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Month: January 2024

News from Berlin and Germany, 24th January 2024

Weekly news round-up from Berlin and Germany


24/01/2024

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Up to 100,000 people demonstrate against right-wing extremism in Berlin

Around 100,000 people demonstrated against right-wing extremism and the AfD in front of the Bundestag in Berlin on Sunday. At the start of the event, at 4 pm, 30,000 participants were on site, and within an hour the number of participants rose to up to 100,000. The organisers spoke of 350,000 participants. The event went until 6pm without incidents, a police spokeswoman told rbb. However, the Palastine block were separated from the main protest and were not allowed to rejoin the main body of the protest. In Munich, there also was a demonstration, where so many people gathered that the event was cancelled due to security concerns. The police stated there were 100,000 participants and organisers, 250,000. Source: rbb

Berlin politicians protest as more far-right meetings revealed

The protest started as Kristin Brinker (AfD) took to the podium to begin her speech at the Bundestag. Politicians from various parties – SPD, Greens, The Left and CDU – simply got up and left the hall, leaving only the speaker’s fellow AfD politicians remaining. The background to this demonstration of opposition was the highly controversial secret meeting last November, revealed by Correctiv, in which far-right groups and wealthy donors met to discuss plans for the mass deportations of foreigners from Germany. Later, it emerged Brinker was present at another meeting between radical right-wing extremists which took place at the apartment of the former CDU finance senator Peter Kurth. Source: exberliner

Berghain now being boycotted by DJs

It started with Manuka Honey and Jyoty: the two London-based DJs cancelled their participation in the opening night of the CTM Festival at Berghain on 12 January. They referred to the “Strike Germany” campaign: a collectively organised strike against state-funded cultural institutions and projects in Germany. One of the points of criticism mentioned on the Strike Germany website is the anti-discrimination clause initiated by Berlin’s Senator for Culture Joe Chialo (CDU). In this context, Strike Germany, like actors in the Berlin cultural world, criticises the application of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which is often criticised for making an inadequate distinction between antisemitism and criticism of Israeli politics. Source: Berliner Zeitung

 

NEWS FROM GERMANY

“Average rent increases of a horrendous 21 per cent”

The German Tenants’ Association fears a further drastic rise in rents due to the crisis in the construction sector and the lack of hundreds of thousands of flats. Even in high-price regions such as Munich, rents have risen more sharply than ever before in the past two years, even for existing contracts, Tenants’ Association President Lukas Siebenkotten told the newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine. “The current rent index for Munich showed average rent increases of a horrendous 21 per cent compared to the previous rent index, a shock for all tenants affected.” Siebenkotten reported tenants’ associations nationwide were receiving more and more requests for advice due to massive rent increases. Source: manager magazin

Nationwide demonstrations

Following the revelations by the research network `Correctiv’ about a secret meeting attended by AfD politicians and others, people in Germany have been taking to the streets against the right every day. On Sunday, 25,000 people took to the streets in Berlin alone. New protests are being organised throughout Germany every day. The `taz’ has compiled a some dates. The information is not exhaustive and has not yet been verified. Correctiv published new details during a staged reading at the Berliner Ensemble on 17 January. According to Correctiv, Mario Müller, formerly active in the right-wing extremist Identitarian movement, also spoke about his “fight against the left” at the meeting in November. Source: taz

Appeal for a ceasefire in Gaza

The appeal is clear: German, Canadian and American MPs urge US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to campaign for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution. In an open letter, they say: “We believe the price of defeating Hamas cannot be the acceptance of the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian civilian population. In the meantime, Israeli hostages have also fallen victim to the attacks. A renewed humanitarian ceasefire is needed immediately.” Many people in the German government and among the population are concerned about the situation and are trying to exert a positive influence in favour of a humanitarian solution. Source: taz

Hamburg demonstration ended due to overcrowding

Under the slogan “Hamburg stands up against right-wing extremism and neo-Nazi networks”, thousands of people demonstrated on Jungfernstieg last Friday. The rally was ended prematurely by the organisers for security reasons. The reason given for the cancellation was of overcrowding and therefore emergency services could no longer get through. According to the police, 50,000 people were present, but the crowds made it difficult to estimate the number. According to DGB Hamburg, which was one of the organisers of the rally, 80,000 people attended. SPD politician Kazim Abaci from the association Entrepreneurs without Borders, which also co-organised the demonstration, even spoke of 130,000 participants. Source: tagesschau

What is happening in Germany?

Palestine, the AfD and the German left.


