The Left Berlin News & Comment

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Month: May 2023

Letter from the Editors: 4th May 2023

Stop Green warmongering, support Palestinians in court, and BLM and Palestine


04/05/2023

Hello everyone,

This evening (Thursday), at 7pm, the LINKE Berlin Internationals have their latest organising meeting to plan future events. There’s plenty to organise – from the Nakba demonstration, political walking tours, a visit from Azad Essa, Senior Reporter for Middle East Eye, and a film showing. Above all, there’s preparation for Summer Camp on 10th-11th June. The meeting is open to anyone who’s interested and will be in Erif Eralp’s office, Zeughofstraße 22, Kreuzberg (or in Görlitzer Park if the weather is good, so please be punctual).

On Saturday, there’s the Remembrance Event Book Exchange. This is a memorial event to reclaim the space where the Institute of Sexual Sciences used to stand until May 6 1933. With this 90 years remembrance event the emphasis is on Trans and Jewish perspectives and histories. There will be a book exchange with the option of listening to speeches at the institute’s memorial. You are encouraged to bring queer and Jewish books and Zines to exchange and enjoy on a picnic blanket in the sunshine. The event starts at midday in Tiergarten.

There are 2 more cases this week of Palestinians having to defend themselves in the German courts. On Tuesday, Pary El-Qalqili is appealing a fine of over €300 for taking part in a minute’s silence on Nakba day last year. Then on Wednesday, Palestinian journalist Farah Maraqa is back in court. After a judge found Deutsche Welle guilty on all charges when they sacked Farah, DW have the audacity to challenge the decision. Please go to both court cases to support Pary and Farah.

  • Tuesday 9th May, 10am: Amtsgericht Tiergarten, Kirchstraße 6 (U-Bahn Turmstraße)
  • Wednesday, 10th May; 11am, Room 341, Arbeitsgericht Berlin, Magdeburger Platz 1 (U-Bahn Kurfürstenstraße)

On Tuesday, to mark the anniversary of the Second World War, there will be a rally against war and to thank the liberators. The VVN-BdA is organising the rally from 9am at the Soviet war memorial in Treptower Park with the following demands: “Join with us against war, patriotism and nationalism! Against all historical revisionism! Immediate reparations for all living war prisoners from all republics of the former Soviet Union! Acceptance of all people who flee war and poverty, stop the racist admission practise! Stop the armaments spiral now! Solidarity, not nationalism! Spasibo, thank you, merci!”

Also on Tuesday, at 5pm there will be a demonstration against the warmongering of the Green Party and co. The Green Party, which once regarded itself as a “party of peace” is now driving militarism and celebrating the military escalation in Ukraine. Instead of seriously looking for alternatives to a long-lasting war of attrition with thousands of dead on both side, the Green want to “ruin Russia” (Baerbock). But even more weapons will not end the deaths. Quite the reverse. The demo starts at the Green party HQ at Platz vor dem Neuen Tor 1 * Berlin-Mitte, and will visit the FDP offices, the German army showroom, and the Rheinmetall Büro at Brandenburger Tor. It is organised by Rheinmetall Entwaffnen, who are our Campaign of the Week.

On Thursday, at 7pm, Clifton West, founder of Black Lives Matter Seacoast will be speaking on Black US Americans and Palestinians: Two united fights of liberation. From leading figures in the civil rights movement in the 1960s like Malcolm X and Angela Davis, to Black Lives Matter activists and Black athletes, Black US Americans have supported the Palestinian civil rights movement. Clifton will be giving a more clear look at this alliance – why it happened, where it stands today given the actual political situation in the USA and the fight against racism there. Clifton will be speaking in English, and the meeting will be in the Neues Deutschland building, Franz-Mehring Platz 1.

There are many more activities this week in Berlin, which are listed on our Events page. You can also see a shorter, but more detailed, list of Events which we are directly involved in here.

In News from Berlin, mass arrests of Last Generation activists, police prevent the Revolutionary 1st May demo from reaching its end point, and controversy over possible AfD support for new mayor Kai Wegner.

In News from Germany, Islamophobic messages from Springer press CEO Döpfner revealed, fewer Covid vaccinations recommended, simpler gender registration seems to be on its way, and Tübingen’s mayor leaves the Green party after repeatedly using the N- word.

Read all about this week’s News from Berlin and Germany here.

New on theleftberlin this week, Miho Soon argues that there should be no stigma in receiving benefits, and Yoav Haifiwi remembers when Palestinians working for the Israeli trade union defied a ban preventing them from striking on Mayday.

This week’s Video of the week is a recording of last Saturday’s meeting 75 Jahre Nakba: Anti-Palästinensischer Rassismus & Repressionen in Berlin. The meeting is largely in German, but Farah Maraqa’s contribution is in English.

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If you would like to contribute any articles or have any questions or criticisms about our work, please contact us at team@theleftberlin.com. And do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.

