How we can help you to feel and be safe and secure at 38C3
Our Chaos Communication Congress is a large, international event with many participants, including thousands of volunteers. This creates a lot of potential to experience social overload, health emergencies or threatening situations. We all know the feeling of searching for orientation and connection in the huge, overwhelming congress world with thousands of large and small projects, with concerts, discussions, lectures, full of art and culture. We understand that it can be a challenge to enjoy this freedom under the impression of all these people who, at first glance, are just as twisted, queer and creative as you are yourself. It is clear that you can only really immerse yourself in the Congress experience if you also have a sense that the handful of conflicts that arise at some point with so much interaction, togetherness and coexistence will be addressed appropriately. Of course, this applies not only to the CCC itself but also to the community at the event, which lives and breathes our values. We want to create an atmosphere that is characterised by tolerance, respect, curiosity, fun, a willingness to talk, friendliness and respectful cooperation.
For many years, numerous teams have been working to make Congress safe for everyone: Starting with our Logistics Operations Center (LOC), which catches threats from marauding forklift trucks, the CERT, which takes care of you in the event of minor and major medical emergencies, the Hygiene Protection Team (c3gelb) [link in German], which, in cooperation with the Engel kitchen and the Bottle Operation Centre, prevents the outbreak of the once infamous congress epidemic, and the Awareness team, which tries to convey our self-image in our dealings with each other to the more vulnerable participants as a guide and to the less reflective, stronger ones as food for thought and red lines.
This work is also taken on by teams ranging from our CrewCrew (Security), who step into the breach for you in the event of physical threats from others and at the same time try to prevent dangerous situations from arising in the first place, to the Arbitration Board, which works out ways for people in our community to live together safely in the event of complex interpersonal conflicts, the Accessibility and c3auti teams, who do their utmost to help people with disabilities have the best Congress experience, and the Chaospatinnen (Chaos mentors), who pick up first-time visitors arriving with huge eyes of amazement and find opportunities for everyone to connect at Congress.
Without all these people, who – like you – naturally pay the full admission price, Congress would no longer be conceivable today. This year, we once again call on you all to take our principles to heart and to familiarise yourselves with our support services in advance.
Image by Thorsten Schröder CC BY-SA 2.0