Berlin · september 7-8 · 2018:
INFILTRATION: Challenging Supremacism
Misinformation Ecosystems Series - Part II - 2018
A journey inside right wing extremism and supremacist ideology to provoke direct change
The 14th conference of the Disruption Network Lab
Location: Studio 1, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin.
Partner Event at SPEKTRUM, Bürknerstr. 12, 12047, Berlin.
Curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli.
Funded by: Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa (Senate Department for Culture and Europa, Berlin), Reva & David Logan Foundation, Checkpoint Charlie Foundation. In partnership with: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
In cooperation with: Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, SPEKTRUM. In collaboration with: Mobile Counselling Team against Right-wing Extremism – Mobile Beratung gegen Rechtsextremismus in Berlin/MBR, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Hostwriter.
Media Partners: taz.die tageszeitung, ExBerliner, Furtherfield.
In English language.
2-Day Ticket: 12€
1-Day Ticket: 7€
[Entrance for Partner Event at Spektrum at the venue: 5€]
Friday September 7 · 2018
16:30 - Doors open
17:00-18:30 – KEYNOTE
KLAN-DESTINE RELATIONSHIPS: How & Why A Black Man Befriended White Supremacists
Daryl Davis (R&B and Blues Musician, Author, Actor, USA)
Moderated by Anna Müller (Mobile Counselling Team against Right-wing Extremism /MBR – Mobile Beratung gegen Rechtsextremismus in Berlin, DE)
18:30 - Break
19:00 - 21:00 – PANEL
ACROSS & WITHIN RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM: Investigations and Interference
Mattias Gardell (Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, SE)
Richard Gebhardt (Political Scientist and Journalist, DE)
Janez Janša, Janez Janša & Janez Janša (Artists, Ljubljana, SI)
Moderated by Christina Lee (Head of Ambassador Program, Hostwriter, USA/DE)
Saturday September 8 · 2018
16:00 - DOORS OPEN
16:30 - 18:00 – PERFORMANCE LECTURE
TRANSGRESSIONS THEN AND NOW: Does The ‘Alt-Right’ Reenact Counter-Culture?
Florian Cramer (Reader in 21st Century Visual Culture at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam, NL)
Stewart Home (Artist, Filmmaker, Writer, and Activist, UK)
Q&A with Tatiana Bazzichelli (Artistic Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE)
18:00 - 18:30 BREAK
18:30 - 20:30 – PANEL
INFILTRATION: Mapping The International Far Right
Julia Ebner (Terrorism and Extremism Researcher and Author, AT/UK)
Patrik Hermansson (Anti-racist Activist, “Hope Not Hate" Researcher, SE/UK)
Christopher Schiano (Journalist at Unicorn Riot, Decentralized, Non-profit Media Organization of Artists and Journalists, USA) & Heartsucker (SecureDrop Maintainer, DiscordLeaks Developer, USA/DE)
Moderated by Rebecca Pates (Political Anthropologist, University of Leipzig, DE)
Sunday September 9 · 2018 · at SPEKTRUM
19:30 - 22:00 – FILM SCREENING & open bar until late
ACCIDENTAL COURTESY: Daryl Davis, Race & America
USA, 2016, Biography/Historical Documentary, 1h 36m.
with Daryl Davis (R&B and Blues Musician, Author, Actor, USA).
Director: Matthew Ornstein. Cast: Daryl Davis. Producers: Matthew Ornstein, Noah Ornstein.
Intro piano performance and following Q&A with Daryl Davis (R&B and Blues Musician, Author, Actor, USA)
Location: Spektrum, Bürknerstr. 12, 12047, Berlin
INFILTRATION: Challenging Supremacism
Misinformation Ecosystems Series - Part II - 2018
A journey inside right wing extremism and supremacist ideology to provoke direct change.
INFILTRATION: Challenging Supremacism focuses on the practice of political, investigative and activist infiltration as a form of better understanding aims, lifestyles and methods of right-wing extremist groups. What is the drive for young generations to join extremist groups? How can we analyse their dynamics from inside? What are the reasons of fascination of right-wing propaganda and supremacist outrage?
