Potsdam, 4 October 2021. In two days, on Wednesday 6 October, around 100 international representatives from the media, politics and academia will discuss the challenges facing media and democracy in a time of seemingly “perpetual crises” and how they deal with this responsibility.
The M100 Sanssouci Colloquium invites to the digital media conference under the heading “From Crisis in Perpetuity to Democratic Resilience” (02.00 p.m. – 04.15 p.m. CET).
Afterwards, “The totalitarian Temptation” will be discussed at a Special Talk in the Schlosstheater at Neues Palais (05.00 p.m. – 06.15 p.m. CET).
Subsequently, the M100 Media Award will be presented to the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and his anti-corruption foundation FBK (06.30 p.m. – 07.30 p.m. CET).
The international media conference: M100 Sanssouci Colloquium (online)
This year, the digital part of the conference will be opened by the American sociologist, architecture and design theorist Benjamin H. Bratton, Professor of Fine Arts at the University of California, San Diego, with his lecture “The Revenge of The Real: Politics for a Post-Pandemic World”. Following, three subsequent parallel Strategic Roundtable Discussions will focus on leadership in (post-)Corona times, Europe’s readiness and role in a changing world order, and science and journalism in dangerous times. Here you can find the programme in detail and an overview of the participants.
Special Talk: “The Totalitarian Temptation” (on-site at the Schlosstheater at Neusn Palais and online)
Saad Mohseni, Afghan-Australian media entrepreneur and co-founder and chairman of the MOBY Group, Dr Claudia Major, head of the International Security Department at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), and Dr Can Dündar, top Turkish journalist and editor-in-chief of Özgurüz, discuss the state of democracy and reasons for the rising totalitarianism in the world, moderated by Ali Aslan.
The discussion will be opened by a speech of Prof. Dr Andreas Reckwitz on “Resilience in late Modernity”.
The talk will be streamed live at www.m100potsdam.org.
Award ceremony: M100 Media Award (on-site at the Schlosstheater at Neues Palais and online)
This year’s M100 Media Award will be presented to the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and his foundation FBK (Anti-Corruption Foundation).
The award for Navalny, who has been in prison since January, will be accepted by his closest associate and confidant Leonid Volkov.
The laudatory speech will be delivered by Christian Lindner, Federal Chairman of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), who has been campaigning for Navalny’s release for months.
By choosing Navalny, the advisory board of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, chaired by Potsdam’s Lord Mayor Mike Schubert, is sending a clear signal about the importance of defending European values through an independent opposition and civil society, fair judicial procedures and the right to exercise basic human rights. The award ceremony also serves as a symbol for almost 400 political prisoners in Russia, for murdered politicians and journalists and for the fight against increasing autocracy in Europe.
The award ceremony will be streamed live on www.m100potsdam.org.
The M100 Media Award has been presented annually since 2005 as part of the international media conference M100 Sanssouci Colloquium to personalities who stand up for democracy, European understanding and freedom of opinion and the press. Previous awardees include Bob Geldof, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, Vitali Klitschko, “The Standing Man” Erdem Gündüz, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the Italian author Roberto Saviano, the journalist Deniz Yücel, the Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and the Hungarian journalist Szabolcs Dull.
M100 is an initiative of Potsdam Media International e.V.in cooperation with the Institute for Media and Communication Policy (IfM) and funded primarily by the City of Potsdam. Further sponsors include the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the German Foreign Office, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Cooperation partners: Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation (SPSG), Reporters Without Borders (RoG), Human Rights Watch, Association of German Newspaper Publishers (VDZ), MediaTenor. Sponsors: Medienlabor, Telekom, Federation of German Independent Professionals (BFB).
