prepared vegan food with help of participants. The organizer handed out a city-map with the special locations to everybody- the result: you could see lots of searching rucksack people in the Conference district in Bremen. For those who needed or decided for a little break it was always possible to go out for a coffee. The atmosphere was quite relaxed referred to nazi and/or police repression.

At the opening ‘gala' on the first day (Thursday evening) some of the workshops, films and plans have been presented to the audience.
The first workshop phase started on Friday morning. The next two days several other workshop blocks followed. A number of workshops had been prepared with texts which had been on the website some weeks in advance (The articles are still on the webside:http://www.summercamp.squat.net ).
They had been also in the Conference Reader in German and English, which was handed out at the registration.
Some people decided spontaneous to offer more workshops to come to a process of interchange not only because the number of people caused particular problems especially with small workshop rooms, translation and the whish to discuss afterwards.
The workshops had been for example about: Prostitution; Gender Binarism; Sexual Violence; The Military and War-Towards and Antisexist Antiwar Resistance; Racist Mobilisation after September 11; Postmodernity, Education and Class; Gender roles in the Globalisation; Children Games under the focus of exclusion; Radical Cheerleading, Pink and Silver- Chances and Limitations; Lesbian, gay and queer issues connected to questions of capitalism; Masculinities; Power; Critique of science, about the Nato Congress in Munich in the end of January; about questions of normality in the context of disability…. Queerruption from London and the NO-Border-camp-preparation team presented their plans for 2002. A kindergarten was organized for those who came with children.
Events like a pink and silver action, the workshop about children's games and a cross dressing evening had been more actively. Another important action was a spontaneous demonstration against the deportation of Kurdish-Lebanese people on Sunday morning. The Crossover Conference showed that it is not impossible to bring people from different backgrounds together.
After the last workshop block on Saturday the ending event started: a party in different self organized venues. A colourful and long night, which allowed mobility between the different places…
On Sunday morning the last day, the different workshops presented the results to everybody, so that everybody could imagine how and what other people did on the Crossover Conference.

The Conference had been a great event in Bremen with difficulties like the problem for everybody to get out of the consumer role or to get convenient translation for everybody. There had been complaints about too academic speech- something which hopefully will be recognized within new plans (summercamp and seminar)… The unexpected number of participant caused overcrowded workshops, but on the other side showed the pleasant interest of many people.
Positively was also the feedback about the antisexist/(pro) feminist atmosphere of many ‘women' who decided to come for the first time again to a mixed meeting.

The Crossover summercamp project from 03/08/-10/08/2002 will be a continuing event.
The organisation team still wants more participation, especially not from Germany…. Do you want to join in?
Mail to: summercamp@squat.net
Or have a look on the webside (German, English, Spanish.French): http://www.summercamp.squat.net