The Left Berlin News & Comment

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Month: January 2023

Radio Berlin International#18 – Wir haben es Satt / Stop Trade With Settlements / Oh Jeremy Corbyn

with Inka Lange from the Wir Haben Agrarindustrie Satt! Coalition, Doris Ghannam from the ECCP, and Norman Thomas, producer of “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie”:


10/01/2023

In this episode, we hear from:

The playlist is:

  • Formidable Vegetable – Yield
  • Brass Riot feat. Mondmann – Alle Wollen Alles
  • Formidable Vegetable – Many Many (Revegetated)
  • Paul Robeson – Joe Hill (Live)
  • David Rovics – Occupation
  • Robb Johnson – It’s Not About Us

This episode is presented and produced by Tom Wills.

Please tell us what you think of the show by emailing radio@theleftberlin.com.

You can hear previous episodes of Radio Berlin International here.

The potential coup in Brazil is not over

A fascist mob challenges Brazilian democracy under this slogan “God, Country, and Family”. Professors Mariana Kalil and Thiago Rodrigues warn that the police cannot be trusted to stop them.


In Brazil, we have our own brand of fascism. It is called integralism, and since the 1920s its slogan has been “God, Country, and Family”. In the past years, they have added freedom to the mix, but a very particular type of freedom. They claim to rescue the soul of the Brazilian national identity from exogenous ideologies such as communism. Their definition of communism – or of a Marxist cultural revolution – is paranoid and conspiratory: the dictatorship of the politically correct would epitomize the ongoing war against a true nationality. Pillars of the post-1945 order, liberal democracy and the social democracy, are deemed evils that distort the authentic nature of the Brazilian nation. For integralists, the military are the gatekeepers of an allegedly authentic “democracy”, one that defends the opposite of the politically correct, and that could, hence, be described as racist, misogynist, and repressive toward those considered outcasts. The very idea that Brazil is a racial democracy is integralist to its core, as it intentionally overlooks structural inequalities, as well as the everyday violence and prejudice Black Brazilians face.

On January 8th 2023, an integralist mob stormed into Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Presidential Palace in Brasília, the capital city of Brazil. Aiming at occupying them and overthrowing the sitting President just one week after the inauguration, they believe the Lula administration will transform Brazil into a communist country. Reinforcing their idea that the Armed Forces and the security forces would support their revolution, the military police in Brasília actually escorted the mobs from their meeting point in front of the Army’s headquarter all the way to the Esplanada (Brazil’s National Mall) in a roughly one-hour walk. The police were entirely aware of the mob’s intentions: they had been explicit on social media, and intelligence, as well as the media, had been monitoring them. They sought to occupy the buildings of the three constituted powers to create a situation where Lula would be forced to resign.

At first, police forces offered only symbolic resistance to the integralists’ invasion of Congress and no resistance at all to their invasion of the Supreme Court and the Presidential Palace. Indeed, cameras caught police officers taking selfies and buying coconut water as the mob invaded and destroyed the symbols of the Brazilian republic. This behavior is highly contrasting with the police’s treatment of left wing peaceful demonstrators, especially when they are Black. In these cases, police brutality is absolutely trivial in Brazil. As the majority of the integralist mobsters wear Brazil’s soccer jersey, social media was buzzing with the idea that Paris Saint German’s Neymar is the only one to get beaten while wearing said uniform.

The police reacted only when Supreme Court Justices, Congress Reps, and the Executive branch threatened to enforce a constitutional federal intervention in the capital city which would oust the governor and other members of his cabinet, transferring the political administration of Brasília to the federal government for a predetermined period of time, a measure that must be vetted by Congress. The governor, Ibaneis Rocha, then rushed to fire the public safety secretary who, curiously enough, was in Florida, United States, where the former President Jair Bolsonaro sought refuge days before the end of his tenure. By the way, Anderson Torres had been Bolsonaro’s Minister of Justice, and Ibaneis had been consistently warned against naming Torres his public safety secretary. Even though Lula proposed an intervention circumscribed to Brasília’s public safety, which will be swiftly vetted in Congress, as we write this column the Supreme Court ordered a 90-days quarantine for Rocha from Brasília’s government so he does not meddle in the investigations.

It was a busy Sunday evening in police stations across Brasília. After Rocha fired Torres, the police actually controlled the crowds and it has been reported that 204 have been arrested. Others went back to camp in the front of the Army’s headquarters, and when the police showed up to make arrests to dissolve the camp, Army officials stood up against the police. At a glance, this seems like the Army had the mobsters’ backs, and it might be in some, or even most, of the Army officers’ interests to actually defend those citizens who include family members, former officials, and friends. However, since the immediate neighborhood of the headquarters is technically military territory, there is a margin for them to declare the camps under their jurisdiction, which does not excuse their harboring of political criminals who were caught, but provides them with enough of a gray area.

