6. Roundtable: Community Accountability & Silence

July 28, 2021, 6:00–9:00 p.m.

The pandemic and the existential threat it posed to Berlin’s club culture and its participants have once again made it clear just how fragile clubs and spaces of club culture truly are. On the one hand, they are spaces of possibility for self-expression and identity formation; on the other hand, like all spaces of everyday life, they are permeated by power structures, privileges, disadvantages, and boundary violations. An important first step is to consciously acknowledge this as a reality of Berlin’s club culture. Another crucial factor is how we deal with it when boundaries are crossed and mistakes are made. How is responsibility taken? How is the well-being of those affected prioritized? How is there conscious reflection and active learning for the future?

Assaults, discrimination, and violence occur both on and off stage, yet these issues are often swept under the rug, the affected person is not taken seriously, or no constructive way of addressing the situation is found. At the same time, mistakes and negligence can now be called out more effectively than ever before, brought into the public discourse, and demands for justice and action made. Trauma, pressure, and fear at various levels can hinder the path to lasting change.

In this roundtable, we want to talk, discuss, and reflect together on what constructive processes for taking responsibility might look like and how they can be shaped within our clubs, collectives, and communities. How can we work together to create a safe and supportive environment for those affected by violence? What steps and skills are needed to recognize when boundaries are crossed and to reflect seriously on these instances? How can this lead to real change, making club culture a bit safer and more inclusive?

For this event, we have invited two different speakers who will share their knowledge and experience on the topic of community accountability, both in theory and in practice. Together with them, we will then discuss the topic and develop concrete recommendations for action.

Speakers: 

Camille Barton is an interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator who works at the intersection of social change, anti-racism, drug policy, and transformative justice, and brings extensive expertise in facilitating community accountability processes. Camille Barton was trained in the U.S. in restorative justice and embodied peer counseling and leads the Collective Liberation Project, which educates people about forms of oppression such as racism and sexism and how they function in cultural contexts. Camille is also the artistic director and booker for Emergent Bass, a series of events celebrating the influence of the Afro-diaspora in electronic music and underground club culture. Camille leads the Ecologies of Transformation master’s program (2021–2023) at the Sandberg Institute, which explores how art and embodiment can enable social change.

Gizem Adiyaman works in party promotion, podcast production, and political education. Together with her best friend Lucia Luciano, she founded the event series and sound system Hoe_mies in 2017, which focuses on female and LGBTQI artists, particularly in hip-hop. Adiyaman and Luciano also host the podcast “Realitäter*innen.” They discuss the importance of providing a platform for marginalized identities to educate the mainstream about their realities and shed light on typically taboo topics such as sex work, the prison system, and homelessness.

Register at: awareness@clubcommission.de