Since 2015, the Disruption Network Lab has been investigating issues and phenomena from the "inside", shedding light on interventions that provoke political and social change from within closed systems. With the concept of INFILTRATION we don't mean to sympathise with or to openly confront right-wing extremist groups, but we encourage the act of understanding their aims from within, by adopting the approach of “participatory observation”.
In the 1960s German journalist Günter Wallraff went undercover to get insight into power structures and abuses, assuming identities such as a homeless person, an alcoholic and a worker in a chemical factory. His name has even become a verb in Swedish, meaning “to expose misconduct from the inside by assuming a role”. Adopting a Günter Wallraff approach, this conference aims to present strategies and practices of individuals and groups that take high risk to better understand the far right, alt-right, extremist and supremacist ecosystems - by approaching them directly to learn their inner dynamics, or even "interfere" with them.
So far, at the Disruption Network Lab, we have been offering contexts of discussion to whistleblowers, human right advocates, artists, hackers, journalists, lawyers and activists to present their experience, and their actions. With this conference, we advocate for a critical reflection on the subjects of populism, nationalism, right-wing extremism, and alt-right, to analyse the effects of such phenomena in art, media, politics and society.
The conference aims to generate knowledge of the increasing presence of movements that want to oppose immigration, multiculturalism and political correctness, as well as to generate supremacist ideology. Among our speakers, Daryl Davis (Musician & Author, USA) will tell his story as a black American befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan since the 1980s. He is directly or indirectly responsible for over 200 people having left the Klan - he recounted his experiences in his 1998 book, Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan. In 2016, a film about his story came out: Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America.
In our conference programme at Kunstquartier Bethanien, our speakers will share their experiences as observers, researchers, and infiltrators, proposing a constructive critical approach, which is based on the motivation of understanding our ideological “opponents”, as well as transforming mere opposition into a concrete path for inspirational change.
The host organisation reserve theIR right to exercise property rights and exclude persons from the event who are members of parties or organisations of the extreme right, who are attached to right-wing extremist scenes or have in the past made racist, nationalist, anti-Semitic, or further inhumane statements.
conference events
Friday September 7 · 2018
17:00-18:30 – KEYNOTE
KLAN-DESTINE RELATIONSHIPS: How & Why A Black Man Befriended White Supremacists
Daryl Davis (R&B and Blues Musician, Author, Actor, USA)
Moderated by Anna Müller (Mobile Counselling Team against Right-wing Extremism /MBR – Mobile Beratung gegen Rechtsextremismus in Berlin, DE)
African-American R&B and Blues musician Daryl Davis met a member of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in a bar in 1983. Since then, in his efforts to improve race relations, he has engaged with and befriended members of the KKK – including the Grand Dragon of the KKK in Maryland, Roger Kelly. He has interviewed more than twenty members of the KKK, writing a book (Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan, 1998) and becoming the protagonist of a film about his story (Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America, 2016). Following the question: “Why do you hate me when you know nothing about me?", his investigation dealt with misconceptions about black people, which he proved came mostly from intense brainwashing of KKK members during their youth. Davis claims to be responsible for helping to dismantle the KKK in Maryland because things "fell apart" after he began making inroads with its members there. In the context of increased supremacist ideologies and right wing extremism, the Disruption Network Lab invites Davis to speak about racism and his interactions with persons holding racist beliefs.
