The founders of the re:publica inaugurated the anniversary edition of the conference to thunderous applause in the STATION Berlin, with old collaborators and colleagues onstage who have been there since day one: Kathrin Passig, Nicole Ebber, Tim Pritlove and Thomas Knüwer.

A lot has changed on the road to re:publica TEN. More than 7,000 expected visitors instead of 700, STATION at Gleisdreieck instead of Kalkscheune. In the beginning, people still addressed each other by their Twitter handles. Twitter was still brand new, Facebook wasn't even available in German yet. And at some point, the moment came when people started talking about a "next time".

The aim was always to preserve the revolutionary character and not just manage the status quo. To be a kind of class reunion that also always has its eye on the future. And it's still possible to be that same community from that initial event, even in the giant station of today. The re:publica is still "standing around the courtyard, lots of colourful plastic chairs and cool people".

"The internet isn't a legal vacuum." That topic shaped the first years. The watershed then came in 2013, Edward Snowden revealed the mass surveillance. Since then the protection of the internet has taken centre stage - against surveillance, hate, sexism and racism. The re:publica founders stipulate "post love, not hate". This is why the focus for 2016, spread over the 17 stages, is how the digital citizen can assert their basic rights.

And from October 20th, all this will be available in English: re:publica goes Dublin. The re:publica put out its feelers and will be launching an offshoot in Ireland. More info coming soon.

Image: re:publica/Jan Zappner (CC BY 2.0)