Since 2021, the Dear Future Sustainability Festival has been addressing issues, background information, and solutions related to sustainability in Dresden and the surrounding area. It follows in the footsteps of the Umundu Festival. With a different focus each year, a wide range of events encourage reflection, exchange, and self-activation. In addition, a diverse group of local actors are involved, offering various points of contact and thus strengthening the network for ecological and socially just change at the local level.

The Dear Future - Dresden Sustainability Festival in 2026 with the annual title "Connected - Für ein faires, globales Miteinanderr" will focus on the topic of decolonization. It will address the question of how historical inequalities continue to influence global developments today and how they shape ideas of a fairer and more sustainable future. Decolonization means more than just the independence of former colonies. It is about recognizing the continuing colonial structures in politics, society, the economy, and the environment—and finding ways to overcome them.

In terms of politics, the focus is on strengthening independence and fair cooperation. The aim is to question power relations and promote equal cooperation. Socially, it is about recognizing diversity, different experiences, and forms of knowledge—and about dismantling racist and discriminatory structures. In economics, the question arises as to how colonial patterns—such as unequal trade relations or the exploitation of raw materials—continue to shape development opportunities today and how they can be counteracted. Decolonization also plays a central role in ecology: it calls for greater environmental justice and the inclusion of indigenous perspectives in climate and environmental issues.

Decolonial perspectives also call for a rethinking of the separation between humans and nature. Instead of viewing nature solely as a resource, the aim is to understand it as part of a network of relationships—as the basis for a more just and sustainable environmental policy and future.

Together with many different cooperation and program partners, speakers, and participants, a shared space for listening, reflecting, (un)learning, exchanging ideas, and taking action will be created.