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How we made Palivision

We organised a successful concert and fund raiser for Gaza. You can do this too


24/05/2024

by Phil Butland and Aubane Décobert

On Saturday, the 11th of May, something incredible happened. Well over a hundred people packed into the cellar of the AlHamra restaurant to listen to 10 live acts and 6 speakers talk about Palestine solidarity in Germany. We raised €2,000 for the European Legal Support Centre, a leading force in supporting the victims of repression at Palestine demonstrations in Germany. And we managed to create a space for people to build community and enjoy themselves – at least as much as was possible during the ongoing genocide.

And yet, four weeks before the event took place, no-one had even considered organising anything. This article is the story of how we staged Palivision. We hope that it can help anyone who is organising future Palestine solidarity events, in particular in the cultural arena.

Coming up with the idea

It all started on the 14th of April. After the Palestine Congress had been bannedtheleftberlin livestreamed the press conference explaining what had happened. After the livestream, one of the participants of the press conference, Abdallah Abdelhad, joined us to discuss what to do next.

We shared a lot of great ideas, but had no concrete plan about the next action. After everything was over, a group of us sat outside AlHamra, where we had held the discussion. One of us, who had been active in Belgium, told the rest about a concert which was being organised there as an alternative to Eurovision. We now had a concept.

The Eurovision Song Contest has always been a central part of Israel’s attempt to portray itself as being a normal democracy (aka “Pinkwashing”). Just as Apartheid South Africa tried to normalise itself through its cricket and rugby teams, Israel’s regular Eurovision performances were part of the Hasbara campaign to pretend not just that Israel respected democratic rights, but that it was a haven for LGBT people (just as long as those LGBT people are not Palestinians, naturally).

Eurovision 2014 had already stirred controversy. Israel’s Eurovision entry celebrated the country bombing Gaza to rubble – so much so that it had to be re-written before it was accepted by Eurovision’s organisers, the notoriously conservative and genocide-friendly European Broadcast Union.

The next step

Our concept was still vague, so we decided to meet up a week later before our weekly Palestine Reading Group. That week we’d decided to show our solidarity for the Camp for Gaza opposite the Bundestag by staging the reading group there. It was now 3 weeks before Eurovision and we still had no real plan and no line up, just the vague idea that we need to do something.

We decided to invite Palestine-friendly bands plus a range of speakers who could explain what we could do to mobilise against the destruction of Palestine. In the week before the meeting, we started to reach out to artists who we knew from Palestine solidarity actions. We also started to place requests in online Palestine solidarity groups to appeal to interested performers.

The response was overwhelming. As well as the artists we already knew, we got a stream of messages from musicians who had heard that we were organising something, and were keen to get involved. Within a few days we had 12 artists from 11 different countries – a great sign of the internationalism of our resistance.

The breadth of what was on offer came not just from the artists’ nationalities but from the music on offer, from jazz to singer songwriters, from spoken word performances to Europop. The diversity of the people on stage represented the diversity of our movement. This is something we will need if we are going to build actions for Palestine which are both large and broad.

Finding speakers

The next thing was the speakers. We wanted a range of speakers who represented our attempt to push out and reach new layers of potential Palestine activists. Two new organisations Klima4Palästina (climate movement) and Gewerkschafter4Gaza (trade unions) sprang to mind. It was also obvious that we should also invite people from Palästina Kampagne who were organising the coming Nakba Day demo.

No Palestine meeting is complete without the Jüdische Stimme (JS). Just as we were discussing their participation, Udi Raz from JS walked past. We called over Udi, who said she’d be delighted to appear. For our final speaker, we invited Nadija Samour, a Palestinian lawyer who has fought tirelessly for people affected by police repression in Germany.

We had already taken the decision that this was not going to be a charity event. Although we need to collect money for Gazans who are living in desperate conditions, we wanted Palivision to be more engaged in German politics and the struggle here. Hence the decision to collect money for the ELSC, who, together with Nadija, are suing the German government for its support for genocide.

Our decision to raise funds for the ELSC was also based on the fact that any demonstration or event showing support for Palestine is heavily repressed by the German state, leading to countless arrests. Supporting Palestine can be done at different levels, by supporting Gazans and also by organizing the local resistance. Because of Germany’s high implication in the conflict, with the German state being the second biggest arms exporter after the US, it is important for Palestine support groups to stay strong, and the ELSC provides them with legal support and backing.