Once again, as we write this column in the morning of January 9th, the Army itself is dismantling the camp in front of Brasília’s headquarters, as well as the one in front of Rio de Janeiro’s. Yet, those in other key cities such as São Paulo still remain intact. In Brasília, another 1.200 people have been filed at the federal police station after being collected in the camp. Some living in those camps under military jurisdiction across Brazil have been there since early November, days after the second round of the elections, when Lula was declared the winner. They have been demanding a military coup to rescue Brazil’s soul from an alleged communism and to enforce a regime based on “God, Country, and Family” thus conquering their supposed true freedom. There have been disagreements between Lula’s Ministers of Justice and Defense over how to proceed regarding those camps. Flavio Dino, the Justice Minister, understands they are a breeding ground for terrorism, as shown in the December 24th terrorist attempt to detonate a bomb in a fuel truck heading to the international airport. José Múcio, the Defense Minister, claimed “there are very fine people on both sides”, and that even he himself has friends in the camps. Of course, following the invasion of the three constitutional powers’ headquarters in Brasília, Múcio was obliged to change his position, ordering the Armed Forces to remove the camps from their territories. It is, however, a mystery whether they will indeed do so given there are military families in the camp, as well as former military, besides the camps beefing up the Armed Forces’ political leverage.

Mariana Kalil is a Professor at the Brazilian War College and Senior Fellow at the South American Institute for Policy and Strategy (ISAPE), Brazil.

Thiago Rodrigues is a Professor at the Institute for Strategic Studies, Fluminense Federal University, and Vice-President of the Fluminense Federal University’s Faculty Union, Brazil.

Phil Butland’s Year in Film 2022

What you should see – what you should definitely avoid


05/01/2023

This is my fifth annual review of films that I’ve seen (follow the links for articles on 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021). This year, I reviewed 287 films – more than ever before. This meant that there were a few more pleasant surprises than previous years, but also many more duds. This year’s list of films to avoid is longer than ever.

Generally speaking, I’m never a great fan of Hollywood films, but this year contained a number of “alternative” films (such as Licorice Pizza, Elvis and Triangle of Sadness), which were loved by some friends, but didn’t do much for me. It’s surprising how many of this year’s favourites were only very briefly in the cinema. I recommend trying to seek them out if you missed them.

The normal rules apply. These are all films that I saw, either in the cinema or on a pre-release press stream, and which first appeared in Berlin cinemas in 2022. If you’d like to argue the toss with me about these or any other films, please feel free to subscribe to my film blog.

Film of the Year: Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Documentary about the “Black Woodstock” – 6 weeks of free concerts in Harlem in 1969. Worth it for the soundtrack alone, the film has a very shrewd understanding of the growth of the Black Power movement in the late 1960s, and its effect on a change of orientation in Black music. The sensational music builds up to a crescendo with a breathtaking performance by Nina Simone playing Young, Gifted and Black. Mixing music and politics has rarely been so much fun.

Film 2 – Liebe, D-Mark und Tod

There has been Turkish music in Germany ever since the arrival of Gastarbeiter in the 1960s. For the first couple of decades, this music was played largely inside Turkish-German communities. As Turkish migrants started to realise that their visit was less temporary than planned, the music became more mainstream. Many German-Turkish musicians identified with US rappers’ anti-racism. All this and more in a fascinating look at how music, social experience and politics interact.

Film 3 – Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

I’ve noticed how many of my films of 2022 are those which could have easily not worked. Bardo, Alejandro Iñárritu‘s follow up to Birdman and The Revenant, is nearly 3 hours long, willfully quirky and barely comprehensible for long periods of time. I normally hate films like this, but somehow it just works. In among all the weird shit, Bardo is a perceptive consideration of the identity of “first-class immigrants” – people with a good job in a different country who still suffer racism.

Film 4 – The Divide

Drama set in a French hospital on the edge of a Yellow Vests protest which has been attacked by the police. We see tensions between white- and blue-collar workers as they make assumptions about each other’s political ideas and the depth of their solidarity. Sub-plots mingle to produce a film which is both deep and has an astute understanding of the state of modern France. A film which could have easily been gauche and patronizing benefits from some very deft directing.

Film 5 – Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

Because of Science, a group of Japanese slackers are able to communicate with their past selves – from 2 minutes ago. Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a Japanese comedy about the Droste Effect, a scientific theory about infinite reflections through time. Unlike most science-based comedies, it is equally intelligent and silly, understanding the theories but never taking itself too seriously. It’s all the more fun for being filmed in real time. This year’s hidden gem.