All this week massive demonstrations have been taking place in Germany. This includes an estimated 350,000 who rallied on Sunday 21 January in Berlin.

The demos are in opposition to the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) participation in a meeting held by right wingers and fascists in which they proposed to ‘remigrate’ vast sections of the German population.

The Correktiv magazine reported on a meeting held in a villa by a lakeside addressed by a far right wing extremist Martin Sellner, the Austrian leader of the ethno-nationalist Identitarian movement.
Plans were outlined for the future of certain communities in Germany. These communities were to be relocated to a territory in North Africa.

The meeting was attended by several high level members of the AfD, a right wing populist party with an increasingly dominant fascist wing, several prominent businessmen and even some members of the Tory-like CDU party.

Not only ‘foreigners’ were to be dealt with in this way but also those German citizens that ‘failed to integrate’ were to be deported.

This can be passed off as the ravings of deluded extremists, but comes at a time when the AfD are becoming the second party and the main opposition to an increasingly unpopular Red-Green-Yellow coalition of the Labour-like SPD, the Greens and a smaller pro business party, the FDP.

In several important upcoming state elections the AfD may take the leading positions.

It’s also a populist movement that comes from the countryside, is badly handled by the authorities, and shows signs of being influenced by the far right. The AfD MP, fascist Björn Höcke, strongly supports the farmers protests and demands. Martin Seller also supports them, and on some demos the flag of the Landvolkbewegung, an antisemitic countryside movement from 1920s, has been seen.

At the same time, increasing authoritarianism is evident in German policing. This is especially true of protests agains Israeli genocide in Gaza.

In the wake of October 7th, protests against the Israeli assault on Gaza were banned by the police. In Berlin’s Neukölln district people were arrested for showing visible signs of support for Palestine, including the wearing of the Keffiyeh. The slogan ‘from the river to the sea’ is prohibited, under threat of arrest. A main street, Sonnenalle, in a largely migrant area, was sectioned off and people were forced to undergo identity checks.

During one pro-Palestine demo, Jewish activist Iris Hefets was arrested for holding up the placard, “As an Israeli Jew: Stop the genocide in Gaza”. She was arrested again during another demonstration shortly after.

Last Sunday, the 14th of January, police attacked the annual Luxemburg-Liebknecht march, which has been held since the 1920’s, except during the Nazi years. The excuse was the pro-Palestine participants participating in the march. The police claim that a person was using the banned slogan. The attack took place near the former Stasi HQ in east Berlin.

This follows the German government’s total support for Israel and it’s attacks on Gaza. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that support for Israel was a ‘reason of state’ for Germany. This is a semi-legal justification that makes Israel’s security a matter of national interest for Germany.

Some see this unwavering support as an exculpation of German guilt for the Holocaust, but other reasons may be involved.

It allows Germany to cover over its failure to fully denazify the state apparatus after the war. For example, many judges kept their positions. Consequently, antisemitism is still deeply imbedded in German society, and a long list of fascist organisations since the fall of Hitler has culminated in the AfD today. The police and other state security agencies show strong support for the right wing. Crime statistics regularly show that homegrown white supremacy far exceeds any supposed threat posed by people from a migrant background. The state knows this all too well, as a native-born German with far-right sympathies tried to shoot his way into a synagogue in the city of Halle in 2019, killing two people.

However a key reason for the German stance is that it allows Germany to cover its World War Two actions and remain on the international stage as an integral part part of the West’s military alliances.

The war in Ukraine saw a huge lurch towards militarism on behalf of the German government and its dominating parties. The traffic light coalition had planned to double the money – to €8 billion – given to Ukraine to continue the war against Russia. Germany is considering supplying Israel with around 10,000 rounds of 120-millimeter precision tank ammunition. This comes after other increases in military spending and a more aggressive stance towards the possibility of German military intervention through NATO, thus increasing the presence of German imperialism on the world stage.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz joined in the anti-AfD march that took place in Potsdam as did his Green Party foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. It is she, of course, that is leading the increases in military spending.

They are rightly condemning the proposition by the AfD to construct an ethno-nationalist state around German nationalism and racism. Unfortunately, at the same time in Saxony-Anhalt the CDU-led government has made citizenship conditional on the acceptance of the right of Israel, an ethno-nationalist state, to exist. This racist measure is to be debated in the Parliament, the Bundestag, and made to apply to the entirety of Germany. It is being proposed by the Tory CDU but it is said that other parties are sympathetic.

The German left however, has a problem.

