Abitur NRW Englisch 2023 · LK · Haupttermin · Weiterbildungskolleg

Klausurteil A: Leseverstehen und Schreiben integriert

Klausurteil A

Imbolo Mbue

How Beautiful We Were

The following passage opens the novel. Thula narrates the story, which takes place in Kosawa, an invented African village, during the 1980s.

We should have known the end was near. How could we not have known? When the sky

began to pour acid and rivers began to turn green, we should have known our land would

soon be dead. Then again, how could we have known when they didn’t want us to know?

When we began to wobble and stagger, tumbling and snapping like feeble little branches,

5 they told us it would soon be over, that we would all be well in no time. They asked us to

come to village meetings, to talk about it. They told us we had to trust them.

We should have spat in their faces, heaped upon them names most befitting – liars,

savages, unscrupulous, evil. We should have cursed their mothers and their grandmothers,

flung pejoratives upon their fathers, prayed for unspeakable calamities to befall their

10 children. We hated them and we hated their meetings, but we attended all of them. Every

eight weeks we went to the village square to listen to them. We were dying. We were

helpless. We were afraid. Those meetings were our only chance at salvation.

[...]

In the square we sat in near silence as the sun left us for the day, oblivious to how the

beauty of its descent heightened our anguish. We watched as the Pexton men placed their

15 briefcases on the table our village head, Woja Beki, had set for them. There were always

three of them – we called them the Round One (his face was as round as a ball we would

have had fun kicking), the Sick One (his suits were oversized, giving him the look of a man

dying of a flesh-stealing disease), and the Leader (he did the talking, the other two did the

nodding). We mumbled among ourselves as they opened their briefcases and passed sheets

20 of paper among themselves, covering their mouths as they whispered into each other’s ears

to ensure they had their lies straight. We had nowhere more important to be so we waited,

desperate for good news. We whispered at intervals, wondering what they were thinking

whenever they paused to look at us [...].

We inhaled, waited, exhaled. We remembered those who had died from diseases with

25 neither names nor cures – our siblings and cousins and friends who had perished from the

poison in the water and the poison in the air and the poisoned food growing from the land

that lost its purity the day Pexton came drilling. We hoped the men would look into our eyes

and feel something for us. We were children, like their children, and we wanted them to

recognize that. If they did, it wasn’t apparent in their countenance. They’d come for Pexton,

30 to keep its conscience clean; they hadn’t come for us.

Woja Beki walked up to the front and thanked everyone for coming.

“My dear people,” he said, exposing the teeth no one wanted to see, “if we don’t ask for

what we want, we’ll never get it. If we don’t expunge what’s in our bellies, are we not

going to suffer from constipation and die?”

35 We did not respond; we cared nothing for what he had to say. We knew he was one of

them. We’d known for years that though he was our leader, descended from the same

ancestors as us, we no longer meant anything to him. Pexton had bought his cooperation

and he had, in turn, sold our future to them. [...]

In the glow of the fading sun our village looked almost beautiful, our faces almost free

40 of anguish. Our grandfathers and grandmothers appeared serene, but we knew they weren’t

– they’d seen much, and yet they’d never seen anything like this.

“We’ll now hear from Mr. Honorable Representative of Pexton, all the way from Bézam

to speak to us again,” Woja Beki said, before returning to his seat.

The Leader rose up, walked toward us, and stood in the center of the square.

45 For several seconds, he stared at us, his head angled, his smile so strenuously earnest we

wondered if he was admiring a radiance we’d never been told we had. We waited for him to

say something that would make us burst into song and dance. We wanted him to tell us that

Pexton had decided to leave and take the diseases with them.

His smile broadened, narrowed, landed on our faces, scanning our stillness. Seemingly

50 satisfied, he began speaking. He was happy to be back in Kosawa on this fine day, he said.

What a lovely evening it was, with the half-moon in the distance, such a perfect breeze, was

that the sound of sparrows singing in one accord? What a gorgeous village. He wanted to thank

us for coming. It was great to see everyone again. Incredible how many precious children

Kosawa has. We had to believe him that the people at headquarters were sad about what was

55 happening to us. They were all working hard to resolve this issue so everyone could be

healthy and happy again. He spoke slowly, his smile constant, as if he was about to deliver

the good news we so yearned for.

We barely blinked as we watched him, listening to lies we’d heard before. Lies about how

the people who controlled Pexton cared about us. Lies about how the big men in the

60 government of His Excellency cared about us. Lies about how hundreds of people in the

capital had asked him to relay their condolences to us. “They mourn with you at the news of

every death,” he said. “It’ll be over soon. It’s time your suffering ended, isn’t it?”

Annotations:

9 to fling pejoratives – here: to speak in a very negative way about someone

42 Bézam – fictional African town

1. Summarize the information the text gives about everyday life in Kosawa and the part Pexton plays in it. (Comprehension) [12 Punkte]

Klausurteil A: Leseverstehen und Schreiben integriert

Klausurteil A

Imbolo Mbue

How Beautiful We Were

The following passage opens the novel. Thula narrates the story, which takes place in Kosawa, an invented African village, during the 1980s.

We should have known the end was near. How could we not have known? When the sky

began to pour acid and rivers began to turn green, we should have known our land would

soon be dead. Then again, how could we have known when they didn’t want us to know?

When we began to wobble and stagger, tumbling and snapping like feeble little branches,

5 they told us it would soon be over, that we would all be well in no time. They asked us to

come to village meetings, to talk about it. They told us we had to trust them.

We should have spat in their faces, heaped upon them names most befitting – liars,

savages, unscrupulous, evil. We should have cursed their mothers and their grandmothers,

flung pejoratives upon their fathers, prayed for unspeakable calamities to befall their

10 children. We hated them and we hated their meetings, but we attended all of them. Every

eight weeks we went to the village square to listen to them. We were dying. We were

helpless. We were afraid. Those meetings were our only chance at salvation.

[...]

In the square we sat in near silence as the sun left us for the day, oblivious to how the

beauty of its descent heightened our anguish. We watched as the Pexton men placed their

15 briefcases on the table our village head, Woja Beki, had set for them. There were always

three of them – we called them the Round One (his face was as round as a ball we would

have had fun kicking), the Sick One (his suits were oversized, giving him the look of a man

dying of a flesh-stealing disease), and the Leader (he did the talking, the other two did the

nodding). We mumbled among ourselves as they opened their briefcases and passed sheets

20 of paper among themselves, covering their mouths as they whispered into each other’s ears

to ensure they had their lies straight. We had nowhere more important to be so we waited,

desperate for good news. We whispered at intervals, wondering what they were thinking

whenever they paused to look at us [...].