19:00 - 21:00 – PANEL
ACROSS & WITHIN RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM: Investigations and Interference
Mattias Gardell (Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, SE)
Richard Gebhardt (Political Scientist and Journalist, DE)
Janez Janša, Janez Janša & Janez Janša (Artists, Ljubljana, SI)
Moderated by Christina Lee (Head of Ambassador Program, Hostwriter, USA/DE)
This panel brings three different experiences of participatory observation and direct engagement across right-wing, extremist, and populist groups. Mattias Gardell, Swedish scholar of comparative religion, will share his studies of religious extremism and religious racism in the United States, addressing groups such as the Nation of Islam, Ku Klux Klan, and folkish movements in Neopaganism (Odinism). Richard Gebhardt will present a deep insight into Hooliganism based on his research during the last four years in Germany and England, where the Football Lad’s Alliance established itself as an important group, focusing on the question why this kind of subculture has become a political movement, in connection with the development and foundation of Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West), and the increasing popularity of the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland), the third biggest party after the 2017 German federal election. Artists Janez Janša, Janez Janša & Janez Janša will present their most recent intervention, running for office in Slovenia at the last 2018 elections, confronting the leader of the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), and former Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša in his home town. Interconnecting three methodologies of provoking critical reflection within right-wing political groups, the panel aims to reflect on possible strategies of cultural and political change that go beyond mere opposition.
Saturday September 8 · 2018
16:30 - 18:00 – PERFORMANCE LECTURE
TRANSGRESSIONS THEN AND NOW: Does The ‘Alt-Right’ Reenact Counter-Culture?
Florian Cramer (Reader in 21st Century Visual Culture at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam, NL)
Stewart Home (Artist, Filmmaker, Writer, and Activist, UK)
Q&A with Tatiana Bazzichelli (Artistic Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE)
Does the "Alt-Right" movement reenact avant-garde and underground cultural transgressions? And, if this is true, does it invalidate the latter? Florian Cramer and Stewart Home will revisit 1970s-1990s counter-cultural currents that used radical performance, viral communication and media hoaxes and examine the degree to which they may be seen as playbooks for the info warfare of the contemporary extreme right.
What are, for example, the historical links between the Luther Blissett Project of the 1990s, the Anonymous movement of the early 2000s and 4chan's "Alt-Right" of today? When did the pseudo-fascist camp in post-punk culture turn into actual fascism? To which degree did counter-culture, since the 1960s, involve extreme right wing actors? Were there overlooked fascist undertones in the various libertarian ideologies that flourished in the underground?
18:30 - 20:30 – PANEL
INFILTRATION: Mapping The International Far Right
Julia Ebner (Terrorism and Extremism Researcher and Author, AT/UK)
Patrik Hermansson (Anti-racist Activist, “Hope Not Hate" Researcher, SE/UK)
Christopher Schiano (Journalist at Unicorn Riot, Decentralized, Non-profit Media Organization of Artists and Journalists, USA) & Heartsucker (SecureDrop Maintainer, DiscordLeaks Developer, USA/DE)
Moderated by Rebecca Pates (Political Anthropologist, University of Leipzig, DE)
This panel reflects on the practice of political, journalistic and activist infiltration as a way of better understanding cultures, lifestyles and methods of extremist groups. This approach has a double effect: from one side it maps extremist groups from the inside, from the other, it analyses how extremist groups are building their networks, becoming widespread in online and offline. The aim is to explore such groups from within, analysing the reason for people to join them, as well as understanding their inner dynamics. Julia Ebner and Patrik Hermansson will describe their experience as infiltrators in the Alt-Right and far-right movements between the UK and US: Julia Ebner will introduce her undercover research of the UK branch of Generation Identity (described in part on her book The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism, and in a forthcoming 2019 publication); Patrik Hermansson will reflect on the meaning of radical right-wing practices today bringing his direct story as undercover activist for Hope Not Hate inside the international Alt-Right, culminating in the clashes in Charlottesville and published in The International Alternative Right Report. Finally, investigative journalist Christopher Schiano, active in Unicorn Riot, will present his work of analysing and publishing of leaked messages from white supremacist, neo-nazi and various Alt-Right fascist groups in the US - followed by an introduction of the DiscordLeaks platform by Heartsucker. Political anthropologist Rebecca Pates, expert of right wing extremism in Germany, will introduce the panel.
Sunday September 9 · 2018 · at SPEKTRUM
19:30 - 22:00 – FILM SCREENING & open bar until late
ACCIDENTAL COURTESY: DARYL DAVIS, RACE & AMERICA
Spektrum, Bürknerstr. 12, 12047, Berlin
USA, 2016, Biography/Historical Documentary, 1h 36m.
with Daryl Davis (R&B and Blues Musician, Author, Actor, USA).