The German wing of Fridays for Future separated from the global movement when Greta Thunburg declared her support for a ceasefire in Palestine. It is reported that they have also prohibited pro-Palestine protesters from joining the anti-AfD rally in Berlin.

This is not unusual. The majority of the left it seems, goes along withe the reasoning of the German state. This includes the majority of The Left Party. Leftists that support Palestine have been denounced as anti-semites by others, and some have branded pro-Palestine supporters as ‘Nazi ticks’. How deep this goes is indicated by the crisis in the proclaimed antifascist supporters of Hamburg football club St Pauli. International groups have felt forced to disaffiliate and some closed altogether after bitter exchanges and the club’s failure to move away from its pro-Israel position. This includes major groups in Italy and Scotland.

Through perseverance and courage Palestinians and their supporters in Germany have managed to win the space to hold demonstrations. These have become more frequent as the situation in Gaza becomes ever more dire. The marches and protests are overwhelmingly Palestinians, other migrant communities and nationals from other European countries. The German left, apart from a few groups, is absent. It seems however that they are somewhat detached from German public opinion. In a recent poll by a leading broadcaster, 61% of people said that they thought Israel’s actions were not justified, with only 25% supporting them.

This attitude of the left is very worrying. The scapegoating of Muslims and migrants by the state can only lead to further deepening of the support of the AfD. Whilst those on the left see Palestinians and Muslims as a problem or inherently antisemitic they will be unable to tackle the AfD. It is Muslims, Palestinians and their supporters that are facing real discrimination on the streets now.

Recently The Left Party split around Sahra Wagenknecht, who wants to be, ‘economically progressive but socially conservative’. The left, she says, should stop going on about minorities, which can only aid the right. It is well proven that faced with real racist parties or ones opportunistically spouting racism people generally opt for the real thing.

The huge mobilisations against the AfD are of course to be hugely welcomed. It shows that underneath the seemingly calm exterior of German society there is uncertainty about the future and that there is a willingness to take to the streets about it.

The protests have been very popularly based. Their intention to culminate in a protest around the Reichstag indicates this. A nascent organisation seems to have been formed, with groups sprouting up around the country. A key demand is the problematic call to ban the AfD. That may halt its immediate advance but it won’t deal with the reasons for their growing popularity. Similarly, calls for the movement to be channeled into voting against them, whilst necessary, does not tackle the real problem.

That is the growing economic uncertainty in society and the detachment of politicians from the lives of the populace. It is also caused by the mainstream politicians’ demonising of migrants and by their Islamophobia.

To tackle that, a movement on the streets is needed, to call out the AfD as fascists and to confront them wherever they appear. But a social movement is also needed, one that can offer hope to the disenfranchised instead of the Nazi movement of despair.

The movement for Palestine has set off a huge global wave of radicalisation to the left.

The massive mobilisations and the refusal of people in Germany to swallow the lies about Palestinian resistance despite all the mainstream media and all the political parties telling them they should back Israel is a source of tremendous hope.

A small number of activists in Germany are working in the right direction.

I wish them luck.

Appointment in Samarra

From Cairo to Berlin with Love


Appointment in Samarra is a new blog by a Berlin-based Egyptian journalist, Simsim Abdo. theleftberlin asked Simsim to explain what it’s all about.

What is in your newsletter?

I was initially covering the independent art scene in Cairo, which is what I am most passionate about. But with time I realized that there are many stories that I see on the streets here in Berlin that I feel I need to talk about because we need to expose the German government. The world should know what is happening to the migrant community and the pro-Palestine voices here. At the same time, I feel very connected to my hometown, in the same way that most people of color here in Berlin are constantly struggling with homesickness. The newsletter became a bridge for me, linking between my hometown and Berlin.

Why did you start writing about Berlin?

I never felt comfortable covering events in Berlin. Especially since I didn’t have a wide enough network. Not to mention that my German is not that great. But everything is different now, especially since October. I have so many emotions about the city, which I need an outlet to express. And despite my anger about what is happening, the current events have also led me to find a new community here, which makes me feel slightly more at home.

What are the topics that you plan to cover?

I want to talk about what is happening on the streets. This includes the protests and the police brutality. But it also includes the street art, the stickers whether they are on the walls of the U-bahn or the toilets inside the bars. I find those stickers and tags on the walls to be extremely interesting. I am going to include something about that in this week’s newsletter. Other things I want to talk about include the shops and cafes facing the streets. My main protagonists are Hermannplatz and Neukölln. But I am not just telling my stories. If you read my newsletter, you will find that I rarely talk in the first person. This is because I want to also tell everyone else’s story. I really want the readers to reach out to me, sending me tips or photos of what they think should be covered. One thing I want to hear about is the artists that need fundraising, volunteers, or any other form of help. I want to spread the news about them to others in the community. Other things included in the newsletter are from my own archive. I will also keep sharing the new articles that I publish with other news organisations.