Film 6 – Happening

2022 was a bumper year for Annie Ernaux, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature and recently released a film of her Super 8 Films. This film, showing the realities for working class women trying to get an abortion in 1963 France, is also based on one of Ernaux’s books. It is an unsentimental look at a period where the sexual revolution was kicking off but not yet accompanied by legal protection for women. Essential viewing as a backlash hits the USA, Poland and elsewhere.

Film 7 – The Reason I Jump

Incredibly sympathetic film which attempts to do the impossible – articulate what it is like to experience severe autism. We see several autistic kids and their families and witness their different responses to time, colour and water, as well as the frustration they feel when they are not able to make themselves understood. The more you try to intellectually understand, the harder it is to articulate this in words, so maybe it’s better just to go and see the film for yourself.

Film 8 – See How They Run

2022 contained some profound films, and several which were keen to show off their large budget. There were few films which were as much fun as this one. A murder mystery caper in which the murder happens in the opening scenes, and no-one really cares about who did it or why. It is all just the setup for a bunch of top rate actors running around and being silly. Films like this are often self-indulgent vanity pieces, which are fun to make but excruciating to watch. This one just works.

Film 9 – Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W Bush

Another film which could have gone dreadfully wrong with insensitive direction. A gauche working class Turkish-German woman travels to Washington after her son is sent to Guantanamo Bay. With the help of a conventional liberal lawyer, she sues the US government. In the course of all this, she learns of the complicity of Germany’s Red-Green government in her son’s incarceration. Based on a tragic true story, it is also a very funny comedy which never patronizes its main characters.

Film 10 – Time of Pandemics

Excellent documentary by Rehad Desai, director of Miners Shot Down and Everything Must Fall. Time of Pandemics explains how Covid swept through sub-Saharan Africa and particular South Africa. It is an indictment of the post-Apartheid government which did not learn from the earlier AIDS epidemic, preferring to line their own pockets. The film does not just blame South African governments, but also shows the culpability of conservative US governments and the WTO.

Film 11 – The Tragedy of Macbeth

Does anyone remember this one? A superior production of Shakespeare’s play directed by Joel Coen, atypically working without brother Ethan. Filmed in eerie monochrome, It looks spectacular and shows how Shakespeare can really work in the cinema. There’s a stellar cast led by Denzel Washington and Frances MacDormand, and the script’s not bad either. After a few misfires by the Coen brothers, this felt like a return to form for at least one of them.

Film 12 – Blue Bayou

Blue Bayou is a drama which was only very briefly in cinemas, which is a great shame. On one level, it’s a family drama, but it also a heart rending depiction of the difficulties that some Asian Americans still have in retaining their citizenship. It is the story of the “mixed” couple Antonio and Kathy, who are constantly faced with everyday racism and institutional bureaucracy, while they are just trying to get by in the modern USA. All this and a Roy Orbison song too.

Film 13 – Sweet Disaster

A simple film about the chaotic life and love life of a kindergarten teacher with the help of her teenage neighbour and David Hasselhof (playing himself). On one level it is a bit of trivial fluff, although it does hit you deeper than you think. I saw Sweet Disaster twice this year – the second time by accident – but it was even better the next time round. Joyfully silly, and very similar in temperament and ambition to Cleo, one of my favourite films of the last few years.

Film 14 – Silêncio – Voices of Lisbon (aka Fado – Die Stimmen von Lissabon)

Ostensibly a documentary about Fado music, this film is much more. In particular, it looks at how gentrification is driving musicians and singers out of the centre of Lisbon. It has an ambiguous attitude towards the fleeting visitors who pass through on cruise ships. Tourists boost the local economy, while driving up the costs of food and housing. Changing economic circumstances are also changing the nature of songs being written, as we witness from the compelling soundtrack.

Film 15 – The Devil’s Light

The Devil’s Light, like Smile, also released this year, is part of a new wave of intelligent horror films. Early horror films were often more scary than political, while a second wave tried to explain everything in terms of social causes and individual trauma. Natalie, the leading character in The Devil’s Light is a trauma victim who is also in a fight with both Vatican patriarchy and the actual devil. Who’d have thought that a film about a female exorcist could be so much fun?

Film 16 – Strawberry Mansion

What a Douglas Coupland would look like if you could get someone to transfer its essence onto a film screen. Strawberry Mansion is self-aware and clued into popular culture, probably too much for its own good. Set in a strange universe where dreams are taxed, it follows a taxman and the old woman whose dreams he audits. He enters her dreams to have a relationship with her younger self. If you watch the film in the wrong mood you may end up hating it. Otherwise it’s a load of fun.

