Der Freiheit eine Gasse! - Mit Hamed Abboud, Yevgenia Belorusets, Alexander Estis, Laura Cwiertnia, Mara Genschel, Grit Krüger, Necati Öziri, Martin Piekar, Claudia Schumacher und Dana von Suffrin

"Why do we live in a democracy? For good reasons or out of bad habit? We owe the opponents of democracy reasons for democracy, not moral indignation." - Christoph Möllers

Election results, climate crises and wars show us that and how shifts in political power influence the way societies live together. Good reasons for democracy are less to be found in affectively charged friend-foe attributions, good reasons for democracy require rather air-permeable thinking and a stronger turn towards listening, towards the other person, combined with the ability to grasp the self as part of a community. As a fundamental concept of democracy, freedom evokes this tension between the individual and society: "There is no individual freedom without community. There is no primacy of individual freedom over collective freedom," writes Christoph Möllers. We passed this thesis on to ten young poets and writers and invited them to respond with just one sentence. The result is ten sentences from the chambers of poetry and literature that are inherently open to interpretation. And we are convinced that this is good for us - and for democracy too. The sentences leave the corner of silent reading and can be seen as large-format posters in public spaces in the cities of Stuttgart, Heilbronn, Ladenburg, Freiburg and Schwäbisch Hall.

On September 17, we will open the tour of freedom slogans at the Literaturhaus. Let's form an alley for freedom - together with 9 of the 10 authors who will be present that evening.

A project of the Literaturhaus Stuttgart in cooperation with the Literaturhaus Freiburg, the Literaturhaus Heilbronn, the Literaturbüro Ladenburg and the Kulturbüro Schwäbisch Hall.

As part of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung's Literature Summer 2024.

With the kind support of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, Helmut Nanz Stiftung, Haver & Mailänder Rechtsanwälte and the project partners ProPosition Werbeagentur, Stadtkultur Stuttgart, pickup edition Werbemedien.