Staying in dialogue: What rights does our constitution protect?

As previously announced, the series of public dialogues for Chemnitz residents will continue in the new year: the fourth edition of the citizens' dialogue format "Im Gespräch bleiben" (Staying in conversation) will take place on Monday, 21 January 2019 at 5.30 p.m. in the Salon am Tropenhaus of the Stadthalle (Theaterstraße, 09.09.Chemnitz). January 2019 at 5.30 pm in the Salon am Tropenhaus of the Stadthalle (Theaterstraße 3, 09111 Chemnitz) under the title "Which rights does our constitution protect?".

The event was organised at the request of the participants in the discussion on right-wing extremism at the end of November. At that time, the President of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution had to cancel at short notice due to illness.

Next Monday, interested Chemnitz residents will have the opportunity to talk to experts about various facets of fundamental rights. For example, they will discuss the rights that individuals in a democracy have vis-à-vis the state - such as freedom of expression or freedom of assembly - what these rights guarantee, what limits them, when they are in danger and what tasks the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has in this context.

A number of experts will be on hand to discuss these issues: Gordian Meyer-Plath,
President of the Saxon State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Prof. Dr Astrid Lorenz (University of Leipzig), Prof. em. Dr Hans-Joachim Funke (Free University of Berlin), Prof. Dr Günther Schneider, State Secretary at the Saxon State Ministry of the Interior. The discussion will be moderated by Cornelius Pollmer (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

The experts in detail:

Gordian Meyer-Plath, born in 1968, has been President of the Saxon State Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2013. He worked for the Brandenburg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Ministry of the Interior there, as well as a research assistant in the Bundestag.
Meyer-Plath studied medieval studies, modern history, American studies and public law.

Prof Dr Astrid Lorenz, born in 1975, holds the professorship "Political System of the Federal Republic of Germany/Politics in Europe" at Leipzig University (Jean Monnet Chair since 2017) and is also Managing Director of the Institute of Political Science and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Philosophy. She wrote her habilitation thesis on "Constitutional change in established democracies. Motivations and negotiation patterns". She is involved in numerous committees, including the Board of Trustees of the Saxon State Centre for Political Education, the Science Advisory Board of the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship and the Saxon Competence Centre for State and Local Politics e.V. Since 2018, Prof. Lorenz has also been a member of the expert committee appointed by Minister President Michael Kretschmer to establish a democratic culture of dialogue supported by all regions and social groups. As a political scientist, she has long been researching constitutional issues, the development of democracy and East Germany, also in international comparison.

Prof Dr Hans-Joachim Funke, born in 1944, is one of Germany's most distinguished political scientists, specialising in politics and culture. Until his retirement in 2010, he taught political science at the Otto Suhr Institute of the Free University of Berlin, before which his career took him to Harvard and Berkeley, among other places. Prof Funke researches and publishes in particular on the topics of right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism. He also frequently appears as an expert witness, for example in the Bavarian NSU committee of enquiry.

Prof Dr Günther Schneider, born in 1955, holds a doctorate in law. He has worked as a research assistant at the Federal Constitutional Court, as a judge at the Hessian State Social Court and at the Saxon State Social Court, where he became presiding judge in 1999. Prof Schneider has been an honorary professor at the Faculty of Law at the Technical University of Dresden since 2002. He was also a member of the state parliament for 13 years before becoming State Secretary at the Saxon Ministry of the Interior in 2017. The Saxon Ministry of the Interior is responsible for the areas of police and constitutional protection, security and immigration, among others, but also for construction, housing and sport.


Organisational notes:

The event is primarily intended for Chemnitz residents. Admission starts at 5 pm and will be via the entrance at Stadthallenpark. There will be admission controls.

Background information:

The "Im Gespräch bleiben" series is part of the seven-point plan presented by Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig at the end of September 2018. There have been three events in the series so far: a citizens' dialogue on the topic of safety took place in September. As a result of this event, for example, the Citizens' Advisory Council on Safety was formed, in which citizens discuss the topic with the administration and report on their everyday lives, provide information and discuss issues.

In October, there was a citizens' dialogue on which future issues are important to the people of Chemnitz. Topics included mobility, housing, but also citizen participation and dialogue within urban society. The connection between the Capital of Culture application and urban development was also a major focus of the dialogue. The planned intervention areas - i.e. areas where something should, can and must happen - were presented and discussed with citizens.

At the end of November, the topic of "Right-wing extremism in Chemnitz" was on the agenda of the third citizens' dialogue.