Germany

LOCAL CONTEXT

GERMANY

Creative writing, by definition, involves being ‘creative’: making things up, letting your imagination run wild. Essays are about being factual and objective, communicating ideas and arguments in the clearest way possible and attempting to enhance the reader’s knowledge, rather than their imagination.

Loesje, as an organisation- writers collective and a fictional character - a young girl from the Netherlands, who wants to make our world a more positive, creative place. Loesje texts are mostly positive and funny, and at the same time critical, wanting to stimulate the viewers to see things from new perspectives, and take action in their own lives. Loesje texts are not trying to tell you what to think; instead they often invite to many different interpretations.

Most of the people involved in Loesje are young, but there are no age limits. You don’t have to subscribe to any particular opinions to join Loesje, but the activities are based on a humanistic value base, which means believing in the power of and solidarity between people, and refrain from social exclusion. Loesje wants to interact with people, so that anyone can see and be inspired by her posters without having to pay an entrance fee or buying a specific magazine. The Loesje groups make practical use of their freedom of speech by writing and spreading their texts on posters. Freedom of opinion and expression are basic human rights, included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the last years, Loesje has conducted many successful international projects about Human Rights. In some countries where Loesje is present, freedom of speech is part of the constitution and commonly practised. In others, censorship is wide spread and the possibilities for a normal citizen to spread opinions without persecution few.

Anyone is welcome to join making the posters in text writing workshops, and to join other creative activities and projects. The posters are published here on the Internet, where anyone can freely download them, print them and hang them up. However, nowadays, because of fast way of living and lately, during the Covid-19 restrictions, it's very difficult to gather the participants in the same space. That's why we intend to develop new digital methodology, to transfer the Loesje methodology in a digital way, to answer the challenges of today.