Dear friends of My Country Talks,

Welcome to the fourth edition of our monthly newsletter. September was quite a busy month. In this issue, we are covering a day of dialogue before the federal elections in Germany and the launch of Europe Talks 2021. We hope you will enjoy two Germany Talks stories publised in ZEIT Online, and a bonus podcast featuring project lead Hanna Israel. If you are in Europe, we hope you sign up for Europe Talks to meet your political opposite and discuss the most important issues facing the continent.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and colleagues. Anyone can subscribe here.

Announcing Europe Talks 2021

Should all European countries ban the sale of new fossil-fuel cars from 2030? Should the EU exclude member states if they violate democratic standards? What about an unconditional basic income for all countries in Europe?

These are just some of the questions that participants will answer to sign up for Europe Talks, which started on October 1. Based on their answers, they will be matched with someone from another European country who thinks completely differently from them. 

Europe Talks 2021 is organised by ZEIT Online together with the cooperation of 22 media partners from 17 European countries - from Portugal to Lithuania, the UK, and Serbia. From October until the end of the year, participants will be matched with a conversation partner soon after they sign up, and also meet multiple partners over the course of the coming months.

In 2020, over 20,000 people signed up for Europe Talks. This year, we hope to connect tens of thousands of Europeans for a political debate around the biggest issues facing Europe right now.

To learn more about Europe Talks and sign up click here.

Read the Europe Talks launch article from ZEIT Online: Europe's way out of the pandemic

Reflections on Germany Talks

On September 25th, participants of Deutschland spricht (Germany Talks) came together for a day of dialogue, one day before the national elections. Hundreds of participants met each other to discuss their views on climate change, gender politics, and foreign policy just before going to the polls to vote on those same issues. 

From May to September, we engaged more than 20,000 participants in similar conversations. Over 20 weeks, they talked about racism in Germany, climate politics, privileges for vaccinated people, tand whether Germany should accept more people from Afghanistan.

What insights did we gain from so many conversations? In two articles published in ZEIT Online we summarise the trends and lessons we learned from our participants, including interviews with three real Deutschland spricht pairs.

The big debate before the election

Three pairs from Germany Talks (in German)

"Einen indirekten Impfzwang finde ich nicht gut"