In Austria, they’re using the symbolic power of the Round Table to revitalise community democracy
Harald Schellander [covered here earlier on A/UK] writes on his civil society initiative in Austria, which brings Round Tables to small communities, opening meeting spaces for open dialogue.
Round tables have a long history. From King Arthur's legendary Round Table to the Potsdam Conference in 1945, where the post-war order was debated, to the permanent seat of the UN Security Council in New York - this special institution is usually meant to signal: Here, everyone meets at eye level. Everyone is equally important.
While the Round Table at (inter)national level is often only a media spectacle and serves to cement hierarchies, a civil society initiative in Austria is now deliberately using this symbol at local level - so we can enable open spaces for dialogue for citizens.
Three metres in diameter, divided into eight movable segments and as colourful as the rainbow, surrounded by armchairs in different shapes and colours. "That's a Round Table I like," I thought when I first saw this object in the café of the Museum am Bach in Ruden, a small community in Carinthia, the southern region of Austria.
The extraordinary museum, which specialises in art-based research on models of society, and its director Alex Samyi came to my attention during my research for the Erasmus project Leadership for Transition (LiFT). For this project, I am conducting interviews with people who are trying out new ways of doing politics in Europe, along with A/UK’s founder Indra Adnan.
Around this Round Table, Alex has built both a manifesto and, as a concrete action, a citizens' council based in the museum which meets once a month. As he describes:
The aim of the regular meetings is to discuss wishes and projects, find solutions and pass them on to the local council. Unlike referendums, which are simple yes/no votes on legislative initiatives, citizens' meetings fulfil the requirement of real political participation
The Round Table envisions a world united by self-organised communities, namely as United Communities with museums as new political centres. Museums are per se places of self-enlightenment and, like Round Tables, create a certain form of equality in the negotiation of knowledge and social issues.
The Round Table of the Museum am Bach is based on the assumption that equality for all is not an unrealistic goal. Everyone is invited to participate in shaping the world. In the spirit of the postulate of the artist Josef Beuys, who would have turned one hundred years old this year: 'Everyone is an artist.'
The Round Table has already achieved a lot in the community of Ruden. For example, the fact that a 100-year-old railway bridge was not demolished as planned, but converted into a place for cultural events, is attributable to the idea and initiative of the Round Table. And it motivated the Future Days team to bring this format to other communities ourselves.
In the run-up to the event, we worked out the attitudes for the Round Table based on Bohm's Dialogue. Briefly, these are as follows:
Listening
The Round Table has no theme, goal or expectation. I let what I hear sink in. I really listen to the other person and not just to myself. Listening means allowing something to have an effect on you out of inner silence.
Respect
(lat. re-spectere: to see again, to observe) means to renounce defence, blame, devaluation and criticism. Everyone is allowed to be the way they are. Every idea, every opinion is just as right and legitimate as my own silent participation or leaving the Round Table at any time.
Explore
We adopt an attitude of curiosity, mindfulness and humility that allows us to ask questions that really move us. And to explore together and develop something that was not there before and would not have been possible on our own.
Slowing down
We observe which reflexes, reactions, evaluations, thoughts and memories are triggered in us by a statement made by another person. The person speaking will not be interrupted. He will know how much time he needs and adjust it to the common flow of the round.
Our vision
When we do this, we start thinking together instead of focusing on solid ideas and well-defended views. We all become more creative together and gain insights and maybe even reach solutions that we would not have come up with on our own. A refreshing exchange is taking place right now. The hole in the middle of the Round Table symbolises this constant openness and emergent newness.
Together with my colleague Roswitha Pietrowski, I have been able to inspire and accompany twelve Round Tables both online and in person since spring 2021. One of the big challenges is to actually see yourself as an enabler or host, not as a facilitator. We make sure that all relevant stakeholders in a community are invited and present at the table and that there are no expectations in terms of measurable outcomes or dates for launching the project.
Free of any mandate or goal, an open meeting space can develop between people who have one thing in common: The interest in each other and in positively shaping the present and future in their community.
Here are some examples of what has developed in the communities:
In her hometown of Finkenstein, Roswitha Pietrowski has taken over the organisation of the Round Table herself. "I moved here from Berlin 12 years ago and want to help make this place, where I want to grow old, worth living in," she says. And newcomers like her are now increasingly using the Round Table to get in touch with locals. Listening to them creates understanding for other, often opposing positions. A community leader who has already participated several times was able to learn that no expectations are placed on her, that she does not have to represent anything and can simply be there as a neighbour. Along the way, the participants learn more about community work and a politician learns more about the concerns of the citizens.
In the middle of the main square of the small community of Obervellach in a Carinthian side valley, about 35 people sit around the Round Table on a summer evening, which we also divide into eight breakout sessions with four to five people each, who exchange ideas in a small group. Two cyclists from Germany who are just passing by are invited to sit at one of the tables. Afterwards, the residents proudly reported how much the travellers love their valley and the place, especially "because there are such beautiful people here". In the meantime, this has become a well-known saying in the village. This Round Table was also the initial spark for a new, cross-border regional development project that is currently being launched and is intended to counteract the strong exodus of young people from the valley.
Shortly before the Round Table took place in the municipality of Reisseck, a new municipal council was elected there. The balance of power was completely reorganised, there was still a lot of uncertainty and distance within the members of the local council, as we only learned in the course of the Round Table. The local council members present said at the end: "The ice has been broken because we listened to each other and got to know each other better." The Round Table is now to become a permanent institution within the municipal council and for the citizens.
As the Future Days team, we recently founded the online roundtable "For a new togetherness": Here we want to gain new perspectives on the Corona crisis with the participants. Together we try to better understand the causes and consequences of the current division in society and find solutions to overcome it. This Round Table is part of the reconciliation process initiated by the platform "For a new togetherness and understanding of health" in the German-speaking countries. The two previous meetings made it clear how important such spaces of trust are, and that is why we will continue to open them.
What has particularly encouraged me about the Round Tables so far? Many who have come to the Round Table now want to take what they have experienced here to their families, schools or organisations. The symbol and the attitude associated with it have an effect. "Come on, let us sit down at the Round Table" could become a slogan for a culture of dialogue lived in everyday life that promotes better togetherness.
As my colleague Roswitha says: “Round tables will change our society positively, in small and large ways. That is not a dream, but my experience with the tables that already exist," . You do not always need a table with a diameter of three metres for that. Roswitha had an easily transportable 1-metre table built for Finkenstein. And its smallest version with a diameter of 12 centimetres fits into any handbag ... as a "Round Table to go", so to speak.
