Timetable is here
Thursday, October 3rd
punishment, Prison and what comes afterwards
Panel discussion
The presentation will be in German and acoustically amplified. Whisper translations are available for English.
To kick off the Tattoo Circus we will have a talk with five people who have served time in prison and are willing to share their thoughts and experiences with us. What does prison do to people? How does this form of punishment affect leftists? How can I actually prepare myself for being locked up and what will happen afterwards? What can lived solidarity look like beyond prison walls and how can it thrive?
The panel discussion is supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
Friday, October 4th
Between Resilience and The Abyss
Input & talk with Thomas Meyer Falk
The presentation will be in German and acoustically amplified. Whisper translations are available for English.
Prisons are destructive spaces. In addition to physiological needs, such as thirst and hunger, there are specific existential needs: relatedness, transcendence, rootedness, experience of identity, framework of orientation, effectiveness.
These existential needs are not only not met in prisons, but are systematically undermined. The abyss is often only a small step away, the ground begins to shake, and in the next moment there is a risk of falling into the depths.
How could it be possible to psychologically survive confinement, regardless of whether it is a few hours in police custody, a few months in pre-trial detention or years in prison? What can we actively do ourselves to better survive such difficult life circumstances? What can we do to provide appropriate support to people who are at risk of being imprisoned or are already there?
Thomas, who was released in August last year after about 27 years in prison, will try to talk to us about this. After an input from him, we can discuss together, share possible experiences and develop ideas about what survival could look like.
Saturday, October 5th
Rituals
Input & Workshop with #BigDreams
The workshop will be in German and acoustically amplified. Whisper translations are available for English.
We are Sabina (sie/she) and Daniel (er/he), dance and theater artists from Zurich. We initiated the artist collective #BigDreams together four years ago. #BigDreams uses performance tools to combat racism in the justice system and the media. Our workshop at the Tattoocircus deals with the question of how criminal justice appears in the form of ritual processes: Dignified ceremonies with clearly defined symbols reproduce the collective ideas of guilt and atonement, punishment and reparation, truth and the rule of law. In this way, the mechanisms of power are reinterpreted into rituals of justice. These processes of repression and hegemonic domination make use of a ceremonial aesthetic and thereby satisfy our need for belonging and transformation.
In order to rethink the criminal justice system, its rituals must also be rethought. In this workshop we will also address the question of how resistance can work using symbolic, artistic and aesthetic means.
🌐https://www.bigdreams.ch/
critique to prison – An Introduction
Presentation
The presentation will be in German and acoustically amplified. Whisper translations are available for English.
Statistically, prisons cannot fulfill their intended purpose of “resocialization”. This presentation will describe where prisons actually come from and why our society still clings to them.
Saturday, October 5th
Restorative Justice: something better than bare “Justice”?
Presentation and discussion by and with Rehzi Malzahn
The presentation will be in German and acoustically amplified. Whisper translations are available for English.
Restorative justice” – a term that is difficult to translate into German – describes a practice of dealing with painful events, including injustice and criminal acts, which replaces punishment with reparation and dialogue. The ownership of the conflict is given back to the people themselves (Nils Christie); its solution can be determined by them themselves and worked out together, autonomously.
Important cornerstones of RJ are dialogue as equitable process between all those involved in the conflict; taking responsibility for past actions and for the process of conflict resolution; mutual listening and understanding; making amends (or an approach to it), as well as respecting the integrity and autonomy of everyone. It may initially seem inconceivable to many that the injured, the accused and other affected people would sit down at a table to talk about what has sometimes been extremely painful and then negotiate a common solution, but if it succeeds, it is an empowering and healing process for everyone.
In this presentation I will try my best to explain the different aspects and methods of restorative justice, answer questions and take doubts seriously. Overall, I hope to inspire people to put aside their fear of dealing with conflicts – even painful ones –, to come into real contact with one another and to overcome ideas of guilt and punishment as aspects of a society based on domination. No previous knowledge is necessary.
🗣️ Rehzi Malzahn, born in 1979, lives in Cologne and southern France. She is a trained mediator with additional qualifications for “Täter-Opfer-Ausgleich”, which is a kind of perpetrator-victim mediation in the German judicial system. She has been dealing with the topic of conflicts and their resolution for over 10 years now, and since 2003 she has repeatedly campaigned against carceralism in society. She has published two books on the subject at Butterfly Verlag: »Strafe und Gefängnis. Theorie, Kritik, Alternativen.« (2018) (“Punishment and Prison. Theory, criticism, alternatives.” not yet available in English) und »Restorative Justice. Eine radikale Vision.« (2021) (“Restorative Justice. A radical vision.” not yet available in English). She has been working as a freelance author, translator and conflict companion/mediator since 2014.
🌐 rehzimalzahn.net