The third annual TraCe conference focused on the Excessive Use of Force. From October 30 to November 1, international speakers and experts from various disciplines and countries gathered in Giessen.
The TraCe annual conference began with a dialogue panel on “Darstellungen exzessiver Gewalt – zwischen Verstörung und Attraktion” in cooperation with and at Kunsthalle Giessen. Moderated by TraCe member Tina Cramer, four panelists discussed how images of violence affect us, when they become voyeuristic showpieces and when they take on the role of necessary documents.
After welcoming remarks by Katharina Lorenz (President of Justus Liebig University Giessen) and Nadia Ismail (Director of Kunsthalle Giessen), war photographer Vincent Haiges took the audience on a brief tour of a selection of his work in Ukraine, Iraq and Ethiopia. He then joined Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann (researcher at PRIF and associate fellow at TraCe), Claudia Hattendorff (professor of art history at Justus Liebig University Giessen) and Cornelia Wegerhoff (journalist) on the podium for a discussion. The diverse panel with different perspectives and the subsequent lively exchange with the audience enabled valuable insights on the topic. The panel was a successful exchange between science and practice.
To accompany the dialog panel, the Kunsthalle Giessen presented a selection of art works. After the discusion, in addition to the photographs by Vincent Haiges, the 106 people in the audience were able to view the photographic series “Survivors” by Congolese documentary photographer Arlette Bashizi, a documentation of the performance “Armor” by Afghan artist Kubra Khademi, who lives in exile in Paris, as well as an excerpt from the photo book “War Porn” by war reporter Christoph Bangert.
The presented artworks can be accessed on the Kunsthalle's Instagram channel and website. A video interview with documentary photographer Arlette Bashizi recorded especially for the event and a recording of the entire dialog panel are available on the TraCe YouTube channel. The Gießener Anzeiger and the Gießener Allgemeine also reported on the event.
With more than ten short presentations and three keynotes, the subsequent academic conference in English covered a broad conceptual range: from excessive violence and legal frameworks in past and present on an international scale, civil wars and intrastate violence to questions of (re-)establishing justice following the use of excessive violence. There were lively discussions between the members of TraCe and international academics. The presence of panelists on the dialog panel deepened the dialog between academia and practice from the previous day.
The scientific part of the TraCe annual conference began with welcoming remarks by organizer Thilo Marauhn. This was followed by Keynote 1 by Horst Carl (Giessen) on “Excessive Violence in the German Peasant's War”, which offered a historical perspective on the topic.
On the first panel, the speakers talked about “Excessive International Violence”. Hendrik Simon (Frankfurt) gave a lecture with a historical perspective on “The Birth of the Modern Prohibition of War in the Shadow of Excessive Violence (1792- 1815)”. Taufiq E Faruque (Leiden) made a transition to current events with his lecture “Myanmar's Rohingyas and Cyclic Persecution: From British Colonialism to Contemporary Forced Conscription” and Daniel R. Quiroga-Villamarin (Geneva) spoke on “With Friends Like These: The Rights of Allies as a Pretext for Violence in International Legal Thought”.
After a joint lunch and the opportunity for direct exchange, Riccardo Vecellio Segate (Groningen) gave a lecture on “Legality and Legitimacy of Violence” on the second panel. On the third panel “Excessive Internal Violence: Civil War”, Wolfgang Minatti (Florence) gave insights into the justification of violence in Colombia.
After a short coffee break, the speakers of the fourth panel dealt with “Counter Terrorism” in various countries. José Rodrigo Moreno (Ecuador) spoke on “From Crime to Crackdown: Ecuador's Perpetual Loop of Violence and State Overreach” and Ali Ashraf (Dhaka) on “Global Norms or Local Imperatives: Explaining Variations in the Use of Force in Countering Terrorism in Bangladesh”.
The first day of the conference ended with Keynote 2 by Hanna Pfeifer (Hamburg) on “Excessive Force and Violence by State and Non-State Actors. A Critical Reflection Based on Recent Conflicts in West Asia and North Africa” and her definition of excessive force.
Following an exchange between the scientific advisory board and the TraCe members in the morning, the second day of the conference began with Keynote 3 on “Excessive Occupation” and a legal perspective on the topic by Eyal Benvenisti (Cambridge).
After lunch, Jonas Wolff (Frankfurt) gave a presentation on “The Killing of Social Activists: Excessive Use of Force Outsourced?”. In addition, the fifth panel “Deadly Force at the National and Subnational Level” included insights into other countries through the contribution of Ariadne Natal and Peter Kreuzer (Frankfurt) on “Politico-institutional Determinants of Police Excessive Use of Deadly Force: Comparing Brazil and the Philippines on the National and Subnational Levels”.
The sixth and final panel “Justice After Excessive Violence” concluded the conference with presentations by Pia Falschebner (Marburg) on “Seeking (Transitional) Justice Through Truth and Memory: Victim Mobilization in Morocco” and by Maria Hartmann (Marburg) on “Decolonizing Syrian Justice in Battles of Ownership: The Koblenz Trials Inside and Beyond the Courtroom”.
After words of thanks from Thilo Marauhn, the scientists continued to talk about the past few days at the subsequent reception.