Film 17 – Debout les Femmes

Debout les Femmes started as a documentary about female hospital workers, but when COVID hit in 2020 the combination of health cuts and increased patient needs was devastating. The film sometimes concentrates too much on two male MPs (one left wing, one libertarian) trying to push a bill through parliament, but the strength and determination of fighting working class women repeatedly breaks through. It shows the necessity of struggle and how it can change our ideas.

Film 18 – Start Wearing Purple

Start Wearing Purple tells the story of the Berlin campaign to stop high rents by putting housing back into public ownership. The film shows how the campaign Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen initiated a referendum to expropriate the big landlords. It ends just before the announcement of the referendum’s victory. This in turn was followed by the refusal of Berlin’s SPD mayor to implement the demands. Essential viewing if you don’t know the story. It’s time for a sequel.

Film 19 – Bis wir Tod sind oder frei

A comedy drama showing an unlikely alliance between an opportunistic crook, a radical female lawyer and a rebellious rich kid in 1980s Switzerland. Bis wir Tod sind oder frei is one of those films which says it’s based on a true story, but you’re never sure how much artistic license is being used. It makes some serious points about prison, but with enough humour and character development to prick any pomposity. Much more fun than you might be expecting.

Film 20 – Me We

An Austrian drama about some problematic white responses to the “refugee crisis”. From the Guardian Angels who patrol bars, protecting “our girls”, via the unhealthy power relationship between a middle-class woman and the refugee she adopts, to the impatient activist helping out in Lesbos. The characters we see are all well-meaning but make the situation worse. Each is handled sensitively by a film which is able to differentiate between their good intentions and their effects.

And here are 8 films (in reverse order of badness) which you should just avoid):

8. Da kommt noch was A pedestrian satire on middle class pretensions, which has absolutely nothing to say, but is at least not downright offensive.

7. Risiken und Nebenwirkungen Yes, the privileged middle classes are as odious and racist as we think they are. We don’t need them making films about themselves to confirm this.

6. A-Man and the C-City Low-budget attempt to laugh at German Nazis. Would have worked better if it were actually funny.

5. Ticket to Paradise After shelling out money for George Clooney, Julia Roberts and an exotic location, they obviously had no money left to pay someone to write dialogue and plot.

4. Memoria Oh Tilda Swinton. You still rock, but what made you appear in this pretentious garbage?

3. Freibad Another German comedy which tries to be liberal (it even has a Muslim women in it) but ends up sneering at people who are poorer and darker skinned than itself.

2. Spencer – risible retelling of the Princess Diana story. The film wants us to love Di, but does this by portraying her as vain and living in an entirely different dimension.

My most hated film of 2022:

White Noise Maybe it’s because I saw it so recently, but I still repeatedly ask myself – just what is the point of this film? Other bad films can blame a lack of budget. White Noise just flaunts its inept pretension.

News from Berlin and Germany, 5th January 2023

Weekly news roundup from Berlin and Germany


NEWS FROM BERLIN

The new election and the “ex nunc effect”

Parties are again allowed to distribute flyers in Berlin, because on February 12th the vote for the Abgeordnetenhaus will be held for the second time in 18 months. The reason is well known: the first attempt in September 2021 was botched. Missing ballot papers, closed polling stations, and far too long queues – the list of mishaps was so long that the Constitutional Court of Berlin declared the elections invalid last November. Nevertheless, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the invalidity has an ex nunc effect: “It does not apply to the past, but to the future.” Source: ntv

Berlin takes over costs in case of energy disconnections

Sharp increases in energy costs are causing payment difficulties for many people in Berlin. Starting next week, however, those affected can get money from a hardship fund. This fund is intended to help people with low and medium income who can no longer pay their electricity or heating bills because of current price developments. Affected private households can apply to have their energy debts taken over. This applies to both threatened and already executed energy disconnections. The entire procedure can only be completed digitally, via an online form on the state portal berlin.de in the service area. Source: rbb24

Why small wind turbines are rare in Berlin and Brandenburg so far

Small wind turbines have so far led a shadowy existence in Berlin and Brandenburg. Ambitious projects on high-rise buildings or radio masts have failed due to difficult building laws. Approval is often complicated because building law makes no distinction between large and small wind turbines. However, Mowea GmbH, a spin-off start-up of TU Berlin, has two wind turbines on the roof of its headquarters at Storkower Straße 115A, coupled with a solar system. And a pilot project, at Frankfurter Allee 218, is about to start: its four planned small wind turbines on the high-rise roof are expected to receive approval soon. Source: rbb24