Keep on fighting

The Left Berlin Editorial Board

News from Berlin and Germany, 3rd May 2023

Weekly news round-up from Berlin and Germany


03/05/2023

NEWS FROM BERLIN

555 criminal charges against “Last Generation” last week

At the end of the “Last Generation” protest week on Friday, the Berlin police presented a preliminary balance of operations. By noon on Friday, 555 criminal charges had been filed and 320 administrative offence procedures initiated. The police also counted a total of 829 participants in the protests at 78 different locations in the capital, 202 of whom, according to the information, had glued themselves to the streets. They said that 21 ambulance operations had been hindered, and 7 emergency personnel had been injured. The climate group is calling for more decisive action against climate change and for the establishment of a social council with members drawn by lot. Source: rbb

Revolutionary May 1st Demo cut short

The new red-black Berlin state government has welcomed reports of a quiet May 1st. The revolutionary demonstration was forced to dissolve early at Kottbusser Tor instead of reaching the planned finish at Oranienplatz. This was due to a massive police presence at the newest Police station at Kotti. The organization ‘Rote Hilfe’ (Red Aid) have said that the police formation made it practically impossible for the demonstrators to leave. The police then began to storm into the crowd and arrest individuals. “Several people had panic attacks, it is only thanks to the level-headed reaction of the demonstration participants that there were no mass panics,” explains the Rote Hilfe. The organisers made the decision at this point to dissolve the demonstration. Source: nd-aktuell

Did the new CDU Mayor need the AfDs help?

Kai Wegner (CDU) was only elected governing mayor in the third round of voting. And now the AfD has claimed only thanks to their support. Can this be true? He needed an overall majority of 80 votes, which with the entire support of the 86 CDU and SPD members, he would have had. However, in the first two rounds, Wegner did not make it. In the third round, he got his absolute majority (even though, by this time only needing a relative majority) with 86 votes for, 70 against and 3 abstentions. There was a full turn out. As it is a secret ballet, we can not know who the 86 were. Although it is possible that it was exclusively CDU and SPD, given the results of the rounds before and the fact the AfD claims it told its members to vote for Wegner, it certainly plausible that Wegner only won with the help of the AfD. In any case, the AfD made a direct effort to spread its own spin. Source: taz

 

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Apology from Döpfner demanded

The Alliance against Islamophobia and Muslimophobia (CLAIM) has called on the CEO of the Axel Springer media company, Mathias Döpfner, to apologise for his racist statement concerning Muslim people. The weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” had reported on messages allegedly sent within the Springer group. The quotes listed also included derogatory comments about East Germans and criticism of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). “Free west, fuck the intolerant Muslims and all the other Gesochs” reads one of Döpfner’s private messages. Döpfner has publicly apologised for controversial statements made in internal company news, but an apology to the equally defamed group of Muslims has so far not been forthcoming. Source: islamiq

Covid: vaccinate with and without recommendation

The Standing Commission on Vaccination (Stiko) published this week a recommendation, where the urgency of a vaccination has been reduced. According to the report, children and adolescents without previous or underlying medical conditions no longer are receommended to get a vaccination. Such withdrawal of the vaccination recommendation has triggered fierce indignation. The immunologist Carsten Watzl said at the presentation of the report however that this did not mean a ban on vaccinating children and adolescents. The Stiko currently recommends an annual vaccination booster for people over 60 years of age, people with “relevant underlying diseases”, nursing home residents and medical and nursing staff. Source: nd-aktuell

Self-determination law: emancipation comes slowly

The regulation for a simplified change of gender registration is taking shape: people who do not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth are to be able to change their registered gender and first name more easily in future under the Self-Determination Act. Instead of having to submit lengthy and expensive psychological reports in court proceedings, as was previously the case under the Transsexuals Act, it will, in the future, be possible to change one’s civil status by going to the registry office. As before, it is possible to choose between the entries male, female, diverse and no entry. Source: nd-aktuell

Tübingen’s Mayor resigns from the Greens after racist comments

Tübingen’s Mayor Boris Palmer has announced he will be taking “time-off” and has resigned from the Green party. This comes after he publicly used and endorsed the use of racist language, such as the N-word, in a conference in Frankfurt am Main. In a statement, Palmer said he would be taking time off from Mayoral office, however made no mention of resigning from his party. Later that same day, the Green party made an announcement that he will be resigning from the Party, effective immediately. Source: swr

Who is Entitled to Celebrate May Day Under Israeli Apartheid?

When the Israeli trade unions banned the Palestinians working for them from striking – and the Palestinians struck anyway


In the seventies (back then in the previous century) I was an activist in a small Trotskyist organization named “The Workers Alliance.” We were absolutely serious about organizing the working class in Palestine, Arab, Jews and everybody else, to lead a socialist revolution and liberate Palestine. Some of our daily activities were to organize workers’ committees and to support workers striking for their rights. One of those strike left a special impression in my mind.

