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You are here: Home / Culture and Media / The epitome of political art turns 80 – congratulations Klaus Staeck!

10. April 2018 | Monika Griefahn

The epitome of political art turns 80 – congratulations Klaus Staeck!

Congratualtions Klaus Staeck

Congratualtions by Uwe-Karsten Heye and Monika Griefahn, Willy-Brandt-Haus Berlin. Foto: Florian Gaertner/photothek.net

“Nothing is finished” – that’s the motto under which Klaus Staeck invited guests to celebrate his 80th birthday at the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin. More precisely it was the Social Democratic Party’s executive, who organised the evening in Staeck’s honour. It turned out to be an entertaining event, which linked politics and culture in the most enjoyable of ways – but then, what else would one expect from a thoroughly political artist such as Staeck?

Once again the graphic designer and cartoonist Staeck showed during the evening that he remains as active as ever, and that he is still trying, and succeeding, to lift others out of their lethargy. After a eulogy by the deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Thorsten Schäfer-Guembel, there was a discussion with the new Federal Minister for Justice, Katarina Barley, and the spokeswoman for cultural policy of the SPD’s state parliamentary group for Saxony, Hanka Kliese after which Klaus Staeck proceeded to tell some humorous stories about being socialised in the former East Germany, about how the bourgeois is actually quite a fearful social group, and about his strong sense of justice and how it had led the 41 lawsuits that he had brought – or that had been brought against him. Thankfully, he won most of them.

ANECDOTES FROM STAECK’S YOUTH

Staeck also relayed a number of interesting anecdotes from his youth. For instance, he once received a commendation at school for a wall newspaper that he did not actually make. It came after he was to be expelled from the school because a teacher had discredited him. The episode led to the other students becoming suspicious of him because, after all, he was the one to always step out of line.

Besides being a gifted poster artist, agitator and someone with the ability to always encourage others Klaus Staeck is also a lawyer, a fact that has greatly benefitted him in life. Because he is a Protestant – and because, according to Staeck, Protestants always feel a responsibility for society – he once outed the two leading manufacturers of CFCs on large placards for a campaign by the environmental organisation, Greenpeace. Chlorofluorocarbon is considered a main cause for the destruction of the ozone layer and is also a contributing agent to global warming. Those who were named on the posters didn’t find the campaign very appropriate. They brought a lawsuit – which Staeck ended up winning.

During Bernd Neumann’s tenure as Minister of State for Culture at the German Chancellery (2005 – 2013), the professional provocateur Staeck attempted to become president of the Berlin Academy of Arts. Staeck remembers the headline at the time in the daily national newspaper ‘Welt’: Two obsolescent models are to run Berlin’s cultural policy, the paper said. And that is indeed what happened: Neumann, of the conservative CDU, threw his weight behind the film industry and co-operated successfully with SPD member Staeck.

“EVERY OTHER DELEGATE IS A WOMAN”

During the panel discussion a poster behind Staeck, Barley and the other participants informed the audience that “one in two MPs is a woman”. In the accompanying photo however, only men can be seen. And that’s almost how things were until 1983 – the proportion of women in the federal parliament amounted to 8.3 per cent at the time. When the Green Party entered the Bundestag they brought with them a quota of around 50 per cent. Until the last legislative period, the overall proportion of women in parliament had increased at least up to 37 per cent. Now it is back at 31 per cent, a fact that’s primarily due to the presence of the right-wing populist AfD with its share of only 11 per cent.

According to Katarina Barley, society needs more men like Klaus Staeck who possess courage and backbone: The rule of law, she holds, is the basis of democracy and society therefore must treat people like him, who always lay their finger in the wound, with care: “We need to break up inhibition”. At a time of “fake news” democracy thrives through discussion and not through rabble-rousing or hate speech, says Staeck. Artists with their great freedom can interfere and create publicity. Barley also made an appeal to women to become more solidary and to support each other more.

Filed Under: Culture and Media, General Article, Politics

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Appointments

March 28, 2023: Keynote at the Automotive Industry Association VDA on “New Solutions for Climate Neutral Drives” Read more about the conference here (in German).

March 30, 2023: Participation in the real estate congress of the Federal Association of Free Real Estate and Housing Companies (BFW). Discussion in the panel “Departure into the circular economy.” Click here for the program (in German).

April 4, 2023: Announcement of the “Potato of the year” in the open-air museum at the Kiekeberg

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April 20, 2023: Start of the four-day nature film festival Lüneburger Heide under the patronage of Monika Griefahn. You will find the program here shortly (in German).

May 2, 2023: Guest speaker on “Sustainability & Cllimate Policy” at the annual German-American Conference (DAK) of Atlantik-Bruecke and American Council on Germany (ACG) in Washington, D.C.

 


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Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021: Because of the Corona pandemic the C2C Conress took place in three parts this year: The first one was on June 14, 2021 in Freiburg. The second took place on September 7, 2021 in Mainz, the third November 4, 2021 in Mönchengladbach.


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In May 2021, the climate committee was constituted in the climate forum at my place of residence in Buchholz in the Nordheide. I am pleased to be chairwoman of the advisory board! The city has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral and there is still a lot to do to achieve this. The committee advises the municipal  administration on fundamental questions of climate policy.
To the article on the Buchholz website (in German)


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They stand up against violence and climate change and address the most pressing questions of our time: Marthe Wandou (Cameroon), Wladimir Sliwjak (Russia), Freda Huson (People of the Wet’suwet’en, Canada) and the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (India) are the winners of the Right Livelohood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) 2021. Please find here the award ceremony documentation or read more about the laureates in our blog.


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After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

Our CEO Dr. Monika Griefahn received the Federal Order of Merit. Please read more about her biography and about the award ceremony in our blog.


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