Thinking network

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Denknetz is a socially critical think tank based in Switzerland .

The core topics of the association are basic questions of economic , social and labor policy, including networked topics such as education, environmental or migration policy. Care, gender issues and global aspects are cross-cutting issues that are considered in all areas. The thinking network is equally committed to the basic values ​​of freedom, equality and solidarity. It advocates an expansion of democracy to all relevant social processes, including the central decisions about the use of economic resources.

According to the statutes, the association is politically and religiously neutral.

The president of the thinking network is Ruth Gurny , former professor of sociology at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, executive secretary is Beat Ringger and scientific editor Holger Schatz.

The association organizes workshops, events and conferences, prepares theses, develops concepts and reform proposals, operates a website, publishes discourses, working papers, a yearbook and non-fiction books.

The Lobbywatch platform points out that there is a direct interest relationship between the Swiss National Councilor Jean-François Steiert , member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland , and Denknetz. National Councilor Cédric Wermuth , who belongs to the left wing of the SP Switzerland, sees an organization like the Denknetz as a possible ally in the struggle for the reorientation of social democratic politics that he believes is urgently needed.

Organization and goals

The '' Thinking Network '' was founded in 2004 with the aim of building discourse networks with a socially critical orientation and bringing together people from research and teaching with actors from NGOs, trade unions, parties and movements. The think tank is designed as a “think tank from below” and is accordingly organized as an association with individual membership with currently (2019) around 1,600 members, mainly from German-speaking Switzerland.

The board is elected at the annual general meeting. He nominates a core group that is responsible for the overall view and coordination of the content. Working groups and specialist groups work on individual topics. Specialist groups are active for longer periods of time, currently (2019) on the following topics: political economy, educational policy, precariat , tax policy, Otro Mundo, social policy-work-care economics as well as long-term care and support. The core group is responsible for the issues of migration policy and sustainability. Around 80 people are currently active in the various committees and groups of the thinking network.

criticism

On the part of the rival organization Avenir Suisse , the association is not classified as neutral, but as close to the union . On the bourgeois side, the association is accused of being too religious in general and of not taking the imminent economic consequences seriously enough, especially in the event of a pandemic like Corona in 2020 . But also on the part of the left, which welcomes the thought network and its socially critical orientation in principle, objections have already been raised. It was z. B. on the occasion of the congress held in Basel in February 2017 under the title 'Reclaim Democracy', objected to the fact that the demand for an expansion of democracy, etc. a. on the economy, based on too simple an understanding of democracy. The thought network tends to understand democracy "as a shelf from the IKEA hardware store", "which, following the Swedish model, can be assembled wherever there is living room." In general, the organization Denknetz longs "too benevolently for a Scandinavian model"; this is manifested, for example, in the 18 theses that were presented at the 2017 congress.

Publications

Collective discussion processes in the core group or the specialist groups are reflected in thesis papers and working papers. Discussion papers by individual thinking network members also appear on important questions. Discourse is published every six months and gives a brief overview of research, discourses, publications and fundamental debates on a key topic. The Denknetz yearbook appears in October each year with around 20 articles on a key topic, as well as on the association's work and other current issues. Each yearbook also contains a report on the development of (in) equality in Switzerland. The association operates a website with currently around 500 original articles.

So far, the following thematic individual titles have been published:

  • Ruth Gurny, Beat Ringger. The great reform. The creation of a general employment insurance AEV. Edition 8 , Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-85990-140-7 .
  • Hans Baumann, Beat Ringger (Ed.): Correct Taxes. How taxes can redistribute CHF 25 billion a year to the benefit of the population. Edition 8, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-85990-169-8 .
  • JUSO , Denknetz (Ed.): Wage distribution and 1:12 initiative. Justice and democracy put to the test. Edition 8, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-85990-180-3 .
  • Ruth Gurny, Ueli Tecklenburg (ed.): Work without bondage. Inventories and demands on the subject of work. Edition 8, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-85990-189-6 .
  • Thinking network (ed.): The superfluous Switzerland . Edition 8, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-85990-246-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Statutes of the association Denknetz. (PDF; 216 KB) In: denknetz.ch. May 29, 2015, accessed September 2, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Thinking Network Switzerland. Retrieved August 5, 2015 .
  3. ^ Cédric Wermuth, Pascal Zwicky, Make Social Democracy Great Again. 10 theses on the transformative awakening of social democracy , in: Contradiction No. 69/1. Half-year 2017, p. 89
  4. ↑ https://www.avenir-suisse.ch/umgabe-ist-nicht-gleich-steuerprogression/ , accessed on May 17, 2020
  5. ↑ Claudia Wirz : Carefree in the crisis , in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of May 16, 2020, p. 9 (section: 'Schwarz und Wirz')
  6. ↑ http://www.reclaim-democracy.org/kongress-2017/ , accessed on May 17, 2020
  7. ↑ Jonas Frick: Capitalist Realism and the Question of Democracy. Critical remarks on the “Reclaim Democracy” congress , in: Contradiction No. 69/1. Half-year 2017, pp. 93–103
  8. ↑ Jonas Frick: Capitalist Realism and the Question of Democracy. Critical remarks on the “Reclaim Democracy” congress , in: Contradiction No. 69/1. Half-year 2017, p. 103 (final sentence)
  9. ↑ Jonas Frick, ibid, p. 93