Around one in five of those arrested in Berlin are minors

Almost 150 people were arrested by police in connection with disturbances in Berlin on New Year’s Eve. According to the police, one in five of them was a minor. A total of 355 criminal and administrative offence proceedings have been initiated. In 89 cases, investigations are underway for violation of the Weapons Act, in 47 cases for dangerous bodily harm. Because many of the attacks happened against the fire brigade and police, politicians understand the social structure of the perpetrators as one of the sources of violence and demand better integration efforts for migrants in Germany. Source: rbb24

NEWS FROM GERMANY

The fight for every metre begins

The announcements of the Aachen police, who are responsible for the operations in the Rhenish lignite mining area, sounded reassuring: from January 2nd, there would be an increased police presence around Lützerath, but the eviction would only start from January 10th. But this Monday, the situation for the squatters in Lützerath turned out to be quite threatening. Several hundred police officers had taken up positions around the site of the Garzweiler II open-cast lignite mine. Journalists reported difficulties in getting to Lützerath, which was hindered by the police. Attacks by the police on arriving activists were also alleged. Source: nd

Long investigation against Björn Höcke

Two experts in criminal law have criticized the slow investigations by the public prosecutor’s office in Halle against Björn Höcke, the leader of the AfD party in Thuringia. The public prosecutor’s office has been investigating the right-wing extremist for around 19 months because he used the banned SA slogan “Alles für Deutschland” (All for Germany) in 2021. It is important to note that, according to section 86a, the use of signs of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations is punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine. Source: taz

Beetles against the motorway

It is not only in Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia that an occupation by climate activists could be evicted next week. Environmentalists are also facing decisive days near Frankfurt am Main. They have long been protesting a transportation project that has its origins back in the 1960s. The Riederwald Tunnel, a project from the Autobahn Era, was planned to relieve congestion in the city, but this is considered uncertain, not to mention the loss of life quality: local recreation areas such as the Fechenheim Forest, the Teufelsbruch and the Riederwald would be destroyed or massively damaged by the motorway project. Source: nd

Dzień po

The day after collective


The Polish government consistently tries to limit reproductive rights by making access to abortion and contraceptives difficult. In response, grassroots feminist initiatives provide basic medical services to fight this christian fundamentalist push.

Currently, we need to replenish our stocks of the day-after contraception pills, so we invite you to an info event about the “Day After” (“Dzień Po”) collective.

Soli event for grassroots feminist organizing for reproductive rights in poland – Discussion, polish snacks and more.

You can support us directly by bringing “the day after” pills!

07.I.2023 Solicafé Schlürf (Regenbogenfabrik)

17:00 Food, Glühwein, polish Schnaps, cocktails
18:00 Discussion on grassroot feminist organising for reproductive rights in Poland.
20:00 DJane(s)

There will be a short presentation and discussion about grassroots pro-choice organizing in poland and the idea of “demedicalisation” basic medical aid. There will be polish food, soli cocktails, polish schnaps and music to dance to.

We strongly encourage you to donate contraceptive pills based on ullipristal acetate (ellaOne or generics), or donate money.

Please don’t bring pills based on levonorgestrel – we rarely need them and anyway levo is a scam (we can elaborate on that during discussion!).

Get some EllaOne pills and come over!

In 2017, the polish right-wing government established a law to make the day-after contraceptive pill a prescription drug. This happened after a short three-year period during which one could access emergency contraception over the counter – according to EU recommendations, and shortly before a near total ban on abortion.

In response, we started the “Dzień Po” („the day after”) collective to provide direct access to emergency contraception that for many people in poland – especially young and those living in smaller cities – has become unavailable due to conservative and misogynistic politics.

As a collective we are also a part of pro-abortion movement and we wish to change the societal approach to what is commonly accepted and what is stigmatized: what is legal, regulated or criminalized.

We work in the paradigm of demedicalization and intersectionality. The current political situation in poland shows how crucial a grassroots solidarity movement is for providing access to basic medical services.

Come and hear more about our actions and participate in a discussion on approaches to demedicalized help. You can also bring gifts – emergency contraception with ullipristal acetate or generous donations that we’ll exchange for pills. For more information contact us at dzienpo@riseup.net.

Discussion will he held in English. German translation possible.

Note: we try to base our work on contreaception based on ulipristal acetate (ellaOne or others), because other contraceptive pills (PiDaNa, Levonoraristo, Unofem, Hexal, Postinor, Levonorgestrel Stada, Stada) need to be taken much quicker, and it is much more difficult to get them delivered on time.