We inhaled, waited, exhaled. We remembered those who had died from diseases with

25 neither names nor cures – our siblings and cousins and friends who had perished from the

poison in the water and the poison in the air and the poisoned food growing from the land

that lost its purity the day Pexton came drilling. We hoped the men would look into our eyes

and feel something for us. We were children, like their children, and we wanted them to

recognize that. If they did, it wasn’t apparent in their countenance. They’d come for Pexton,

30 to keep its conscience clean; they hadn’t come for us.

Woja Beki walked up to the front and thanked everyone for coming.

“My dear people,” he said, exposing the teeth no one wanted to see, “if we don’t ask for

what we want, we’ll never get it. If we don’t expunge what’s in our bellies, are we not

going to suffer from constipation and die?”

35 We did not respond; we cared nothing for what he had to say. We knew he was one of

them. We’d known for years that though he was our leader, descended from the same

ancestors as us, we no longer meant anything to him. Pexton had bought his cooperation

and he had, in turn, sold our future to them. [...]

In the glow of the fading sun our village looked almost beautiful, our faces almost free

40 of anguish. Our grandfathers and grandmothers appeared serene, but we knew they weren’t

– they’d seen much, and yet they’d never seen anything like this.

“We’ll now hear from Mr. Honorable Representative of Pexton, all the way from Bézam

to speak to us again,” Woja Beki said, before returning to his seat.

The Leader rose up, walked toward us, and stood in the center of the square.

45 For several seconds, he stared at us, his head angled, his smile so strenuously earnest we

wondered if he was admiring a radiance we’d never been told we had. We waited for him to

say something that would make us burst into song and dance. We wanted him to tell us that

Pexton had decided to leave and take the diseases with them.

His smile broadened, narrowed, landed on our faces, scanning our stillness. Seemingly

50 satisfied, he began speaking. He was happy to be back in Kosawa on this fine day, he said.

What a lovely evening it was, with the half-moon in the distance, such a perfect breeze, was

that the sound of sparrows singing in one accord? What a gorgeous village. He wanted to thank

us for coming. It was great to see everyone again. Incredible how many precious children

Kosawa has. We had to believe him that the people at headquarters were sad about what was

55 happening to us. They were all working hard to resolve this issue so everyone could be

healthy and happy again. He spoke slowly, his smile constant, as if he was about to deliver

the good news we so yearned for.

We barely blinked as we watched him, listening to lies we’d heard before. Lies about how

the people who controlled Pexton cared about us. Lies about how the big men in the

60 government of His Excellency cared about us. Lies about how hundreds of people in the

capital had asked him to relay their condolences to us. “They mourn with you at the news of

every death,” he said. “It’ll be over soon. It’s time your suffering ended, isn’t it?”

Annotations:

9 to fling pejoratives – here: to speak in a very negative way about someone

42 Bézam – fictional African town

2. Analyze how the text creates its atmosphere and how this atmosphere affects the reader. Concentrate on the narrative techniques and the language used. (Analysis) [16 Punkte]

3.1

Steve Killelea, founder of the Institute for Economics and Peace, warns that “ecological threats pose serious challenges to global peace. […] In the absence of action, civil unrest, riots and conflict will most likely increase.” Comment on this forecast, drawing on economic, ecological and political aspects of globalization.

(Evaluation: comment) [14 Punkte]

Footnote: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/09/climate-crisis-could-displace-12bn-people-by-2050-report-warns (Zugriff: 31.08.2021)

Klausurteil A: Leseverstehen und Schreiben integriert

Klausurteil A

Imbolo Mbue

How Beautiful We Were

The following passage opens the novel. Thula narrates the story, which takes place in Kosawa, an invented African village, during the 1980s.

We should have known the end was near. How could we not have known? When the sky

began to pour acid and rivers began to turn green, we should have known our land would

soon be dead. Then again, how could we have known when they didn’t want us to know?

When we began to wobble and stagger, tumbling and snapping like feeble little branches,

5 they told us it would soon be over, that we would all be well in no time. They asked us to

come to village meetings, to talk about it. They told us we had to trust them.

We should have spat in their faces, heaped upon them names most befitting – liars,

savages, unscrupulous, evil. We should have cursed their mothers and their grandmothers,

flung pejoratives upon their fathers, prayed for unspeakable calamities to befall their

10 children. We hated them and we hated their meetings, but we attended all of them. Every

eight weeks we went to the village square to listen to them. We were dying. We were

helpless. We were afraid. Those meetings were our only chance at salvation.

[...]

In the square we sat in near silence as the sun left us for the day, oblivious to how the

beauty of its descent heightened our anguish. We watched as the Pexton men placed their

15 briefcases on the table our village head, Woja Beki, had set for them. There were always

three of them – we called them the Round One (his face was as round as a ball we would

have had fun kicking), the Sick One (his suits were oversized, giving him the look of a man

dying of a flesh-stealing disease), and the Leader (he did the talking, the other two did the

nodding). We mumbled among ourselves as they opened their briefcases and passed sheets

20 of paper among themselves, covering their mouths as they whispered into each other’s ears

to ensure they had their lies straight. We had nowhere more important to be so we waited,

desperate for good news. We whispered at intervals, wondering what they were thinking

whenever they paused to look at us [...].

We inhaled, waited, exhaled. We remembered those who had died from diseases with

25 neither names nor cures – our siblings and cousins and friends who had perished from the

poison in the water and the poison in the air and the poisoned food growing from the land

that lost its purity the day Pexton came drilling. We hoped the men would look into our eyes

and feel something for us. We were children, like their children, and we wanted them to

recognize that. If they did, it wasn’t apparent in their countenance. They’d come for Pexton,

30 to keep its conscience clean; they hadn’t come for us.

Woja Beki walked up to the front and thanked everyone for coming.

“My dear people,” he said, exposing the teeth no one wanted to see, “if we don’t ask for

what we want, we’ll never get it. If we don’t expunge what’s in our bellies, are we not

going to suffer from constipation and die?”

35 We did not respond; we cared nothing for what he had to say. We knew he was one of

them. We’d known for years that though he was our leader, descended from the same

ancestors as us, we no longer meant anything to him. Pexton had bought his cooperation

and he had, in turn, sold our future to them. [...]

In the glow of the fading sun our village looked almost beautiful, our faces almost free

40 of anguish. Our grandfathers and grandmothers appeared serene, but we knew they weren’t

– they’d seen much, and yet they’d never seen anything like this.

“We’ll now hear from Mr. Honorable Representative of Pexton, all the way from Bézam

to speak to us again,” Woja Beki said, before returning to his seat.

The Leader rose up, walked toward us, and stood in the center of the square.

45 For several seconds, he stared at us, his head angled, his smile so strenuously earnest we

wondered if he was admiring a radiance we’d never been told we had. We waited for him to

say something that would make us burst into song and dance. We wanted him to tell us that

Pexton had decided to leave and take the diseases with them.

