Ankelohe Conversations





Journalists and authors explain, analyze and inform. They tell us about complicated relationships and circumstances, and are, at their best, "agents of change".

 

Together with the journalist and author Lutz Kleveman, the Dräger Foundation in 2006 set up an international symposium which would take place at regular intervals at Gut Ankelohe near Bremerhaven, giving journalists and political authors the chance to discuss and argue about relevant global issues, both among themselves and with high-ranking speakers from the fields of academia, business, culture and politics.

 

Authors of political works of non-fiction, many of whom also work as journalists, have an important role as educators and opinion-makers; equally, they also stimulate debate. For this reason, the discussions focus not only on the topics themselves, but also on how to handle them linguistically. How should one write about something when one's aim is not only to inform a wider public and the political leadership, but also to motivate them to take action?

 

The first Ankelohe Conversations in May 2006 dealt with two of the global and closely interrelated challenges of the 21st century: "The Heat is on: Climate Change and the Oil Endgame". With this topic the first Ankelohe event was also intended to provide a springboard for the XVI Malente Symposium on energy and climate.

 

In 2007 the topic was "Resource Wars - The New Security Challenge of the 21st Century". Conflicts concerning energy, clean water, farmland and other resources in short supply, coupled with a rapidly growing global population, fast-growing resource consumption - particularly in the emerging economies of South-East Asia - and the consequences of climate change, are posing an increasing global security risk. 30 journalists and non-fiction authors discussed possible preventive measures which could be undertaken to avoid conflict.

 

In 2008, the topic of the Ankelohe Conversations was China ("The Struggling Giant - Understanding the World through Chinese Eyes") - its economic rise, its growing hunger for resources, its conflict between liberalism and autocracy, and the economic, environmental, demographic and political challenges which are awaiting China in the 21st century.