Talk with artist and political activist Carmen Caro (https://carmencaro.com/) and Thomas Krüger, Founding member of the Social Democratic Party of the GDR and former director of the Federal Agency for Civic Education.

»Politischer Aktivismus heute und in der DDR 1989. Wie kann Kunst zu sozialen Veränderungen beitragen?«
Gespräch mit der Künstlerin und politischen Aktivistin Carmen Caro und Thomas Krüger, Gründungsmitglied der Sozialdemokratischen Partei der DDR und ehemaliger Leiter der Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung.

Das Gespräch wird auch live per zoom übertragen | The discussion will also be streamed live on Zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81285783465?pwd=PxTbjO2x4tyietyHsDUd5UWx9rzhBx.1

Carmen Caro

An interdisciplinary artist, cultural manager, and activist from Colombia, her practice lies at the intersection of artistic research, sociopolitical advocacy, and ethical methodologies of South-South co-creation. Her work is rooted in listening as a political, aesthetic, and epistemological stance, articulating peacebuilding processes, non-oppressive creation, and the defense of water resources alongside grassroots collectives, including her own community in the Andes region, as well as various organizations, artistic and cultural institutions, and Indigenous, peasant, and Afro-Colombian communities in Colombia.

Her artistic work is grounded in the search for non-oppressive ways of creating and inhabiting knowledge, understanding territory as a living network of memories, affections, and collective wisdom. Art is presented as a tool for care and listening, where sound, language, pigments, textiles, and materials become practices of resistance and means of appealing to the body's memory. From this perspective, her practice proposes a shift from hegemonic power dynamics toward sensitive, collective, and sustained relationships, understood as forms of everyday resistance.

Through her practice, she seeks to make the fabric of collective care tangible. She is the founder of Radio Juntanza, a biocultural platform for research, dissemination, and support of territorial processes led by women, operating from an ecofeminist perspective and using the arts as situated forms of knowledge production. Through this platform, she develops research and action strategies that articulate human rights, art, and ethical communication in contexts of conflict, socio-environmental inequality, and community resistance.

Her practice has expanded to international contexts such as Guatemala, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia, Germany, and Spain, among others, where she has developed research, training, and cultural management projects. She has been a researcher and fellow at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) in Berlin, collaborating on interdisciplinary initiatives that link artistic practices, archives, communication, and processes of justice and accountability. She is a member of the Unidas Germany/Latin America Network, an alumna of the CrossCulture Programme (CCP), and an Elizabeth Selbert Fellow of the ifa – Germany. Currently, she works as a trainer, manager, and consultant in non-oppressive practices and ethical communication in cultural and human rights contexts.

Thomas Krüger

Thomas Krüger, geboren 1959 in Thüringen, absolvierte nach der Polytechnischen Oberschule eine Ausbildung zum Facharbeiter für Plast- und Elastverarbeitung und leistete anschließend Wehrdienst in der Nationalen Volksarmee. Von 1981 bis 1987 studierte er Evangelische Theologie am Sprachenkonvikt in Berlin, gefolgt von einem Vikariat in Berlin und Eisenach.

Während des Studiums bewegte sich Krüger im kulturellen und politischen Untergrund: Er spielte in freien Theatergruppen – unter anderem in der Performance „Die Heimsuchung der Anna B – eine Kammeroper für zwei Piloten, einen Fahrgast und Haushaltswaren“ – und engagierte sich in der „Kirche von Unten“, der basiskirchlichen Oppositionsbewegung der späten 1980er Jahre.

 Am 7. Oktober 1989 gehörte Krüger zu den 43 Gründungsmitgliedern der Sozialdemokratischen Partei in der DDR (SDP) im Pfarrhaus Schwante. Über die Anreise berichtet er später selbst:

„Ich bin durch ein Klofenster ins Freie geklettert und als ich endlich das Gefühl hatte, die Stasi abgehängt zu haben, bin ich zum Bahnhof gerannt, habe mich dort in ein Taxi gesetzt und bin bis zu einem Ort vor Schwante gefahren, weil ich nicht sicher war, ob nicht doch irgendwie eine Verfolgung stattfindet. Dann bin ich über einen Acker in Richtung Pfarrhaus Schwante gelaufen.“

Krüger kam mehrere Stunden zu spät und übernahm anschließend die Aufgabe, die westdeutsche Presse über die Gründung zu informieren. Bis 1990 war er Geschäftsführer der SDP/SPD in Ost-Berlin, Wahlkampfleiter, Stadtrat für Inneres und stellvertretender – zeitweise kommissarischer – Oberbürgermeister Berlins sowie Mitglied der frei gewählten Volkskammer. 

Von 1994 bis 2000 saß Krüger für die SPD im Bundestag. Von Juli 2000 bis September 2025 leitete er die Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.

Thomas Krüger, born in Thuringia in 1959, completed an apprenticeship as a skilled worker in plastics and elastomer processing after graduating from polytechnic high school, and subsequently served in the National People’s Army. From 1981 to 1987, he studied Protestant theology at the Sprachenkonvikt in Berlin, followed by a vicariate in Berlin and Eisenach.

During his studies, Krüger was active in the cultural and political underground: He performed in independent theater groups—including in the performance “The Visitation of Anna B—a chamber opera for two pilots, a passenger, and household goods”—and was involved in the “Church from Below,” the grassroots church opposition movement of the late 1980s.

On October 7, 1989, Krüger was among the 43 founding members of the Social Democratic Party in the GDR (SDP) at the Schwante rectory. He later recounted his journey there himself:
“I climbed out through a bathroom window and, once I finally felt I’d shaken off the Stasi, I ran to the train station, got into a taxi there, and rode to a spot just outside Schwante, because I wasn’t sure if I wasn’t being followed after all. Then I walked across a field toward the Schwante parsonage.”

Krüger arrived several hours late and subsequently took on the task of informing the West German press about the founding. Until 1990, he served as executive director of the SDP/SPD in East Berlin and campaign manager, city councilor for internal affairs, and deputy—at times acting—mayor of Berlin, as well as a member of the freely elected People’s Chamber of the GDR.

From 1994 to 2000, Krüger served in the Bundestag for the SPD. From July 2000 to September 2025, he headed the Federal Agency for Civic Education.