His smile broadened, narrowed, landed on our faces, scanning our stillness. Seemingly

50 satisfied, he began speaking. He was happy to be back in Kosawa on this fine day, he said.

What a lovely evening it was, with the half-moon in the distance, such a perfect breeze, was

that the sound of sparrows singing in one accord? What a gorgeous village. He wanted to thank

us for coming. It was great to see everyone again. Incredible how many precious children

Kosawa has. We had to believe him that the people at headquarters were sad about what was

55 happening to us. They were all working hard to resolve this issue so everyone could be

healthy and happy again. He spoke slowly, his smile constant, as if he was about to deliver

the good news we so yearned for.

We barely blinked as we watched him, listening to lies we’d heard before. Lies about how

the people who controlled Pexton cared about us. Lies about how the big men in the

60 government of His Excellency cared about us. Lies about how hundreds of people in the

capital had asked him to relay their condolences to us. “They mourn with you at the news of

every death,” he said. “It’ll be over soon. It’s time your suffering ended, isn’t it?”

Annotations:

9 to fling pejoratives – here: to speak in a very negative way about someone

42 Bézam – fictional African town

3.2 Thula, the narrator, has dedicated her life to the struggle against oil drilling in Nigeria and has therefore received an international award for her remarkable contribution to sustainable development in her country. As a result, she has been asked to write an article for The Guardian in which she explains how growing up in Kosawa inspired her to become an environmental activist and what she calls for in the future. Write the article. (Evaluation: re-creation of text) [14 Punkte]

Klausurteil A

Imbolo Mbue

How Beautiful We Were

The following passage opens the novel. Thula narrates the story, which takes place in Kosawa, an invented African village, during the 1980s.

We should have known the end was near. How could we not have known? When the sky

began to pour acid and rivers began to turn green, we should have known our land would

soon be dead. Then again, how could we have known when they didn’t want us to know?

When we began to wobble and stagger, tumbling and snapping like feeble little branches,

5 they told us it would soon be over, that we would all be well in no time. They asked us to

come to village meetings, to talk about it. They told us we had to trust them.

We should have spat in their faces, heaped upon them names most befitting – liars,

savages, unscrupulous, evil. We should have cursed their mothers and their grandmothers,

flung pejoratives upon their fathers, prayed for unspeakable calamities to befall their

10 children. We hated them and we hated their meetings, but we attended all of them. Every

eight weeks we went to the village square to listen to them. We were dying. We were

helpless. We were afraid. Those meetings were our only chance at salvation.

[...]

In the square we sat in near silence as the sun left us for the day, oblivious to how the

beauty of its descent heightened our anguish. We watched as the Pexton men placed their

15 briefcases on the table our village head, Woja Beki, had set for them. There were always

three of them – we called them the Round One (his face was as round as a ball we would

have had fun kicking), the Sick One (his suits were oversized, giving him the look of a man

dying of a flesh-stealing disease), and the Leader (he did the talking, the other two did the

nodding). We mumbled among ourselves as they opened their briefcases and passed sheets

20 of paper among themselves, covering their mouths as they whispered into each other’s ears

to ensure they had their lies straight. We had nowhere more important to be so we waited,

desperate for good news. We whispered at intervals, wondering what they were thinking

whenever they paused to look at us [...].

We inhaled, waited, exhaled. We remembered those who had died from diseases with

25 neither names nor cures – our siblings and cousins and friends who had perished from the

poison in the water and the poison in the air and the poisoned food growing from the land

that lost its purity the day Pexton came drilling. We hoped the men would look into our eyes

and feel something for us. We were children, like their children, and we wanted them to

recognize that. If they did, it wasn’t apparent in their countenance. They’d come for Pexton,

30 to keep its conscience clean; they hadn’t come for us.

Woja Beki walked up to the front and thanked everyone for coming.

“My dear people,” he said, exposing the teeth no one wanted to see, “if we don’t ask for

what we want, we’ll never get it. If we don’t expunge what’s in our bellies, are we not

going to suffer from constipation and die?”

35 We did not respond; we cared nothing for what he had to say. We knew he was one of

them. We’d known for years that though he was our leader, descended from the same

ancestors as us, we no longer meant anything to him. Pexton had bought his cooperation

and he had, in turn, sold our future to them. [...]

In the glow of the fading sun our village looked almost beautiful, our faces almost free

40 of anguish. Our grandfathers and grandmothers appeared serene, but we knew they weren’t

– they’d seen much, and yet they’d never seen anything like this.

“We’ll now hear from Mr. Honorable Representative of Pexton, all the way from Bézam

to speak to us again,” Woja Beki said, before returning to his seat.

The Leader rose up, walked toward us, and stood in the center of the square.

45 For several seconds, he stared at us, his head angled, his smile so strenuously earnest we

wondered if he was admiring a radiance we’d never been told we had. We waited for him to

say something that would make us burst into song and dance. We wanted him to tell us that

Pexton had decided to leave and take the diseases with them.

His smile broadened, narrowed, landed on our faces, scanning our stillness. Seemingly

50 satisfied, he began speaking. He was happy to be back in Kosawa on this fine day, he said.

What a lovely evening it was, with the half-moon in the distance, such a perfect breeze, was

that the sound of sparrows singing in one accord? What a gorgeous village. He wanted to thank

us for coming. It was great to see everyone again. Incredible how many precious children

Kosawa has. We had to believe him that the people at headquarters were sad about what was

55 happening to us. They were all working hard to resolve this issue so everyone could be

healthy and happy again. He spoke slowly, his smile constant, as if he was about to deliver

the good news we so yearned for.

We barely blinked as we watched him, listening to lies we’d heard before. Lies about how

the people who controlled Pexton cared about us. Lies about how the big men in the

60 government of His Excellency cared about us. Lies about how hundreds of people in the

capital had asked him to relay their condolences to us. “They mourn with you at the news of

every death,” he said. “It’ll be over soon. It’s time your suffering ended, isn’t it?”

Annotations:

9 to fling pejoratives – here: to speak in a very negative way about someone

42 Bézam – fictional African town

Klausurteil B: Sprachmittlung isoliert

4. A friend of yours from Britain is researching projects that foster multicultural partnerships in the arts and wants to know about similar initiatives in Germany.

Write an email to your friend in which you outline the main information on the project “Writing On”. (Mediation) [18 Punkte]

Lara Sielmann

Berliner Literaturprojekt „Weiter Schreiben“

Das Projekt bringt Autoren aus Krisengebieten und Deutschland zusammen. Ausländische Schriftsteller erhalten so leichter Zugang zum deutschen Literaturbetrieb.

