The Right to Have Rights

A series of impact events and school workshops based on the short film “The Right to Have Rights”

Using our short film "The Right to Have Rights" as a starting point we organized six public impact events and four school workshops — creating spaces for knowledge, exchange, and empowerment around migration, citizenship, and political participation in Germany.

Quick Facts

Location: Germany (NRW & Berlin)

Years: 2025

Themes: Migration, Citizenship, Rights, Political Participation

Watch the film Organize a screening

Why this matters

People without German citizenship are largely invisible in political life — despite being part of this society. In Germany's migration society, political participation remains structurally out of reach for many: non-citizens cannot vote, often live with insecure residency status and face everyday racist discrimination, and have few spaces to bring their perspectives into public debate. At the same time, political education often lacks accessible formats that make these realities tangible — especially for young people with refugee and migration biographies.

What we did

Film screenings & public discussion events: Six events across Berlin, Düsseldorf, Essen, Dortmund, and Wuppertal, using our short film "Das Recht, Rechte zu haben" as a starting point. Story Circles gave participants a low-barrier space to share experiences, followed by panel discussions with representatives of migrant self-organizations.
School workshops: Four full-day workshops at two schools — a vocational college in Dortmund and a secondary school in Berlin — reaching around 80 students. Combining film excerpts, interactive methods, and group work adapted to linguistically diverse classes, the approach centered both knowledge-building and empowerment.
Materials development: Experiences from the workshops fed directly into the revision of an accompanying educational guide for working with the film — with a focus on accessibility, simplified language, and differentiated methods.

Impact & Outcomes

Community reach & connection: Around 150 people attended the evening events, deepening their knowledge of citizenship rights and structures of exclusion, and sharing experiences of civic engagement and organizing. Local partner organizations co-hosted, co-promoted, and shaped the discussions — strengthening cross-organizational networks for future political education work.
Empowerment in the classroom: Students engaged deeply with questions of exclusion, rights, and belonging, often drawing on their own lived experiences. Teachers reported high levels of attention and participation; both schools expressed interest in making the workshop a regular offering.
Ripple effects: A follow-up project is now in development (funded by the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Berlin), focusing on a youth-adapted version of the film and updated didactic materials — building directly on lessons learned.

Get Involved

Watch the film Organize a screening

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung

Gefördert von

The Right to Have Rights

Quick Facts

Why this matters

What we did

Impact & Outcomes

Related News & Blogs

“Rechte dürfen keine Privilegien sein“ – Stimmen zur Premiere von Das Recht, Rechte zu haben

„Nicht mein Land“ – Miman Jasarovski über Staatsbürgerschaft und Zugehörigkeit

Get Involved