Director: Matthew Ornstein. Cast: Daryl Davis. Producers: Matthew Ornstein, Noah Ornstein.
Intro piano performance and following Q&A with Daryl Davis (R&B and Blues Musician, Author, Actor, USA)
Musician Daryl Davis has played all over the world with legends like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, but it’s what Daryl did in his free time that set him apart. Daryl met and befriended members of the Ku Klux Klan - something few black men can say. In the independent documentary Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America, Daryl’s journey took him to across the country, from DC to California, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Alabama, from old friends who have left the Klan, to friends still active in the organisation, including a current Imperial Wizard of the KKK. In an age of digital disconnection, Daryl’s method is rooted in personal interaction and the audience as viewers reap the rewards.
Speakers
Daryl Davis (R&B and Blues Musician, Author, Actor, USA)
Daryl Davis is and American R&B and Blues musician, author, actor and bandleader known for his energetic style of Boogie-woogie piano. Davis is also known for his efforts to race relations: as an African-American, he engaged with members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) since the 1980s. Over the past two decades, Daryl befriended members of the Ku Klux Klan by setting up surprise meetings with Klan leaders who were unaware of his skin color and attended several Klan rallies. When many of these people eventually left the Klan with Daryl's support, Daryl kept their robes and hoods, building his collection piece by piece, story by story, person by person, in hopes of one day opening a museum of the Klan. He wrote a book: Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan, 1998, and later he was the main subject of the documentary film Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America, 2016.
Anna Müller (Mobile Counselling Team against Right-wing Extremism /MBR – Mobile Beratung gegen Rechtsextremismus in Berlin, DE)
Born in 1988, Anna Müller grew up and still lives in Berlin. She studied law at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). Her focus of studies lies on raising awareness on racism, right-wing populism and right-wing extremism. She is working at the Mobile Counseling Team against Right-wing Extremism (MBR – Mobile Beratung gegen Rechtsextremismus) in Berlin. Starting in 2001, MBR has been offering counsel and support to anyone in Berlin willing or needing to become active against right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism. The MBR is one of the key projects set up by the Landesprogramm gegen Rechtsextremismus (State Programme against Right-Wing Extremism).
Mattias Gardell (Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, SE)
Mattias Gardell is Professor in Comparative Religions, and Director of Research at CEMFOR, Uppsala University. His research focuses the intersections of religion, politics, and racism in various empirical fields, including African American religious nationalism, white religious racism, occult fascism, political Islam, human bombs, torture history, islamophobia, and white racist serial killers. His extensive publications include nine research monographs and more than a hundred essays.
Richard Gebhardt (Political Scientist and Journalist, DE)
Richard Gebhardt is a political scientist, freelance journalist and civic education trainer in Cologne.
He is the author of numerous scientific contributions to books and journals, with a focus on the extremist, new and populist Right. His journalistic works have been published in ZEIT Online, Jungle World, StadtRevue and in German as well as international political periodicals. He published the book Volksgemeinschaft statt Kapitalismus? Zur sozialen Demagogie der Neonazis (PapyRossa Verlag, 2009), in which he analyses the phenomenon of successful vote catching by neo-Nazis using anti-capitalist slogans. In May 2017 he published an anthology on the return of hooligans in stadiums and on the streets (Fäuste, Fahnen, Fankulturen, Neue Kleine Bibliothek, 2017).
Janez Janša, Janez Janša & Janez Janša (Artists, Ljubljana, SI)
In 2007, three artists joined the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and officially changed their names to that of the leader of the party, Janez Janša, back then the Prime Minister of Slovenia. For over 11 years, Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša have been building a complex narrative structure on topics such as proper names, identity and individual signature, particularly focusing on the legal aspect of art practices and on the political imaginary in law. The central characteristic of their production is to generate ambivalence on multiple layers, crossing the borders of formal and media conventions. Their work takes shape through diverse formats and situations including the latest intervention, running for office in Slovenia in 2018. Since 2017, Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša are owners of the registered trade mark Janez Janša®.