„Früher konnte ich das ganze Haus beobachten, während ich den Innenhof schrubbte. Ich erinnere mich an das Wasser, das ich aus dem Eimer goss, ich erinnere mich an das Geräusch des Schrubbers, ich erinnere mich daran, wie ich das Wasser verteilte und wie das Wasser allen Staub und Schmutz verschluckte, wie es alle meine Sünden in den Gully mit der gelben Abdeckung schwemmte“, schreibt die syrische Schriftstellerin Lina Atfah, die mittlerweile in Nordrhein-Westfalen lebt, ihrer Brieffreundin Nino Haratischwili über das Haus ihrer Kindheit in Salamiyya. [...]

Der digitale Brief ist bereits der dritte der beiden Schriftstellerinnen, der in „(W)Ortwechseln“ erschienen ist. Insgesamt sechs Autorenpaare sind Teil des Projektes, das seit Ende April im Zwei-Wochen-Rhythmus das gesamte Jahr über auf der dazugehörigen Homepage veröffentlicht wird.

Mit dabei sind Autoren aus Syrien, dem Irak, dem Iran, Kroatien, Russland, Georgien, Österreich und Deutschland, unter anderem Pegah Ahmadi und Monika Rinck, Abdalrahman Alqalaq und Katerina Poladjan, Mariam Al-Attar und Sabine Scholl. Der Leser erhält persönliche und künstlerische Einblicke und erfährt etwas über die Bedingungen des Schreibens der jeweiligen Briefverfasser.

Hervorgegangen ist „(W)Ortwechseln“ aus dem Berliner Literaturprojekt „Weiter Schreiben“, das seit 2017 deutsche Autoren mit Autoren aus Krisengebieten in Tandems zusammenbringt, mit dem Ziel, die ausländischen Schriftsteller und Schriftstellerinnen im deutschsprachigen Literaturbetrieb zu etablieren.

„Alle Autorinnen und Autoren aus diesen Gebieten, die nach Deutschland gekommen sind, hatten einen Wunsch, nämlich weiter zu schreiben“, erzählt die Schriftstellerin und Gründerin des Projektes, Annika Reich. Bereits vor acht Jahren hat die Wahlberlinerin zusammen mit der Malerin Katharina Grosse einen Kreis von 100 Frauen aus dem Bereich Wissenschaft, Kunst und Kultur gegründet.

Sie sollen sich gegenseitig unterstützen und gemeinsam Projekte umsetzen. [...]

2015 wurde aus diesem Verband die NGO „Wir Machen Das“ gegründet, die Menschen aus Krisengebieten aus dem Bereich Kultur und Journalismus den Einstieg in den deutschen Kulturbetrieb erleichtern soll. Das Projekt „Weiter Schreiben“ richtet sich vor allem an Autoren, die auf Arabisch schreiben.

„Die deutschsprachigen Autorinnen und Autoren des Tandems sind hier bekannt und etabliert. Dadurch wurde von den großen Literaturinstitutionen von Anfang an auch die literarische Qualität der Partnerinnen und Partner nicht infrage gestellt, auch wenn sie hier noch nicht bekannt sind“, erzählt Reich.

Die 47-Jährige unterbrach für die Arbeit bei der NGO das eigene Schreiben für fünf Jahre.

Vor der Corona-Pandemie war das Projekt in Berlin gut erlebbar: Es gab verschiedene Lesungen in Buchhandlungen und bekannten Literaturinstitutionen wie dem Literarischen Colloquium am Wannsee oder dem Literaturhaus in der Fasanenstraße.

Daneben erscheint seit 2019 auch das „Weiter Schreiben“-Magazin, in dem die Autoren und Autorinnen des Projektes publiziert werden. Interviews und Essays zu einem Themenschwerpunkt stehen auch darin. Die aktuelle Ausgabe beinhaltet erste Auszüge der Briefkorrespondenz der deutschen Lyrikerin Monika Rinck mit ihrer iranischen Tandempartnerin Pegah Ahmadi. Besonders groß ist der Markt an übersetzter arabischsprachiger Literatur in Deutschland noch nicht, vor allem, was die Gegenwartsliteratur betrifft.

„Es ist erschreckend, wie wenig generell aus dem Arabischen übersetzt wird“, sagt Reich. „So transportieren sich ja auch kein neues Wissen oder Einblicke in die arabischsprachige Literaturwelt oder in das, worüber aktuell geschrieben und nachgedacht wird.“

Allerdings laufe es für die Autorinnen und Autoren von „Weiter Schreiben“ ganz gut, fünf haben schon Bücher veröffentlicht. Drei weitere Verträge sind geschlossen. Insgesamt 17 aktive Tandems gibt es zurzeit, viel mehr Kapazitäten hat das Team um Reich herum nicht. Das alles sei auch eine Geldfrage: „Für die nächsten drei Jahre sind wir zum Glück gefördert, viel Luft nach oben, also für alle Autorinnen und Autoren, die wir gerne aufnehmen würden, lässt uns das aber trotzdem nicht.“

Für dieses Jahr hatten sie sich viel vorgenommen, das Netzwerk sollte über Deutschland hinaus wachsen. Das geht wegen der aktuellen Krise gerade nicht, soll aber nachgeholt werden, sobald es wieder möglich ist. „Unsere Briefkorrespondenzen kommen somit zur richtigen Zeit“, sagt Reich.

Im Herbst soll der dazugehörige Podcast in Kooperation mit dem rbbKultur folgen. In insgesamt drei Folgen wollen die Autoren das bis dahin Geschriebene und Veröffentlichte näher beleuchten.

Anmerkungen:

Die Sprachrichtigkeit betreffende Fehler wurden korrigiert.

6 Nino Haratischwili – aus Georgien stammende deutsche Theaterregisseurin, Dramatikerin und Romanautorin

7 Salamiyya – Kleinstadt in Syrien

58 rbbKultur – Programm des Senders Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg

Klausurteil A

Daniel Hunter

Don't Believe the Lie That Voting Is All You Can Do

Stop minimizing the work of movements.

The Black Lives Matter movement has had significant wins in recent months. Municipalities

have removed statues of racists, corporations have changed branding that reinforced racial

stereotypes, schools have cut ties with police forces and cities have reduced police funding.

But too often, politicians, celebrities and community leaders who applaud the protesters for

5 these victories are quick to follow up by asserting, like Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of

Atlanta, that voting "would be the most effective response, the deepest payback" for George

Floyd's death – or that there is "no greater form of protest" than voting, as Lisa Deeley,

chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, put it.

I've led movements for most of my adult life and have heard similar misguided refrains far

10 too many times. The truth is voting is an honorable act that many movements use as a tactic.

But the popular message that it's the only real source of power misleads the public about

how social change happens and stifles the energy required to bring about the change we need.

Instead of suggesting that participation in movements is inferior to voting, people with

influence should educate themselves and the public about the often hidden role of social

15 movements in achieving change in this country.