The day itself

While we were expecting a decent turnout, we were still surprised by the level of interest on the night. We had announced that the first act would go on at 7pm, but there were people queuing up 2 hours before the start time. By 6.10pm we were having to turn people away as no-one else could fit into the room. Fortunately, Café Karanfil agreed to show our livestream to people who wanted to watch together.

Some people asked why we could have not chosen a bigger venue. Firstly, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a venue in Berlin which is prepared to host an event for Palestine. This is not just about corporate venues. In recent months, left wing spaces like the Syndikat pub, SO36 and the Neues Deutschland building have refused to hold events because of the organisers’ support for Palestine.

On top of this, even if we could have got more people, we weren’t sure whether we wanted to meet in a soulless enormodrome. Palivision was intended to be an intimate gathering where people could get together and organise for the future. In AlHamra we were able to offer both an atmosphere of solidarity and an environment in which people could bond together. If we decide to repeat the experience, let’s see which venues are on offer and what passes best.

We are proud of all our acts and what they provided for no payment. They also gladly shared equipment and helped each other out. Unfortunately, two artists had to pull out at the last minute because of illness, but they remained part of the discussion between artists about building Palivision and what we can do in the future.

Lessons learned – what could we have done better?

If you are organising an event which takes place 4 weeks after you decide to start planning, you’re not going to get everything perfect. We benefitted from a lot of good luck and from the support of everyone involved – from the artists to the venue owners and staff. But if we want to organise a similar event in the future, we will give ourselves much more time, and give more consideration to some aspects, including the following.

Find a suitable venue. No venue is perfect, as some of your needs can contradict each other. It would be nice to have an intimate space, but one with space for everyone who wants to come as mentioned earlier. There should be disabled access – which is not always available. Above all, particularly in Berlin, you need a place which is willing to hold an event for Palestine, and will not cave into the inevitable pressure to cancel. You probably won’t get everything you want, but it’s worth spending time to consider what you want to help make an informed choice.

Have several people who can look after sound. We woefully misjudged the contribution of a good sound engineer. Although two people with the requisite skills did a remarkable job at the night, the positioning of the mixer meant that they were both employed all evening. To save them stress, and to provide a good service for the musicians, we should have had much more back up. As one of the sound engineers said: “find your sound people before you think of the first act.”

Do not allow people in too early. Because of the swell of people, we opened the doors long before the announced time. This disrupted the soundchecks, which were still going on, and the decoration the room. In the future we should announce an earlier start time, but use this to only stamp the hands of audience members so they are guaranteed entry later. The doors should remain closed until we are ready.

Look after the artists. Different artists have different requirements, especially on the day itself. Sound checking too early is not always possible for live acts because changes in temperature and humidity will affect instruments. Check how much time each artist needs, and manage their expectations. We somehow managed, but this job was in the hands of too few people.

Find a suitable running order. For similar future events, the aforementioned artists’ requirements should be taken into account to establish a running order. We ended up having too many spoken word acts late and close to each other. As the evening goes on, an audience is increasingly interested in music and dancing.

Ensure the content of songs fits the event. At Palivision, it was brought to our attention that some people – including Palestinians – felt offended by one song. We issued an on-stage apology as soon as we could, but this damaged the preservation of a safe environment which should have been our first priority. As one of our members stated: ‘The second that a Palestinian felt unwell, we failed’. For future events – for which we would have more preparation time – we need to work more closely with the artists to ensure that the content provided is appropriate for our expected audience.

Using existing infrastructure

We would not have been able to build such a large event so quickly without an existing network of activists, but even this network was relatively young. One year ago, theleftberlin was mainly a website which worked together with the LINKE Berlin Internationals around specific public meetings, Küfas and other events.

October 7th – or rather the genocidal Israeli reaction to October 7th and Germany’s supine support for this genocide – changed all this. We set up a weekly Palestine Reading Group, mainly because people kept asking us for recommendations and nothing else was being organised. The reading group brought together a group of people who had for the most part not been involved in political activity in Germany, but needed to act against the genocide.

As time passed, the role of the reading group changed. What started as a haven for people who wanted to discuss the bombing of Gaza without losing their German friends rapidly became more interventionist. At first, we just went to demonstrations together. Gradually the meetings to organise theleftberlin, which had been poorly attended, started to fill up with fired up people with creative ideas.

At the May 1st festival in Mariannenplatz, theleftberlin stall showed our new dynamism. Most years at the festival we do little more than hand out a few leaflets. This year saw a vibrant event staged by dozens of activists selling t-shirts and tote bags, and engaging with people (yes, even White Germans) about what they can do for Palestine. May 1st set the scene for Palivision.