More information:

Ecuador in flames

Solidarity with Latin America


23/01/2024

The narco-right declares war on the people

After seven years of right-wing government, Ecuador has gone from being the second safest country in the region to being one of the most violent. Neoliberal dismantling of the state, takeover of judicial institutions and forces of repression by narcopolitical actors has allowed drug traffickers to expand operations in the country. In this scenario of precarization and violence, it is mainly poor, racialized young people who are recruited as cannon fodder by criminal organisations.

The Violent Spiral

Due to geopolitical readjustments and the interests of national elites and major world powers, Ecuador has become a strategic location for the storage, distribution and export of cocaine to Europe and the USA. Ultimately, cocaine trafficking is a colonial practice: consumption is concentrated in the imperial centres of the north, while the south is left to deal with the violence and plundering of resources. Gangs, with links to international cartels, fight for control of territory and trafficking routes in an upsurge of violence that has generated dozens of prison massacres, waves of insecurity in the streets and fear among the population. Last year was the most violent in Ecuador’s history—2023 saw more than 40 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest figure in Latin America. This is profoundly painful, and we condemn Ecuadorian bloodletting at the hands of the narco-state and its key figures both within and outside government.

Shock Therapy

On January 9th we witnessed an unprecedented new explosion of violence. After trafficking gang Los Chernos’ leader (known as ”Fito”) escaped from jail, banana magnate Daniel Noboa’s government admitted that it had no idea as to his whereabouts, declared a state of emergency and announced it was putting into operation “Plan Phoenix”, which envisions the construction of mega-prisons inspired by the authoritarian security model of El Salvador’s rightist president Nayib Bukele. This triggered a series of violent events which shook Ecuador and the world; prison mutinies with prison guards taken hostage, vehicles in flames, the live-broadcasted takeover of a television channel by criminal gangs, and kidnapping attempts at the University of Guayaquil. The resulting curfew, evacuation of workplaces and educational establishments, self-isolation and circulation of violent videos on corporate media and social networks fueled panic in the population.

The War Decree

This extreme violence paved the way for President Daniel Noboa to sign Decree 111, which declares officially that an “internal armed conflict” exists in Ecuador; the justification for which is said to be the fight against criminal gangs and drug trafficking. However, the decree carries imminent dangers for the Ecuadorian people and for popular organisation. By announcing a state of war against groups considered “terrorists and non-state belligerent actors”, the state runs the risk of giving organised criminal gangs the false status of “combatants.” The rhetoric of “good state vs bad criminals” obscures the fact that actors at the highest levels of the state, of politics, the police and private enterprise play an active role in the networks of violence and profiteering from drug trafficking.

Hate

The most disturbing thing is that Decree 111 constitutes a new peak in the militarisation of social life and the criminalization of impoverished youth. Within a week of its implementation, we have seen with horror how Decree 111 has given the police and military a blank cheque to abuse the rights of anyone who shows a “suspicious attitude”. Racialized young people from the poorest districts have faced increased aggression from the forces of repression. The population has been deprived of freedom and basic rights, and put under generalised suspicion. While the narco-state generates turmoil and fear, the hegemonic mass media stoke racism and hatred of the poor, providing justification for dangerous demands to “give a bullet to all of them”.

Authoritarian Neoliberalism

The authoritarian state is sustained by mass repression and terror. In Ecuador, there will shortly be a inappropriately named “public consultation”. Noboa plans to instrumentalize the rhetoric of the “war against terrorism” both to strength the police and armed forces, and to deepen neoliberal restructuring. State terrorism and impunity could be the bloody outcome. In economic terms, the government has already announced that it will finance the supposed “war against drug trafficking” through an increase in Value Added Tax. This increase is a profoundly unfair measure which will principally impact the already depressed incomes of the poorer sectors of society. Meanwhile, the Noboa Banana Exporter company, which belongs to the family of the president, has debts of 88 million dollars and has been denounced for labour exploitation. It is essential that the oligarchy pays its debts and stops robbing the Ecuadorian people. Without health care, housing, education and decent work, the authoritarian narco-right will continue to make inroads in the impoverished social base of Latin America.