Movements led to the abolition of slavery, brought Jim Crow to its knees and won child

labor laws, the minimum wage, the Clean Water Act and more. African-Americans and

women wouldn't even have the right to vote if it weren't for people taking action.

Those victories weren't just the results of elections. They came from the work of activists

20 to change social conditions. Where voting changes the players on the battlefield, social

movements alter the very terrain on which the battle is being fought.

"Movement work is the thing that enables any of the legal and policy change to be successful,"

Chase Strangio, a lawyer who won the recent Supreme Court ruling protecting L.G.B.T.

rights, explained in an interview with GQ. He noted that Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote

25 the majority opinion, had initially worried that protecting transgender people might result in

social upheaval. But less than a year later, his mind had been changed.

"On some level, I have to believe that in eight months, he learned something from watching

what was going on in the world," he said. "And that is a testament not to our briefs and not

to the legal movement, but to the organizing movement."

30 A common misconception about movements – like the mythic story that Rosa Parks's refusal

to move to the back of the bus spontaneously sparked the civil rights movement – is that

they "just happen."

Yes, George Floyd's brutal murder, a flagrantly racist president and the pent-up emotions

of a pandemic motivated people to take to the streets to demand racial justice. But social

35 movements never emerge just because conditions are bad.

Bill Moyer, a movement strategist, wrote about this dynamic in his "Movement Action Plan."

He noted that the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979

became a rallying point for people concerned about the dangers of nuclear power. Yet

Michigan's Enrico Fermi plant had been closer to a full meltdown in 1966 and didn't lead to

40 soul-searching or a social crisis. The difference was that in the intervening years, organizers

had worked to seed local groups, build national networks, hone responses to the pronuclear

lobby and develop alternative policy platforms.

The current movement has done all those things, spurred largely by the 2014 protests in

Ferguson, Mo., over the killing of Michael Brown. It grew into a network of dozens of local

45 Black Lives Matter chapters across the United States and Canada. Groups like Black Youth

Project 100 and Movement for Black Lives built comprehensive policy platforms, leading

to radical, ground-shaking demands like "defund the police." As Jessica Byrd, a leader in

Movement for Black Lives, said in a recent interview with Time, "Movement made this

moment different."

50 If one isn't aware of this work, it's easy to assume that after this phase of street protests ends,

the movement will be gone and it will be time to turn to the "real" work of voting to fulfill

our civic duty.

But people who understand movements know that voting is not the end – it's one part of the

process. Movements amplify complex questions that otherwise get simplified to sound bites

55 in elections. Questions like: Does society really need armed police answering mental health

crises? Can the police be reformed while still armed with military-grade weapons? What are

practical alternatives to police systems? By changing people's views, movements apply

pressure to decision makers.

Contrary to popular belief, movements shouldn't be measured by whether the preferred

60 candidates get into office, nor are they undermined by short-term failures to cobble together

national legislation.

A better yardstick for a movement is the public's perception of the problem, a growing

certainty that current policies don't work – and ultimately people's commitment to

embracing alternatives.

65 After all, the 1960s student sit-ins against segregation did not immediately result in legislative

wins. Even after the peak event of the March on Washington, it took another year for the

1964 Civil Rights Act to become law.

It's tempting to think that reform will rain down if we elect the right leaders. Yet most of us

know through experience that voting is no magic bullet. Regardless of who wins the election

70 in November, anyone seeking justice knows there's an enormous amount of work ahead of

us. Movements provide an avenue to do that work.

So yes, I'll vote – and help turn out the vote. But I'll never believe the lie that that's the best or

only thing I can do to change this country.

Annotations:

16 · Jim Crow – here: laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern states from the 1870s to the 1950s

23 – 24 · L.G.B.T. rights – rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

24 · GQ – a US magazine focusing on men's fashion and style

24 – 25 · (to) write the majority opinion – (to) write down the judicial opinion agreed to by the majority of the members of the Supreme Court

30 · Rosa Parks – a black activist in the Civil Rights Movement who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger

33 · a flagrantly racist president – reference to Donald Trump, US president at the time of publication

48 · Time – US quality news magazine and website

66 · March on Washington – political demonstration in Washington, D.C., in 1963 by the civil rights movement to protest against racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress

67 · Civil Rights Act – legislation outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin

69 – 70 · the election in November – reference to the 2020 US presidential election

Klausurteil A: Leseverstehen und Schreiben integriert

1. Outline the author's statements on the typical features of social movements and on how effective they are. (Comprehension) [12 Punkte]

Klausurteil A

Daniel Hunter

Don't Believe the Lie That Voting Is All You Can Do

Stop minimizing the work of movements.

The Black Lives Matter movement has had significant wins in recent months. Municipalities

have removed statues of racists, corporations have changed branding that reinforced racial

stereotypes, schools have cut ties with police forces and cities have reduced police funding.

But too often, politicians, celebrities and community leaders who applaud the protesters for

5 these victories are quick to follow up by asserting, like Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of

Atlanta, that voting "would be the most effective response, the deepest payback" for George

Floyd's death – or that there is "no greater form of protest" than voting, as Lisa Deeley,

chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, put it.

I've led movements for most of my adult life and have heard similar misguided refrains far

10 too many times. The truth is voting is an honorable act that many movements use as a tactic.

But the popular message that it's the only real source of power misleads the public about

how social change happens and stifles the energy required to bring about the change we need.

Instead of suggesting that participation in movements is inferior to voting, people with

influence should educate themselves and the public about the often hidden role of social

15 movements in achieving change in this country.

Movements led to the abolition of slavery, brought Jim Crow to its knees and won child

labor laws, the minimum wage, the Clean Water Act and more. African-Americans and

women wouldn't even have the right to vote if it weren't for people taking action.

Those victories weren't just the results of elections. They came from the work of activists

20 to change social conditions. Where voting changes the players on the battlefield, social

movements alter the very terrain on which the battle is being fought.

"Movement work is the thing that enables any of the legal and policy change to be successful,"

Chase Strangio, a lawyer who won the recent Supreme Court ruling protecting L.G.B.T.

rights, explained in an interview with GQ. He noted that Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote

25 the majority opinion, had initially worried that protecting transgender people might result in

social upheaval. But less than a year later, his mind had been changed.

"On some level, I have to believe that in eight months, he learned something from watching

what was going on in the world," he said. "And that is a testament not to our briefs and not

to the legal movement, but to the organizing movement."

30 A common misconception about movements – like the mythic story that Rosa Parks's refusal

to move to the back of the bus spontaneously sparked the civil rights movement – is that

they "just happen."

Yes, George Floyd's brutal murder, a flagrantly racist president and the pent-up emotions

of a pandemic motivated people to take to the streets to demand racial justice. But social

35 movements never emerge just because conditions are bad.

