Report from the nationwide network meeting on 28/29 March 2015 in Hanover

We had meetings in Hanover, many people travelled from all over Germany, about 65 participants in total and this time the childcare was also used by many small people. Unfortunately, the rooms were not completely wheelchair-accessible, which should be improved next time. It was also noted in the feedback that there was too much input and too little time for exchange and male speaking behaviour/presence was also critically noted, we can all pay more attention to this in future. It was also noted that the meeting is organised by all of us; it thrives on the fact that we all pitch in and get involved, not on consumerism. The meeting began with Arnold, who reported on the actions of Nico's Farm and the status of the project "Realisation of a housing project near Amelinghausen, where disabled children live together with their parents in a community" and Jörg from Koblenz, who reported on actions against the closure of a youth centre: "open child and youth work". Then on Saturday the focus was on the topic "Strike: social and educational professions", Katja Wingelewski from ver.di Lower Saxony gave an input on the status of collective bargaining and the warning strikes and Robert Maruschke told us something about "care organising and campaign planning" as well as community organising. In small groups on Saturday and an open space group on Sunday, ideas were developed on how the Care Revolution network could support the strike and use it as an opportunity to address the unifying perspectives of parents, educators and social workers and bring them to the public's attention. An action at a weekly market in Berlin was briefly presented. See Open Space report at the end of this text. At the infrastructure plenary on Saturday: the old co-committee was bid farewell and the new co-committee was formed (the co-committee is formed anew every six months at the nationwide meetings). Agreements were also made on the question of the network's press and public relations work; many people should be encouraged to do public relations work. (See agreements at the end of this text.) The appeal for donations was distributed via the mailing list in an extra email. It would be great if you could spread it widely. And it would also be great and important if as many people and groups as possible set up standing orders, even if only for small amounts (such as 5 euros per month), because unfortunately the network work needs money, otherwise it will not work in the long term. Sunday started with an exciting lecture by Christa Wichterich on the global perspective on care and the "care crisis and migration". On Sunday there were also open space groups on 1 May, where concrete agreements were made, see at the end of this text. An open space group discussed fundamental questions of the network again and another group, in which 18 people from Hanover took part, arranged a regional Care Revolution meeting in Hanover. The detailed report with minutes can be found here: Open, nationwide Care Revolution network meeting on 28/29 March 2015 in Hanover