Contrasts

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Contraste - newspaper for self-organization (formerly Contraste - the monthly newspaper for self-administration ) is a national German monthly newspaper that was founded in 1984 as a mouthpiece for self-administered companies and collectives . She is currently also pursuing the goal of publishing critical articles on globalization , social cuts , mass unemployment and environmental degradation and developing and discussing appropriate alternatives.

history

In October 1984, during a trade fair, self-administered companies in Hesse founded the Wandelsblatt . The founding members came from the Rhine / Main, Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Heidelberg / Mannheim, Stuttgart, Lake Constance and Munich regions. The first edition was 5,000 copies. After the second issue, this magazine had to rename itself because the newspaper Handelsblatt had successfully sued the logo of this new newspaper. In April the newspaper changed its name to "Contraste" . In the years that followed, many small projects related to the alternative economy used the newspaper for public relations work; at the same time, with the support of Contraste, new projects were initiated and critically monitored. The Ökobank was also created through the use of this magazine as a discussion organ and for collecting deposits. From 1985 the colorful pages appeared in the Contraste, an address directory of self-managed companies and projects, which has been published in book form since 1995. In the 2003+ edition, it contains addresses of 13,500 alternative projects, initiatives and companies as well as an alternative media reader with the presentation of 1200 left-wing and alternative media .

On March 12th 2013 Dieter Poschen, one of the founders of the magazine, who had been “the heart” of the magazine for almost 30 years, died. Despite this loss, the project will continue.

The seat of the association is Kassel. The coordination is based in Berlin. This is also where the final editing takes place.

content

As a matter of course, the Contraste editorial team writes:

Regular reports provide information about start-ups and the activities of projects, self-help initiatives, self-managed companies, cooperatives of political communities, reports on alternative economics, new media, ecological handicrafts, culture from “below” and much more

Current topics are the handling of projects with refugees, networking of the municipalities or the NSU process. In the summer 2006 edition, for example, the anti-GM maize bus tour, the ban on the Faust symbol of demo medical services , the evacuation of the Barmer district, the cooperativistas in Venezuela, cooperatives, socioculture, media, standard of living and an online demo are discussed.

shape

Contraste is organized decentrally. The volunteer editors report from their regions and support projects in publishing their own articles. There are also editors with main topics.

The edition is 3,000 copies, it appears eleven times a year in Berlin format with 16 pages. The main distribution area is the FRG, Switzerland and Austria. The newspaper is published by CONTRASTE e. V. - Association for the Promotion of Ecology & Self-Administration . The monthly issue is based in Kassel .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Poschen: Small Chronology of Contrasts . contraste.org. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  2. ↑ Our self-image . contraste.org. Retrieved July 10, 2010.