Bill Moyer, a movement strategist, wrote about this dynamic in his "Movement Action Plan."

He noted that the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979

became a rallying point for people concerned about the dangers of nuclear power. Yet

Michigan's Enrico Fermi plant had been closer to a full meltdown in 1966 and didn't lead to

40 soul-searching or a social crisis. The difference was that in the intervening years, organizers

had worked to seed local groups, build national networks, hone responses to the pronuclear

lobby and develop alternative policy platforms.

The current movement has done all those things, spurred largely by the 2014 protests in

Ferguson, Mo., over the killing of Michael Brown. It grew into a network of dozens of local

45 Black Lives Matter chapters across the United States and Canada. Groups like Black Youth

Project 100 and Movement for Black Lives built comprehensive policy platforms, leading

to radical, ground-shaking demands like "defund the police." As Jessica Byrd, a leader in

Movement for Black Lives, said in a recent interview with Time, "Movement made this

moment different."

50 If one isn't aware of this work, it's easy to assume that after this phase of street protests ends,

the movement will be gone and it will be time to turn to the "real" work of voting to fulfill

our civic duty.

But people who understand movements know that voting is not the end – it's one part of the

process. Movements amplify complex questions that otherwise get simplified to sound bites

55 in elections. Questions like: Does society really need armed police answering mental health

crises? Can the police be reformed while still armed with military-grade weapons? What are

practical alternatives to police systems? By changing people's views, movements apply

pressure to decision makers.

Contrary to popular belief, movements shouldn't be measured by whether the preferred

60 candidates get into office, nor are they undermined by short-term failures to cobble together

national legislation.

A better yardstick for a movement is the public's perception of the problem, a growing

certainty that current policies don't work – and ultimately people's commitment to

embracing alternatives.

65 After all, the 1960s student sit-ins against segregation did not immediately result in legislative

wins. Even after the peak event of the March on Washington, it took another year for the

1964 Civil Rights Act to become law.

It's tempting to think that reform will rain down if we elect the right leaders. Yet most of us

know through experience that voting is no magic bullet. Regardless of who wins the election

70 in November, anyone seeking justice knows there's an enormous amount of work ahead of

us. Movements provide an avenue to do that work.

So yes, I'll vote – and help turn out the vote. But I'll never believe the lie that that's the best or

only thing I can do to change this country.

Annotations:

16 · Jim Crow – here: laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern states from the 1870s to the 1950s

23 – 24 · L.G.B.T. rights – rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

24 · GQ – a US magazine focusing on men's fashion and style

24 – 25 · (to) write the majority opinion – (to) write down the judicial opinion agreed to by the majority of the members of the Supreme Court

30 · Rosa Parks – a black activist in the Civil Rights Movement who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger

33 · a flagrantly racist president – reference to Donald Trump, US president at the time of publication

48 · Time – US quality news magazine and website

66 · March on Washington – political demonstration in Washington, D.C., in 1963 by the civil rights movement to protest against racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress

67 · Civil Rights Act – legislation outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin

69 – 70 · the election in November – reference to the 2020 US presidential election

Klausurteil A: Leseverstehen und Schreiben integriert

2. Analyze the way in which the author's view of social movements is expressed. Concentrate on the communicative strategies and the language used in the article, and on the role of the accompanying photo. (Analysis) [16 Punkte]

Klausurteil A

Daniel Hunter

Don't Believe the Lie That Voting Is All You Can Do

Stop minimizing the work of movements.

The Black Lives Matter movement has had significant wins in recent months. Municipalities

have removed statues of racists, corporations have changed branding that reinforced racial

stereotypes, schools have cut ties with police forces and cities have reduced police funding.

But too often, politicians, celebrities and community leaders who applaud the protesters for

5 these victories are quick to follow up by asserting, like Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of

Atlanta, that voting "would be the most effective response, the deepest payback" for George

Floyd's death – or that there is "no greater form of protest" than voting, as Lisa Deeley,

chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, put it.

I've led movements for most of my adult life and have heard similar misguided refrains far

10 too many times. The truth is voting is an honorable act that many movements use as a tactic.

But the popular message that it's the only real source of power misleads the public about

how social change happens and stifles the energy required to bring about the change we need.

Instead of suggesting that participation in movements is inferior to voting, people with

influence should educate themselves and the public about the often hidden role of social

15 movements in achieving change in this country.

Movements led to the abolition of slavery, brought Jim Crow to its knees and won child

labor laws, the minimum wage, the Clean Water Act and more. African-Americans and

women wouldn't even have the right to vote if it weren't for people taking action.

Those victories weren't just the results of elections. They came from the work of activists

20 to change social conditions. Where voting changes the players on the battlefield, social

movements alter the very terrain on which the battle is being fought.

"Movement work is the thing that enables any of the legal and policy change to be successful,"

Chase Strangio, a lawyer who won the recent Supreme Court ruling protecting L.G.B.T.

rights, explained in an interview with GQ. He noted that Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote

25 the majority opinion, had initially worried that protecting transgender people might result in

social upheaval. But less than a year later, his mind had been changed.

"On some level, I have to believe that in eight months, he learned something from watching

what was going on in the world," he said. "And that is a testament not to our briefs and not

to the legal movement, but to the organizing movement."

30 A common misconception about movements – like the mythic story that Rosa Parks's refusal

to move to the back of the bus spontaneously sparked the civil rights movement – is that

they "just happen."

Yes, George Floyd's brutal murder, a flagrantly racist president and the pent-up emotions

of a pandemic motivated people to take to the streets to demand racial justice. But social

35 movements never emerge just because conditions are bad.

Bill Moyer, a movement strategist, wrote about this dynamic in his "Movement Action Plan."

He noted that the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979

became a rallying point for people concerned about the dangers of nuclear power. Yet

Michigan's Enrico Fermi plant had been closer to a full meltdown in 1966 and didn't lead to

40 soul-searching or a social crisis. The difference was that in the intervening years, organizers

had worked to seed local groups, build national networks, hone responses to the pronuclear

lobby and develop alternative policy platforms.

The current movement has done all those things, spurred largely by the 2014 protests in

Ferguson, Mo., over the killing of Michael Brown. It grew into a network of dozens of local

45 Black Lives Matter chapters across the United States and Canada. Groups like Black Youth

Project 100 and Movement for Black Lives built comprehensive policy platforms, leading

to radical, ground-shaking demands like "defund the police." As Jessica Byrd, a leader in

Movement for Black Lives, said in a recent interview with Time, "Movement made this

moment different."

50 If one isn't aware of this work, it's easy to assume that after this phase of street protests ends,

the movement will be gone and it will be time to turn to the "real" work of voting to fulfill

our civic duty.

