Care Revolution network meeting. Insight into a round meeting

On Saturday, 15.04.23, we held our biannual Care Revolution network meeting as an online event. This time we were 16 people from five regional groups and other groups and cities. Obviously, the date was not very convenient; unfortunately, no one from three regional groups made it to the meeting, so they had to cancel.

In this smaller setting, we used the day to take stock together: How are we positioned as the Care Revolution network now, nine years after it was founded in 2014? As usual, we started with a round of introductions and getting to know each other, and this time the subsequent reports from the supra-regional level were more detailed than at most previous meetings. This is because the Solidarisch Sorgen association has been founded and the advert for two half-time positions for its office has also gone out via the network's mailing list. The co-operation between the association's office and the Care Revolution network and its groups will also increase the visibility of the network.

In the main part of our meeting, we attempted to take stock in two ways. On the one hand, looking inwards: what is the core of the Care Revolution project for us; what works for us in our cooperation across cities and groups; what should be changed? On the other hand, looking outwards: Since 2014, a lot has changed in the circumstances in which we operate. There have been successes, but many things - climate catastrophe, approaching wars, the influence of ethnic-authoritarian politics, etc. - have also become more threatening. What does this mean for us? The two-hour discussion in small groups can hardly be adequately summarised. Nevertheless, a few key points should be mentioned:

One of Care Revolution's strengths is its ability to enter into dialogue with very different groups of people. The basis for this is a broad perspective. This is promoted by the fact that we are positioned so differently within and between the groups in the network, that we work together with many other organisations in local alliances, that we focus equally on unpaid and paid care work, that we see that all people are dependent on care relationships, that care work is addressed in all its complexity. At the same time, however, the people and contexts that we often overlook, such as the situation of migrants or life in the village, come up again and again at network meetings.

In addition, the seemingly small and individual experiences in connection with the respective care situation often touch on existential and social issues. Time and again, and recently more and more frequently, we have come across the fact that care relationships can hardly be addressed if ecology, war and peace, flight and migration or the changes in social relationships caused by decades of neoliberalism are not taken into account. It is a challenge for us to open up to the interrelationships and be open to new alliances, while at the same time being sensitive to the small, seemingly purely private framework in which so much care work takes place.

The complexity of our topic also became clear when it was rightly emphasised that caring for one another can be a wonderful thing. We should always keep this in mind when we talk about care work. At the same time, under the given conditions, care work in its excess and with a lack of support is a source of (old-age) poverty, exhaustion and remorse. Thirdly, women in particular are pushed into overburdened situations by invoking the norm that care should be beautiful and natural for them. This example shows us directly how important it is to recognise the complexity behind seemingly simple statements.

In the afternoon, we explored individual aspects in greater depth in working groups: What do we mean by the "revolution" in the Care Revolution - what needs to change fundamentally? Furthermore, activists from three regional groups shared their experiences of participating in peace movement actions on the war in Ukraine. Finally, they discussed ideas for educational programmes within the framework of the network and friendly groups and people, as well as how to deal constructively with their own uncertainties in view of the complex interrelationships mentioned.

Finally, the agreements: Among other things, the desire to draw attention to 10 years of the Care Revolution with a large-scale conference and/or a chain of actions. This topic, like everything else that is important on a supra-regional level, will be discussed further in the co-circle.