KOW Lübeck

1: What is Awareness?

The term „Awareness“ is derived from the English verb „to be aware“ and broadly means „to be conscious of, to be informed, to be sensitized to certain issues“. We live in a society marked by unequal power relations. People are privileged or disadvantaged based on certain characteristics, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Awareness is a concept that stands against all forms of discrimination, violence, and boundary violations. Harmful and transgressive behavior, such as sexist, racist, anti-semitic, queerphobic, ableist, classist, or other discriminatory attacks, will not be tolerated at KOW.

2: Why do we need Awareness?

KOW provides a space for participants to learn, network, and exchange ideas. Everyone present should have barrier-free access to events, programs, and social gatherings within the framework of KOW. However, no one is free from prejudices or discrimination. Therefore, each individual must engage in conscious reflection (critical self-reflection). As the Awareness Team, we cannot do this work for you. However, we offer to support you in this process.

3: How does Awareness work?

Awareness teams or structures at events are available for people who have experienced boundary violations or conflicts with others, or who have a personal issue and would like support in dealing with it. This can include any perception of power imbalances, discrimination, exclusion, or the overcoming of acute triggers. We work in solidarity with affected individuals. The affected person has the sole authority to define the experienced violence and/or boundary violations. There are groups of people who are systematically more affected by discrimination than others. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a dedicated safe space for BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) at KOW. There will always be two Awareness people at the various KOW venues, who can be recognized by their warningvests and who can be approached at any time. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a retreat room for every event. If you have special needs in this regard, please contact the organizers.

Section 4: How can you support?

As an Awareness team, we offer concrete support to people affected by discrimination. What we DO NOT provide (can) is, for example, conflict management, mediation, or therapeutic work. We can only create a safe space together, and each individual is responsible for making it happen. So please be mindful in your interactions with other visitors and, ideally, inform yourself beforehand about possible forms of discrimination. Here is a brief summary from the fantastic „Glossary Against the Fear of Words“ by Missy Magazine (https://missy-magazine.de/glossar/#T): People who are supposedly categorized by society as „victims“ are particularly confronted with discrimination. Emotions are contrasted with supposed reason, creating an image of „rational experts“ versus „irrational victims.“ „Those who are assigned to the latter category by the dominant society are often not taken seriously, are met with pity or irritation, are viewed with suspicion and ridiculed,“ are underestimated, are overlooked, and their rights are denied. This leads to discriminatory behaviors in many forms. The following is an incomplete list:

• Tone policing, where the focus is not on what is said but on a supposedly inappropriate, „aggressive“ tone of voice.
• „If a decision is made solely on the basis of age, rather than on a person’s abilities,“ this is a form of age discrimination.
• The basic needs of a person with a disability are often overlooked because they cannot be met according to the norm. This, along with a general devaluation (including intellectual devaluation) of the person due to their disability, is called ableism (derived from „able“).
• A common form of discrimination is microaggressions (derogatory glances, e.g. staring, gestures, posture, remarks, or noises) that are intentional or unintentional results of discriminatory thought patterns. These particularly affect marginalized groups. Often, the person experiencing microaggressions is accused of being „too sensitive.“
• Furthermore, the phrase „check your privilege“ applies. Privileges are advantages that a person enjoys due to the current social order, and they vary depending on the context. These include positions such as being white, male, cisgender, wealthy, or able-bodied. Depending on a person’s starting privileges, it is possible to acquire additional privileges over time, such as economic or educational privileges. Peggy McIntosh’s checklist, which can be found here: https://www.ende-gelaende.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/McIntosh-White-Privilege.pdf, is helpful for critically examining white privilege.

Section 5: What we as an Awareness team want from you:

• Respect other people’s pronouns and never assign a gender to someone based on their appearance! Always ask people how they want to be addressed.
• Refrain from using racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, classist, or ableist language and slurs.
• Whether or not alcohol consumption is allowed at events is decided by the groups organizing the event. Please pay attention to the respective guidelines and know your limits.
• When smoking, please be mindful not to force others to passively smoke. Please ask the people around you if they mind if you smoke.
• We do not want any party or national flags or national symbols at KOW.
• Please do not take photos of others without their permission. We want a respectful approach to the privacy of others.
• Do not assume that a person speaks or does not speak a certain language based on their appearance. If German is your native language, please address everyone at the events in German first, even if you suspect that the person may not speak German.
• Refrain from being curious about a person’s origin or identity based on their appearance. People can decide for themselves what and when they want to reveal something personal about themselves, and they don’t need any assumptions.
• As white people, please refrain from appropriating cultural or religious symbols and practices. Please be sensitive to how you appropriate them and do not instrumentalize them. This includes, for example, warbonnets, bindis, kimonos, dreadlocks, and „Afro“ wigs. Educate yourself about cultural appropriation.
• If you behave in a way that is incompatible with our concept, we reserve the right to ask you to leave the event.

Section 6: See you at KOW!

We hope you enjoy learning and experiencing everything KOW has to offer, and we look forward to seeing you there. Feel free to send us feedback, questions, or comments about our Awareness work via our Instagram @kowluebeck or by email at kowluebeck@gmail.com, even after KOW has ended. We will evaluate and reflect on your input.

Your Awareness Crew

Note: This overview is largely based on the Awareness concept from the System Change Camp 2023 in Hanover and was created in conjunction with the Save the Dance guideline (https://safethedance.de/awareness-leitfaden/). We have adopted, revised, and adapted parts of the concept. The concept was written by a predominantly white group and revised by an exclusively white group.