But people who understand movements know that voting is not the end – it's one part of the

process. Movements amplify complex questions that otherwise get simplified to sound bites

55 in elections. Questions like: Does society really need armed police answering mental health

crises? Can the police be reformed while still armed with military-grade weapons? What are

practical alternatives to police systems? By changing people's views, movements apply

pressure to decision makers.

Contrary to popular belief, movements shouldn't be measured by whether the preferred

60 candidates get into office, nor are they undermined by short-term failures to cobble together

national legislation.

A better yardstick for a movement is the public's perception of the problem, a growing

certainty that current policies don't work – and ultimately people's commitment to

embracing alternatives.

65 After all, the 1960s student sit-ins against segregation did not immediately result in legislative

wins. Even after the peak event of the March on Washington, it took another year for the

1964 Civil Rights Act to become law.

It's tempting to think that reform will rain down if we elect the right leaders. Yet most of us

know through experience that voting is no magic bullet. Regardless of who wins the election

70 in November, anyone seeking justice knows there's an enormous amount of work ahead of

us. Movements provide an avenue to do that work.

So yes, I'll vote – and help turn out the vote. But I'll never believe the lie that that's the best or

only thing I can do to change this country.

Annotations:

16 · Jim Crow – here: laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern states from the 1870s to the 1950s

23 – 24 · L.G.B.T. rights – rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

24 · GQ – a US magazine focusing on men's fashion and style

24 – 25 · (to) write the majority opinion – (to) write down the judicial opinion agreed to by the majority of the members of the Supreme Court

30 · Rosa Parks – a black activist in the Civil Rights Movement who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger

33 · a flagrantly racist president – reference to Donald Trump, US president at the time of publication

48 · Time – US quality news magazine and website

66 · March on Washington – political demonstration in Washington, D.C., in 1963 by the civil rights movement to protest against racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress

67 · Civil Rights Act – legislation outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin

69 – 70 · the election in November – reference to the 2020 US presidential election

Klausurteil A: Leseverstehen und Schreiben integriert

3.1 Taking the article as your point of departure, assess to what extent young people are able to play a part in social change. (Evaluation: comment) [14 Punkte]

3.2

“In Australia, and some other countries, there’s mandatory voting. It would be transformative if everybody voted.” 1 (former US President Barack Obama in 2015)

You are attending a session of the European Youth Parliament, an organisation that gives young people a platform to voice their views on urgent issues.

Write a speech in which you comment on the concept of compulsory voting. (Evaluation: re-creation of text) [14 Punkte]

1 https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/03/19/obama-broaches-mandatory-voting/25010443/

Klausurteil A

Daniel Hunter

Don't Believe the Lie That Voting Is All You Can Do

Stop minimizing the work of movements.

The Black Lives Matter movement has had significant wins in recent months. Municipalities

have removed statues of racists, corporations have changed branding that reinforced racial

stereotypes, schools have cut ties with police forces and cities have reduced police funding.

But too often, politicians, celebrities and community leaders who applaud the protesters for

5 these victories are quick to follow up by asserting, like Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of

Atlanta, that voting "would be the most effective response, the deepest payback" for George

Floyd's death – or that there is "no greater form of protest" than voting, as Lisa Deeley,

chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, put it.

I've led movements for most of my adult life and have heard similar misguided refrains far

10 too many times. The truth is voting is an honorable act that many movements use as a tactic.

But the popular message that it's the only real source of power misleads the public about

how social change happens and stifles the energy required to bring about the change we need.

Instead of suggesting that participation in movements is inferior to voting, people with

influence should educate themselves and the public about the often hidden role of social

15 movements in achieving change in this country.

Movements led to the abolition of slavery, brought Jim Crow to its knees and won child

labor laws, the minimum wage, the Clean Water Act and more. African-Americans and

women wouldn't even have the right to vote if it weren't for people taking action.

Those victories weren't just the results of elections. They came from the work of activists

20 to change social conditions. Where voting changes the players on the battlefield, social

movements alter the very terrain on which the battle is being fought.

"Movement work is the thing that enables any of the legal and policy change to be successful,"

Chase Strangio, a lawyer who won the recent Supreme Court ruling protecting L.G.B.T.

rights, explained in an interview with GQ. He noted that Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote

25 the majority opinion, had initially worried that protecting transgender people might result in

social upheaval. But less than a year later, his mind had been changed.

"On some level, I have to believe that in eight months, he learned something from watching

what was going on in the world," he said. "And that is a testament not to our briefs and not

to the legal movement, but to the organizing movement."

30 A common misconception about movements – like the mythic story that Rosa Parks's refusal

to move to the back of the bus spontaneously sparked the civil rights movement – is that

they "just happen."

Yes, George Floyd's brutal murder, a flagrantly racist president and the pent-up emotions

of a pandemic motivated people to take to the streets to demand racial justice. But social

35 movements never emerge just because conditions are bad.

Bill Moyer, a movement strategist, wrote about this dynamic in his "Movement Action Plan."

He noted that the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979

became a rallying point for people concerned about the dangers of nuclear power. Yet

Michigan's Enrico Fermi plant had been closer to a full meltdown in 1966 and didn't lead to

40 soul-searching or a social crisis. The difference was that in the intervening years, organizers

had worked to seed local groups, build national networks, hone responses to the pronuclear

lobby and develop alternative policy platforms.

The current movement has done all those things, spurred largely by the 2014 protests in

Ferguson, Mo., over the killing of Michael Brown. It grew into a network of dozens of local

45 Black Lives Matter chapters across the United States and Canada. Groups like Black Youth

Project 100 and Movement for Black Lives built comprehensive policy platforms, leading

to radical, ground-shaking demands like "defund the police." As Jessica Byrd, a leader in

Movement for Black Lives, said in a recent interview with Time, "Movement made this

moment different."

50 If one isn't aware of this work, it's easy to assume that after this phase of street protests ends,

the movement will be gone and it will be time to turn to the "real" work of voting to fulfill

our civic duty.

But people who understand movements know that voting is not the end – it's one part of the

process. Movements amplify complex questions that otherwise get simplified to sound bites

55 in elections. Questions like: Does society really need armed police answering mental health

crises? Can the police be reformed while still armed with military-grade weapons? What are

practical alternatives to police systems? By changing people's views, movements apply

pressure to decision makers.

Contrary to popular belief, movements shouldn't be measured by whether the preferred

60 candidates get into office, nor are they undermined by short-term failures to cobble together

national legislation.

A better yardstick for a movement is the public's perception of the problem, a growing

certainty that current policies don't work – and ultimately people's commitment to

embracing alternatives.

65 After all, the 1960s student sit-ins against segregation did not immediately result in legislative

wins. Even after the peak event of the March on Washington, it took another year for the

1964 Civil Rights Act to become law.

It's tempting to think that reform will rain down if we elect the right leaders. Yet most of us

know through experience that voting is no magic bullet. Regardless of who wins the election

70 in November, anyone seeking justice knows there's an enormous amount of work ahead of

us. Movements provide an avenue to do that work.

