Krätzä
is a group of people in Berlin who are concerned about children's rights, and
are working for fundamental changes in society. Every evening a dozen of so of the twenty members turn up to
discuss new action, answer emails, drink tea and coffee, talk about life, read
texts that other Krätzä people have written, discuss their website or the next
edition of their magazine, Regenbogen (Rainbow, in English), prepare for
events or conferences, get information stands ready, organise the distribution
of new texts or leaflets and so on. The
members of Krätzä are almost all between fourteen and twenty years old.
It
all began in 1992 with a few simple questions, for instance: are parents allowed
to force you to put on clothes that you don't want to wear?
When do people go to bed? Are
teachers allowed to stop you going to the loo?
A whole booklet of young people's problems was soon compiled.
Before long they found they had moved on from the specific daily
injustices of which young people are often the victims to much more general
questions. What gives
parents the right to make rules for their children?
Why do we have compulsory schooling?
Wouldn't it be better to replace it with a right to education?
Why do children not have the vote?
The
KinderRÄchTsZÄnker (Children's Rights Fighters) have been working on these and
similar questions for the last few years, and they have found that the main
difficulty, again and again, has been reaching the point where something is
really changed. In many
children's parliaments, in "Children advise Senator" sessions,
Children's Days, Children's Summits and other events the KinderRÄchTsZänker
have found that it is almost impossible even to discuss significant matters, let
alone to have any real influence. Young
people are only invited to discuss problems which the grown-ups actually already
know about and could solve themselves, such as, for example, the increased
efforts of the government to encourage the use of the energy-saving light-bulb,
or the setting up of a 30 kph speed limit, or safer road-crossings in front of
schools. A further peculiarity is
that the subject of school seldom comes up.
People talk a lot about violence in schools, but the violence of the
schools themselves, that is to say the violence that arises from the system and
is perhaps a cause of the violence of young people, is generally ignored. The main problem, which is always avoided, is this:-
Children are not perceived as citizens with really equal rights and
interests.
Krätzä
have therefore turned to other methods of getting their points across.
They have designed and displayed posters, which have attracted much
support. The posters consist almost
entirely of text, which people waiting in the underground stations have plenty
of time to read. The KRÄTZÄ people have been interviewed by journalists and
they published touchstones for the 1994 election which were sent to all the main
political parties. In response, the
parties, almost without exception, sent the thick brochure they sent to
everyone, but made no effort to respond to the touchstones themselves.
The group, represented by two of its members, aged 13 and 16, went to the
Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, and demanded not to be excluded from the
right to vote any longer. Even
though the constitutional demand was dismissed without discussion, it had its
effect. The subject has been raised, and it is still being
discussed everywhere.
Seventeen
young Krätzä people went to Nicaragua for four weeks, in order to make contact
with the children's movement there, and to learn to understand its attitude to
child labour. Through work one can
learn a lot, have the experience of being important and take responsibility.
What's more one may become financially independent.
Of course exploitation and abuse must be prevented. But is a general prohibition on children's work the right way
of setting about it?
Krätzä
has also drawn public attention to the question of compulsory schooling.
After preparing an extensive written justification, Benjamin Kiesewetter,
a member of the group, refused to take part in chemistry lessons for more than
six months. In spite of his seven-page justification, to which
neither the school itself nor the educational authority responded, and in spite
of his eventually renewed participation in lessons (under protest) the student
was excluded from the school. An
appeal against this "disciplinary measure" resulted in the local
educational authority reversing this exclusion.
However, Benjamin had to continue to take chemistry until the court made
a final decision as to whether schoolchildren were allowed to stay out of
lessons in some subjects if they gave good reasons. The case aroused great interest in the media, as a positive
outcome would have meant that other schoolchildren would have followed
Benjamin's example.
The
Berlin Administrative Court finally decided against freedom from instruction.
The consequent request that the appeal should be heard by the Higher
Administrative Court was refused. At
the end of the year Benjamin got a top grade in chemistry and legally dropped
the subject.
Krätzä
would like to grow, but it sees risks in growth. The members do not want to lose their independence and
spontaneity, and they are determined to avoid management structure and
hierarchy. Everyone must have equal
rights, regardless of age.
Although
as yet nothing material has changed, they are making progress.
They have increased public awareness, they have the ear of the media,
their demands are gaining credibility, various groups and organisations publicly
support their objectives, and Krätzä people are often invited to speak about
their ideas.
They have a web site that is partly in English - http://www.kraetzae.de/ . It is well worth a visit.