for members of civil society to connect and exchange around hot topics
🍁 Autumn Edition 2025: Sat 25th + Sun 26th of October
⏰ each day 10 am – 6 pm
📍 Die HausWirtschaft, Bruno-Marek-Alle 5, 1020 Vienna
Focus topic this time:
Cultivating Democratic Discourse
Condemnation, Respect, Openness: What do we (not) need?
Differences of opinion are central to democracy. Still, there seems to be an increasing number of topics where we easily slip into condemning our conversation partners. Does that mean we are getting dogmatic? Sometimes clear opposition is important! But where do we slide into demonizing other views or even other people? Is there something about the harshness of moral judgement that we should look at? How do we wish to live together in the long run, with all the permanent diversity of opinions?
Open Space: your input, your intuition
An OpenSpace Symposium provides everyone with the opportunity to offer workshops, talks or other sessions (such as dance or meditation). Please bring what you have for our focus topic! That can be a question you would like input on, or an input you can offer to others.
We will start the day with a plenary where everyone offering a session can explain that session in two sentences and then pin it to the timetable on the wall. Most people do not offer a session themselves, but simply attend other people’s or even drift off to the coffee table to chat with whoever is hanging out there. That is how it is meant to be! Follow your intuition, that should lead to what is best for you and even for the symposium as a whole!
We’ll guide you through the OpenSpace process on the day itself, but just know that you can prepare talks, inputs, and questions for discussion rounds in advance. Everyone is invited to contribute!
Who this event is for
Are you part of a social movement for socio-ecological change? Are you passionate about climate justice, human rights, feminism, migration, peace, democracy, solidarity economy or other related topics? We would like to give those committed to working for a better future a chance to connect with others in the field! Including cross-movement networks: environmentalists talking to peace activists, community builders to queer groups and so on…
It is a space to weave our groups’ ideas and goals together, to experiment with joint visions of the future we are working towards, while not falling into the trap of collapsing the complexity of the work by wanting to agree on “the right way”. Instead, we try to learn working in ambiguity and uncertainty, we experiment each in our own way and come back together to compare notes.
This is also a space to practice working at the pace of regeneration, rather than sacrificing people’s well-being for the sake of impact.
This Cross-Movement Open Space is part of a series. You can come again, and see the community grow and deepen!
Languages
The event will be mainly in German, but we’ll have English translation in the plenaries. Parallel workshop sessions can be held in either of these languages (or any other), but then only people understanding that language will be able to follow that particular session. You can host bilingual sessions, where everyone speaks the language they know better, but are able to understand the other one.
Childcare
There will be room for children to play, so feel free to bring your partners or friends who can take turns with you, switching between attending sessions and staying with your children.
Children of all ages are also welcome in the plenary and the workshop sessions, as long as an adult is with them and the event can keep its focus and energy.
If you would need an extra childcare person organised by CAN please contact us (email to open-space@civilaction.net or in the registration form).
Wheelchair access
Event rooms and toilet are accessible for wheelchairs.
Emotional care
If it all gets too much at a certain point, or you need some space for your inner process, there are quiet corners you can retreat to and a big park right outside for walking in nature.
Draft Schedule
SATURDAY
9:30 Check-in table is open.
10:00-12.45 Plenary: intro to theme; collect session topics & create agenda.
13:00-14.00 Lunch
14:15-15:30 Open space sessions (parallel groups)
15.45-17.00 Open space sessions (parallel groups)
17:15-18:00 Content harvest in the plenary, closing
SUNDAY
9:30 Check-in table is open.
10:00-10.30 Plenary: arrive together; collect topics & create agenda
10.45-12:00 Open space sessions (parallel groups)
12.00- 13.30 Lunch (potluck lunch: bring something to be shared)
13.30-13.45 any adaptations to agenda
14:00-15:30 Open space sessions (parallel groups)
15.45-17.00 Open space sessions (parallel groups)
17:15-18:00 Content harvest in the plenary, closing
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