So yes, I'll vote – and help turn out the vote. But I'll never believe the lie that that's the best or

only thing I can do to change this country.

Annotations:

16 · Jim Crow – here: laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern states from the 1870s to the 1950s

23 – 24 · L.G.B.T. rights – rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

24 · GQ – a US magazine focusing on men's fashion and style

24 – 25 · (to) write the majority opinion – (to) write down the judicial opinion agreed to by the majority of the members of the Supreme Court

30 · Rosa Parks – a black activist in the Civil Rights Movement who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger

33 · a flagrantly racist president – reference to Donald Trump, US president at the time of publication

48 · Time – US quality news magazine and website

66 · March on Washington – political demonstration in Washington, D.C., in 1963 by the civil rights movement to protest against racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress

67 · Civil Rights Act – legislation outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin

69 – 70 · the election in November – reference to the 2020 US presidential election

Klausurteil B: Sprachmittlung isoliert

4. Your school's student council is participating in an international online workshop called Shaping the Future – Initiatives for Strengthening Democracy, where each participant is expected to present an example from their own country.

Using the interview provided, write an article for the workshop's website in which you outline how citizen councils in Germany work and which challenges they involve. (Mediation) (18 Punkte)

Dieter Kassel: Bürgerräte können ein Wirgefühl vermitteln

Im folgenden Interview spricht der Journalist Dieter Kassel mit dem Theologen und Bürgerrechtler Ralf-Uwe Beck vom Verein „Mehr Demokratie“ über Bürgerräte in Deutschland.

Dieter Kassel: Auf kommunaler und auch auf Landesebene gibt es Bürgerräte nun schon eine ganze Weile. Haben diese Bürgerräte das demokratische Wirgefühl schon verstärkt?

Ralf-Uwe Beck: Ja. Die Bürgerräte können ein Wirgefühl vermitteln. Es wird dort ja eine repräsentative Gesellschaft zusammengewürfelt. Wir haben einen bundesweiten Bürgerrat im Herbst 2019 organisiert. Es werden erst Kommunen ausgewählt, ausgelost, und dann in den Kommunen Bürgerinnen und Bürger. Und es wird so lange gewürfelt, bis die Zusammenkunft repräsentativ ist – also das Geschlechterverhältnis dem in der Gesellschaft entspricht, den Altersgruppen, den Bildungsabschlüssen bis hin zum Migrationshintergrund.

Tatsächlich ist der Tisch, an dem die Menschen dann Platz nehmen, wirklich rund, weil jede Person mit ihrer Meinung, ihren Bedenken und ihren Ideen dasselbe Gewicht hat. Normalerweise begegnen sich Menschen, die ins Gespräch gehen, oft mit einer Fixierung auf ihre Rollen und Funktionen: Die Politik kommt und hat den Auftrag von der Partei, weil sie da zu vermitteln hat; die Verwaltung hat eine Aufgabe; NGOs vermitteln das, was als Zweck in ihrer Satzung steht.

Aber bei den Bürgerräten betritt wirklich jede und jeder den Raum als Bürgerin und Bürger, und das auch ruhig im wirklichen Sinne – nämlich bereit zu bürgen, Verantwortung zu übernehmen für die Gemeinschaft. Das, was dort alle verbindet, ist, dass sie gemeinsam an einem Strang ziehen und versuchen, eine Frage zu lösen. Da geht es darum, was man der Politik empfiehlt, das wird dann dort abgestimmt und das Ergebnis ist ein gemeinsames, das hat keine politische Farbe. Und das hat eine Stärke und auch Überzeugungskraft.

Kassel: Gibt es nicht trotzdem das Problem, dass man Menschen, die sich schon völlig von der Politik und von demokratischen Prozessen abgewendet haben, mit so etwas nicht erreicht?

Beck: Da muss man sich ein wenig mühen. Für den Bürgerrat, der derzeit vorbereitet wird und der Mitte Januar mit dem Thema „Deutschlands Rolle in der Welt“ startet – da wird es vorrangig um Außenpolitik gehen – suchen wir die Menschen auf. Wir gehen zu denen, die ausgewählt sind, nach Hause und reden mit ihnen. Der Anspruch ist tatsächlich, wirklich alle Bildungsabschlüsse und alle Schichten am Tisch zu haben – was sonst eben nicht gelingt. Die Krux aller Beteiligungen ist, dass es immer Menschen gibt, die auf dem Sofa sitzen bleiben. Das soll bei den Bürgerräten vermieden werden.

Kassel: Ein anderes Problem ist, dass das, was am Ende dabei herauskommt, egal ob auf kommunaler, Länder- oder auch auf Bundesebene, immer nur eine Empfehlung für die Politik ist. Sie setzt es um oder auch nicht. Ist das nicht noch frustrierender, wenn man etwas unternimmt und dann sieht man, es hat keine Folgen?

Beck: Mit den Empfehlungen verbindet sich eine große Chance, weil sie Überzeugungskraft haben können. Aber es gibt auch ein Risiko, wie Sie angedeutet haben: Der Frustberg kann noch vergrößert werden. Das ist das Problem aller Bürgerbeteiligungen. Die Bürgerbeteiligung ist immer nur Ratschlag für die Politik, und es bleibt im Belieben derer, die wir gewählt haben, wie sie damit umgehen. Wir können uns zwar Gehör verschaffen, aber wir haben kein Recht darauf, auch gehört zu werden.

Deshalb braucht es unter jeder Bürgerbeteiligung ein Netz und einen doppelten Boden. Das ist aus unserer Sicht die direkte Demokratie, also die Möglichkeit, dass die Menschen notfalls, wenn sie wieder untergebuttert werden, wenn ihre Vorschläge wieder in den Schubladen verschwinden, die Möglichkeit haben, auf kommunaler Ebene Bürgerbegehren zu starten, auf Landesebene Volksbegehren. Das geht auch, das haben wir in allen 16 Bundesländern, da ist das gelebte Praxis.

Auf Bundesebene fehlt das. Das ist die aus unserer Sicht größte Baustelle in Deutschland, dass man das, was in 16 Bundesländern zum Demokratieprinzip gehört, auf Bundesebene verweigert. Wenn wir heute Bürgerräte bilden und die Politik einräumt, dass das ein interessantes Instrument ist, weil man die Menschen damit vom Sofa holen kann, dann braucht es auf der anderen Seite auch den Ausbau der direkten Demokratie.

Anmerkung:

Die Sprachrichtigkeit betreffende Fehler wurden korrigiert.

Krux – besondere Schwierigkeit einer Sache, Sorge