It was in the first days of May when I heard that workers in a big factory on the way north from Haifa to Akka (Acre) were on strike. I went there to see what was going on. The workers were hanging around the factory’s closed doors, so it was easy to speak with them. I sat with members of the workers’ committee, who were happy to express their complaints to me.

The factory was collectively owned by the surrounding Kibbutzim – Jewish-only Zionist community settlements. The workers were coming from the nearby Arab towns (still called “villages,” though they lost their land to Zionist confiscation and became workers’ sleeping neighborhoods). They explained why working in a Kibbutz factory was worse than in many capitalist factories. There is not only one boss, but every manager, engineer, clerk, or worker from one of the Kibbutzim is part of the management. And even the most professional workers have no opportunity for promotion, as all the good jobs are preserved for Kibbutz people.

But they were not on strike trying to improve their conditions. In Arabic, when there is a quarrel, they say: “It didn’t break out because of the pomegranate, but because of the full heart.” The pomegranate in our case came with International Workers Day, which we are used to simply calling the First of May. In those days the Zionist “Histadrut” still pretended to be a “Socialist Trade Union”, and the Kibbutzim were all organized as part of the Histadrut. The Histadrut called for a big May Day demonstration in Tel Aviv, and the Kibbutz people were preparing to participate.

Closing the factory was not a simple thing – it contained industrial facilities that were operated 24 hours, 7 days a week. Closing them and then restarting operations was quite complex and costly, and was done only once a year on Jewish Kippur. So, the Kibbutz managers informed the Arab workers that they are not allowed to take a day off on First of May. When the workers’ committee protested, their managers retorted that, unlike the Kibbutz people who planned to go to the First of May demonstration, the Arab workers have no class consciousness, and they wanted the day off just to go and have a barbecue with their families.

That was too much, and the workers closed the factory on May the First. The strike continued over the next days, as the workers demanded to be paid for their day off.

I do not know who won the strike. The Kibbutzim still control the confiscated lands and the state-subsidized factories. But I think that, since then, they, at least, gave up their attempt to keep a monopoly over class consciousness.

This article first appeared on the FreeHaifa blog. Reproduced with permission

Rheinmetall Entwaffnen

Demilitarize the weapons industry


9th May is the shareholders’ meeting of Rheinmetall, where the war corporation distributes the blood money it has earned from the sale of weapons, deadly ammunition and other war equipment in the world’s wars. As every year, the amount of profits from war and suffering will be announced on this day. And 2022 was a good year for the managers of death. While the champagne corks are still popping, we will be in the streets protesting.

The alliance “Rheinmetall Entwaffnen” opposes militarisation, rearmament and arms exports. It is committed to an intersectional and internationalist anti-militarism. We are working to build a diverse, broad movement against rearmament, arms production and war. In recent years, we have made our presence felt with mass actions of civil disobedience and blockades against the arms industry in Kassel, Oberndorf and Unterlüß, among other places.

War is the worst outbreak of violence of patriarchal capitalism. People are exploited, injured, and killed by the industrialised war machine. Survivors are often left speechless and actionless. As the binarisation of gender and gender roles takes place, so too does increasing violence, against LGBTQI+, against women, against children, against all who cannot or will not live conformist lives.

The so-called feminist foreign policy plans military interventions in the Global South to secure resources for a few. It means that the actions of a few elite women are also responsible for the hunger of large parts of the world’s population, and no longer exclusively those of elite men. In feminist foreign policy, the law of the strongest applies. Feminist foreign policy shakes hands with fascists and laughs at extra-legal executions. It is nationalist and bellicose. In short, “feminist foreign policy” is anti-feminist.

Our feminism is anti-militarist. We are loud and creative and intervene where we are. For us, this means concretely attacking the warmongering of the German state and those who make profits from the production of weapons, tanks and other war equipment.

The Greens, who many decades ago saw themselves as a “peace party”, are now pushing militarisation ever further and fuelling the escalation of war in Ukraine. Instead of seriously seeking alternatives to a protracted war of attrition with thousands of deaths on both sides, the Greens want to “ruin Russia” (Baerbock) and proclaim “Ukraine must win. That’s it.” (Göring-Eckardt). At the same time, rearmament projects and arms deliveries cannot go fast enough for them. But even more weapons will not put an end to the dying. Quite the contrary.

Left anti-militarists, anti-imperialists, feminists, Kurdistan solidarists, people fighting against the border regime, trade unionists and climate activists – let’s betray the war together!

There are corporations, production sites, offices and other war and crisis profiteers everywhere. Join planned demonstrations and actions or visit war profiteers in your neighbourhood.

Düsseldorf, 9 May, from 11.55 a.m., Rheinmetall-Platz 1

Berlin, 9 May, 5 p.m., Platz vor dem neuen Tor 1

In Rostock, from 5 to 11 May, UDT Entwaffnen is organising a protest camp against the UDT undersea weapons fair, in which Rheinmetall is also involved.