The Attack on Popular Organization

After 2017 the governments of Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso deepened neoliberal austerity, increased social inequality and forced hundreds of thousands of Ecuadorians to emigrate in search of a better future. At the same time, they intensified repressive practices against indigenous and popular mobilizations. The “war against terrorism” today serves the narco-right in power as a tool to further stigmatize and criminalize the organisations and social collectives that fight for a dignified life for everyone.

The regional right and US interference

The intensified ”shock therapy” since January 9th strengthens an authoritarian, militarised politics that will only intensify the spiral of violence in Ecuador. But the extremism of the narco-right crosses  frontiers. On January 10th Patricia Bullrich, the Minister of Security of the anarcho-capitalist Javier Milei in Argentina, announced that she was prepared to send military support to Ecuador, stating, “this is a continental issue”. The extreme rightwing government of Israel, in the midst of committing genocide against the Palestinian people, has also offered security collaboration to the rightist Noboa. These alarming signals make Ecuador the epicentre of the strategy of securitization and death at the regional level. The bloody echos of violence perpetrated against our brothers and sisters in Colombia and Mexico with the excuse of the “war against drugs” stopped being only a distant memory some time ago—the old playbook of “internal armed conflict” is being recycled on the impoverished, racialized bodies of those considered disposable. Already in 2022 then-president banker Guillermo Lasso, asked the United States to apply a “Plan Ecuador”—Noboa’s Decree 111 is the perfect terrain to enable imminent US interference, which has already spilled a great deal of blood in Latin American history.

Solidarity Without Borders

Our voices of denunciation will never be silenced by terror imposed in an attempt to paralyze us. Confronted with the politics of death, we respond with our profound love of life and hope. We have the historic task of constructing viable alternatives so that our people can live well. We will continue building networks of solidarity with all the oppressed peoples who have experience in resisting the blows of repression and in designing better collective futures. It is more important than ever to be alert, to support each other and strengthen popular organisation and resistance everywhere. Solidarity between comrades will keep us going in this dark period. We remember more than ever our comrade Dolores Cacuango, indigenous communist leader:

“We are like grains of quinoa. If we are alone, the wind will blow us away. But if we are together in a sack, the wind can do nothing. It can make us sway, but it cannot make us fall”

This article first appeared in Spanish on the Bloque Latinoamericano Berlin website. Translation: Ian Perry. Reproduced with permission

“Art is Resistance – Are We Free If We Cannot Speak?”

Artists protest against the censorship of voices for Palestine outside the Gorki theatre


22/01/2024

Amidst a state-subsidized crackdown on Pro-Palestinian voices within Germany’s cultural spheres, activists and artists gathered in front of Maxim Gorki Theater on Thursday 18th January to stage a performance titled “Art is Resistance – Are We Free If We Cannot Speak?”

A beamer confronted Gorki’s visitors with footage of Gaza’s ongoing destruction amid Israeli occupation and the buzzing sound of war drones all around. In front, they watched a die-in unfold, where a group of people lie down as if dead in solidarity with the over 25,000 Palestinians who have been killed by Israel since October. Surrounded by the images of war and death in front of them, the performing artists tried to speak out. However, their voices are violently silenced by the cultural institutions behind them.

This performance comes as a reaction to the Berlin Senate’s recent decision to implement a clause that requires artists applying for public funding to sign a declaration against “any form of antisemitism” as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), according to which “the targeting of the state of Israel” as well as any forms of antizionism are conflated with antisemitism. This McCarthyistic clause serves as a legal basis for the cancelling of those who oppose the right-wing nationalist policies of the Israeli government, particularly those whose art engages with the reality faced by Palestinians. As such, this definition disproportionately and primarily targets migrant, Arab and Jewish artists & intellectuals whose contribution to German art and discourse is vitally important. The IHRA definition in its current form restricts freedom of opinion and art, which is enshrined in Article 5 of the German Grundgesetz (basic law) and has even been criticized by the author of the IHRA.

As voices are being silenced, the activists gathered at Maxim Gorki to offer a thought-provoking foreplay to the premiere of “Die Optimistinnen”. The theatre, which prides itself as a beacon of progress in Berlin’s performance world, decided to single-handedly publish an intellectualized pro-Israel statement in October without consulting the feelings of either their diasporic audience or their ensemble members, and thereby showed us its real face beneath a faux-leftist mask. The activists demand from institutions such as Gorki to stick to their progressive promises and give Palestinian perspectives a stage. The message: Art is resistance. And we are not free under the weight of silence.

See a video pf the action on Instagram.