The spread of COVID-19 and the ensuing global lock-down as governments try to slow the spread of the corona virus has tested individuals and institutions around the world. Since March of 2020, the ACG has stepped up its digital programming by hosting webinars and video discussions which bring together policy makers and thought leaders from both sides of the Atlantic to discuss some of the key issues shaping transatlantic relations in an unprecedented time. In addition to organizing events on its own, the ACG has also partnered with other organizations such as 1014 and Atlantik-Brücke to launch new series designed to reach beyond the ACG community.
For the fifth session of Resilience and Adaption, on May 26, the ACG and 1014 hosted a discussion with Nina Lemmens and Daniela Kaisth on the ways in which civil society is coping with the current crisis and how the philanthropic community is responding.
Seemingly over night, education changed as restrictions related to COVID-19 went into effect. On May 22, the ACG hosted a webinar how the coronavirus has changed schooling on both sides of the Atlantic. Speakers included Susana O’Daniel, Director of Public Affairs for the Arkansas Education Association; Daniela Schneckenburger, Commissioner of the Department for School, Youth, and Family for the City of Dortmund; and Laura Ward, Vice President of Talent Development, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
As part of the virtual 2020 German-American Conference, on May 21, the ACG and Atlantik-Bruecke hosted a discussion with Ambassador Boris Ruge, Vice-Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, and Gregory F. Treverton, Professor of the Practice of International Relations and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California and former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, discussed whether or not we could have anticipated this pandemic with Dr. Constanze Stelzenmüller, Kissinger Chair on Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress and a Senior Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution.
In an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, many businesses have closed. Many people are working from home – but not everyone is able to do so. An almost complete lock-down has magnified existing social inequalities and the digital divide. On May 19, the ACG hosted a discussion with thought leaders in the fields of digitalization and AI Gesche Joost, Professor for Design Research at the Berlin University of the Arts, and Mona Sloane of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University, discussed the benefits and barriers created through digitalization in this unprecedented time. This event was held in partnership with 1014.
Federal, state, and local governments are having to manage the potential trade-off between individual freedoms and the greater good as they manage an unprecedented public health and public safety crisis. On May 18, the ACG and the RBFAA hosted a discussion with Caroline Fredrickson, Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, and Arnd Henze, editor and reporter with WDR, on how to balance these interests in a conversation moderated by Cordell Carter, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Socrates Program.