Sun, summer, theory! Several parallel workshops will be offered twice a day at relaxed times; during the longer break there will be time to use in various ways: partying, lounging around, playing, sleeping and meeting lots of new people.
The camp is worthwhile firstly for people who want to discuss current political developments in depth, e.g.: War in Ukraine, feminist foreign policy, sanctions policy, right-wing government in Italy, inflation - impoverishment - financial crisis.
Second, the camp is worthwhile for those who want to get an introduction to radical left theory: e.g. critique of capitalism, freedom as a fundamental right, critique of education, humanities, natural sciences, critique of ideology, climate politics.
Third, there are a number of other topics that you might have always been interested in: e.g., classism, German nationalism in its songs, memory culture and nationalism in Germany, Bitcoin.
Fourth, some workshops will also be offered in English every time and you will have the opportunity to discuss some topics with people from the UK. So if you know people who don't know German well or not at all, but can manage English reasonably well, then promote the camp there.
Please check our website regularly, we will announce new workshops here.

General information
The camp takes place near Hamburg and is easily reached by public transport. The fun costs 15-25€ per night, i.e. according to self-assessment of one's own financial possibilities. Camp-Reader as well as daily full board are included. You can spend the night in bed, in a tent or in your own car/camper/van. The latter would be very welcome, as the remaining overnight places are limited; please write this down when registering. At the camp there will be organised self-catering: everyone sometimes will help with cooking, washing up, cleaning- but food will be provided daily (always vegetarian and vegan as well). If you are thinking about not coming because of the amount of the participation fee, please contact us.
There are meeting rooms, WIFI, table tennis, pool table, sauna and outside space for ball games. The facility is conditionally barrier-free (roughly: the most important rooms are wheelchair accessible, but some ramps are a bit steep), one room is completely barrier-free with its own bathroom. The kitchen is on ground floor, and there are meeting rooms on ground floor. That means: We do our best to minimise the remaining barriers on site - if you arrive in a wheelchair or have other mobility restrictions, feel free to contact us so we can discuss the details in advance. We will try to accommodate other needs as well, as far as we can. If you would like to come with children, please contact us as well. We will try to provide childcare at least parallel to part of the workshops.
For the cooking team it would be important if you let us know about allergies or intolerances when you register. In case of severe allergies, where even traces in the food are crucial, it may not be possible for the cooking team to provide for you. There is additionally a separate, small but well-equipped kitchen for cases of (partial) self-catering. We cannot cater to special trend diets, etc. The warm dinner is vegan and varied. Dogs are allowed, but cost 50€ per dog for the whole stay (according to the price list of the house). Dogs must be leashed on the camp grounds.

Workshops

Check back often from now on, the workshop list will be updated continuously.

Credit Money and Inflation 1

When capitalist states hope to lower the rate of inflation, they look to their central banks to increase the rate of interest. At the same time, central banks bemoan that this lever, the rate of interest, fails to deliver the effects on the economy they hope for. In this workshop we want to discuss how prices, credit and central banks relate.

Sovereign debt

In this workshop, we will give an introduction to the state budget with a focus on sovereign debt. We will discuss the following topics: The state decides its revenue (it does not earn it) – taxes are not an exchange. Nevertheless, the state considers it necessary to limit tax revenue and thus arrives at the task of making budget policy, i.e. making policy with limited resources. In doing so, it grapples with the question of what necessary expenses are really necessary? In the end, it usually comes to the conclusion that certain expenses are necessary, although it does not want to increase taxes for them and goes into debt. Public debt has its own logic, new freedoms and new "practical constraints".

All these contradictions together then lead to a "solution": promoting the economy so that tasks are resolved, more taxes flow in and the creditworthiness of the state is improved. This does not solve the contradictions of taxation, budget and credit, but it does give it a permanent course. The workshop will mostly stand on its own and will not rely on other workshops. However, this is an essential building block for explaining inflation. From this point of view, it is worthwhile to attend the workshop together with the other workshops on inflation and the banking crisis.

Banking Crisis 2023

2023 has seen many banks announce record profits. At the same time, many banks have become insolvent and closed doors: SVB, Crédit Suisse, First Republic Bank, the list goes on. To understand how these things relate, we will discuss how banking works, what interest rates are, and why states are so invested in the banking sector.