On Wednesday night, the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis was awarded in a prize ceremony at Hamburg’s Thalia Theater. Since 2022, we have collaborated with DIE ZEIT and the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung (Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation) to recognize individuals creating positive social change in democracy, society and technology.

Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation and fearless critic of tech power, is this year’s winner. Whittaker is an outspoken voice in the debate around the dangers of concentrated power in digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence in particular.

Participants of the Helmut Schmidt Future Festival got the opportunity to dialogue with Whittaker at an event held at THE NEW INSTITUTE on Wednesday afternoon. Our Director Anna Katsman moderated a conversation between Whittaker and the participants about the future of democracy and technology. When asked by concerned students if she felt threatened by taking on powerful tech giants, Whittaker boldly replied that she hoped to be dangerous and threatening. Because when you have to punch, you have to punch hard.

Speaking out. In her acceptance speech, Whittaker deconstructed the term “Artificial Intelligence” as a marketing tool that distracts us from seeing the workings of tech power, especially for-profit surveillance. She urged us to confront the chilling consequences of surveillance capitalism, especially its increasing militarization, which, among other things, now enables AI-assisted drone attacks.

It does not have to be this way. Whittaker ended by inviting the audience to be optimistic, not in the mode of complacency, but as a mode of taking action: “We can dismantle this toxic surveillance business model. We can remodel our technological future.” A technological future based on social needs can only succeed if we work to build a democratic future.

Spring has finally arrived in Hamburg, and we are happy to welcome back our fellows for the final months of our Academic Year 2023-24. And we've had an additional burst of fresh air in the form of six new fellows who have arrived for our spring term.

One of these fellows is a familiar face. We know Susan Lamb from our cooperation with the Treaty Committee of the Integrity Initiatives International (III), whose experts are working to establish an International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC). Susan is exploring the potential of the UN Security Council to defend peace and security against existential threats.

The “Depolarizing Public Debates” program also welcomed a new group member: social scientist Ashley Muddiman. Ashley’s focus is on political media effects, especially the nuances of digital news and the challenges of political incivility. The program is convening a workshop that will take place on May 29th at THE NEW INSTITUTE. Invited guests include the psychologist Friedemann Schulz von Thun, the climate activist Luisa Neubauer, and the publicist Anja Reschke, as well as Ricarda Lang, party leader of the Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen).

We also welcome Maha Marouan as the newest addition to the “Black Feminism and Polycrisis” program. Her work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, and religion in the construction of female subjectivities. On May 30th, the group will host a public event to premiere a short film, produced by our alumni Mac Premo and Adrianna Dufay with Program Chair Minna Salami as Creative Director. The film screening will be followed by a moderated discussion and takes place at MARKK Museum in Hamburg.

We continue to engage with questions of commons and commoning. The program “Governing the Planetary Commons” welcomed three new faces to the group.

As a reminder: The “planetary commons” encompass globally shared geographic areas recognized as global commons, but more importantly, all biophysical systems that sustain critical Earth functions. If you would like to revisit the talk by Johan Rockström at THE NEW INSTITUTE on the “planetary commons,” you can watch the full video here.

So how can we govern the planetary commons? That's the question the new fellows will tackle this term. Ainhoa Montoya, an anthropologist by training, will focus on reimagining and rescaling environmental governance of the Amazonian Hydrocommons. Karen Morrow, an environmental lawyer, aims to bring an ecofeminist perspective to discussions of better governance of the global commons. J.B. Ruhl, also an environmental lawyer, brings his expertise in environmental, natural resource, and property law to the program.

First online, soon in print – We recently published two reports, documenting the last four years of our activities and institutional developments. These reports highlight our programmatic fellow work and showcase our events and key developments.

The first report includes a foreword by our Founding Director, Wilhelm Krull, where he lays out the mission and the foundational programs for the years 2020–2022.

Our Academic Directors, Anna Katsman and Markus Gabriel were responsible for the second annual report, covering the Academic Year 2022–2023. Here, we lay out how our research architecture has evolved and where the Institute is headed.

Our spring term is filled with many key events. To stay informed, keep an eye on our events page on THE NEW INSTITUTE’s website.

In early June, we will publish the first book in a new series called THE NEW. Publications in this series offer future-oriented responses to the nested crises of the present along the dimensions of what it means to be human, how to improve democratic self-governance, and how to achieve socio-economic transformation. Our goal is to make humanistic research relevant and accessible to wider audiences. The first issue is an edited volume, Beyond Neoliberalism and Neo-illiberalism: Economic Policies and Performance for Sustainable Democracy. The second book in the series, Seeds for Democratic Futures, will be published in October 2024. Stay tuned for more information about the book releases, including an upcoming book launch.