Overcoming polarisation through social dialog

Engaging in respectful and fruitful conversations about emotionally charged and ideological issues in public (or private) spheres is important for social cohesion, and often just as difficult. This makes our ability to engage in dialogue in heated situations and relate to hard-to-reach groups of people all the more crucial. It is the only way to reduce tendencies towards increasing polarisation, fanaticism, apathy, loneliness, and conspiracy thinking, as well as overcoming the associated anti-democratic scepticism.

This training is designed to support those who strive to foster social cohesion, mutual understanding, and human rights in their daily lives. Those who wish to engage in committed yet dialogical conversations about 'hot topics' in various community settings, such as churches, local associations, music and dance clubs, volunteer fire departments, schools and universities, cultural initiatives, and youth and adult education, will greatly benefit from being well-prepared for challenging dialogue situations. This is the only way to ensure that even emotionally charged issues, such as climate change, the Coronavirus pandemic, the situation in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza, asylum policy, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Donald Trump and conspiracy narratives, can lead to reasonable and meaningful conversations across wide divides, from which all participants can learn and grow personally.

The central communicative tasks here are moderating emotions, sharing personal experiences, clarifying individual concerns, and facilitating mutual understanding. Sometimes, negative attributions and resentments need be overcome, and deliberate misinformation and dishonesty must be addressed. Last but not least, it is important to present facts clearly and agree on shared values.

Through this one-day training course, Cultures Interactive aims to strengthen participants' ability to engage in social dialogue in polarised and charged situations, and to prepare civil society for challenging dialogue encounters. The main goal is to equip participants with the skills to handle heated discussions in their respective environments and pass on their newly acquired knowledge to others, so that we can engage in more dialogue in the future.

A certificate of participation can be issued.

Addressees: civil society activists