Christina Lee (Head of Ambassador Program, Hostwriter, USA/DE)
Christina Lee is head of the Ambassador Network for Hostwriter.org and a freelance writer and researcher covering the politics of migration and the American and European right wing. She is co-founder of the website MigrationVoter.com, which tracks the role of migration in elections. In addition, she lectures in subjects such as International Journalism and Refugee law for college students. She holds a Juris Doctor from Catholic University Law School and an LLM from the University of Kent.
Florian Cramer (Reader in 21st Century Visual Culture at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam, NL)
Florian Cramer is reader in 21st Century Visual Culture at Willem de Kooning Academy and Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. Recent publications include the YouTube lecture "Meme Wars: Internet culture and the 'alt right' ", the zine 'The Moral of the Xerox' (in collaboration with Clara Balaguer) and the book Pattern Discrimination (in collaboration with Clemens Apprich, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Hito Steyerl, forthcoming at Minnesota University Press.
Stewart Home (Artist, Filmmaker, Writer, and Activist, UK)
Stewart Home was born and lives in London. He is the author of 15 published novels and several works of cultural commentary. His film book Re-Enter The Dragon: Genre Theory, Brucesploitation and the Sleazy Joys of Lowbrow Cinema has just been published, and his collection of poems entitled SEND CA$H was issued in May this year. He is also an artist with work bought by the UK Arts Council on show as part of In My Shoes at the Longside Gallery in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park earlier this year; his most recent solo show was Dual Flying Kicks at 5 Years Gallery in London in June 2018.
Julia Ebner (Terrorism and Extremism Researcher and Author, AT/UK)
Julia Ebner is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and author of the bestselling book The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism. She previously worked for the world's first counter-extremism organisation Quilliam. In her role at ISD, she coordinates the Online Civil Courage Initiative in cooperation with Facebook Germany, advises governments and tech firms and regularly writes for The Guardian and The Independent.
Patrik Hermansson (Anti-racist Activist, “Hope Not Hate" Researcher, SE/UK)
Patrik Hermansson is a researcher of far-right extremism at anti extremism watchdog HOPE not Hate. He looks primarily at online organizations and online hate and he recently came out of a one year infiltration of international Alternative Right and nazi groups in the US and UK. He has a Msc from London School of Economics and a bachelor in Political Science from Uppsala University in Sweden.
Christopher Schiano (Journalist at Unicorn Riot, Decentralized, Non-profit Media Organization of Artists and Journalists, USA)
Chris is an independent journalist & investigator and part of the media collective Unicorn Riot. Last
year he covered neo-nazi rallies in Pikeville, KY, Charlottesville, VA & Shelbyville, TN. Since Charlottesville, much of his work has focused on publishing & analyzing leaked internal communications from various 'alt-right' fascist groups such as the Traditionalist Worker Party, Vanguard America, Patriot Front, Anti-Communist Action, and the Daily Stormer. (see: discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja)
Heartsucker (SecureDrop Maintainer, DiscordLeaks Developer, USA/DE)
Heartsucker (he/they) is a hacker, cypherpunk, anarchist, and antifascist. In 2015, he started working on SecureDrop and is currently one of the maintainers. He also helps other activists with tech projects and infrastructure, most notably the DiscordLeaks from Unicorn Riot (discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja). Aside from tech, he is a riot medic for left wing demonstrations and paints with acryllics when he can find the time. Heartsucker currently lives in Berlin.
Rebecca Pates (Political Anthropologist, University of Leipzig, Institute of Political Science, DE)
Rebecca Pates is a Political Anthropologist at the Institute of Political Science, University of Leipzig in Germany. Her research focuses on political anthropology, theories of state and the organisation of gender. She studied at the University of Oxford (BA), Hong Kong, and McGill University (MA, PhD). The University of Leipzig conferred to Rebecca Pates the Theodor Litt teaching prize in 2004.