We learned that small scale actions can have much larger results. When we first set up the reading group, we were expecting that it would last 2 or 3 weeks. We are soon to have our 25th weekly meeting. But this is not just a group which talks abstractly about changing the world – we are acting on our discussions and actively intervening to build the movement.

What next?

Some artists have already asked if we will be organising a Palivision II. This would depend on Israel continuing to commit war crimes, and the EBU cravenly doing nothing to punish them. As both of these things are highly likely, you may not have seen the last of us.

But we do not have to wait a year before we do anything. We now have a network of artists who are keen to make their contribution – both to supporting Palestine and Palestinians, and to more general political work. Theleftberlin will be meeting at the beginning of June to discuss our future activities, and utilising this excitement.

It’s not just about theleftberlin. We are currently experiencing a mass movement for Palestine which is starting to cross the border into Germany. Palivision shows what is possible if we are audacious enough. We need more of this audacity if we are going to continue to successfully fight for a free Palestine.

Everyone can make their own contribution. What could you do?

Letter from the Editors: 23rd May 2024

Tonight (Thursday) at 6pm, Spore Initiative hosts the second Film Forum of Solisur, a grassroots organization of the Latin American Bloc Berlin. Tonight’s film, The Panama Deception, focuses on reflecting on the relationship between neoliberalism, militarization, violence, and drug trafficking in Latin America. After the film, we will open a dialogue that will address other […]


23/05/2024

Tonight (Thursday) at 6pm, Spore Initiative hosts the second Film Forum of Solisur, a grassroots organization of the Latin American Bloc Berlin. Tonight’s film, The Panama Deception, focuses on reflecting on the relationship between neoliberalism, militarization, violence, and drug trafficking in Latin America. After the film, we will open a dialogue that will address other cases of US military interventions in Latin America such as Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative or Plan Mexico. What do these interventions teach us considering current contexts like that of Ecuador? Is violence the answer to violence? Solisur is our Campaign of the Week.

On Saturday, also at the Spore Initiative, the Jüdische Stimme is showing the film Arna’s Children. Juliano Mer Khamis tells the story of a theatre group which was founded by his mother Arna Mer Khamis. Arna came from a Zionist family and married a Palestinian Arab Saliba Khamsis in the 1950s. In the West Bank, she opened an alternative education system for children whose normal life had been disturbed by the Israeli occupation. The film starts at 7pm and will be preceded at 5pm by a reading with clarinet accompaniment. Leila Boukarim and JK Langford read poems and statements from children and young writers from the Gaza strip.

On Sunday from 1pm, there’s a Solifleamarket for repression costs of Palestine struggles. We invite you to the Solifleamarket at the Infoladen Schererstr.8. The money raised will be used for repression costs of the Palestine struggles. You are welcome to bring your well-preserved treasures for the flea market, from clothes and children’s toys to books. There will be several tables with recommended donations, after which the items will be sorted. Delicious snacks, cakes, and cool drinks will be provided.

On Sunday at 3pm, the LINKE Neukölln is organising a rally Hands off Tempelhofer Feld! – Against Building and Privatisation. The CDU-SPD local government wants to push through the building development of Tempelhofer Feld. This contravens the referendum against building on the Feld when a clear majority of 64.7% voted for keeping ThF and against building. At the rally, let us clearly say: “No! Berlin belongs to us! For a free Feld – as a place of recreation and green area which is available for all Berliners”. The rally will be in the park near the Herrfurthstraße entrance.

Also on Sunday at 6pm, in Treptower Park, Die Linke Tempelhof-Schöneberg and Mitte are organising a rally Wages Up, Weapons Down! As the wealth of the five richest Europeans has risen to €5.7 Million per hour, millions of people no longer know how they can pay for rent, electricity, and the daily shopping. At the same time, as part of the “changing times”, billions are being invested in armaments as EU militarisation proceeds. We say No to rearmament, weapons export, and wars. Speakers at the rally include Özlem Alev Demirel MEP.

Finally, on Sunday, it’s our latest Palestine Reading Group. This week we will be asking Who Are the Antideutsche? You can find the recommended reading here. The Palestine Reading Group takes place every week on either Friday or Sunday. Check the page of Events we organise for the coming dates and discussion topics. If you’d like to get more involved in the group you can join our Telegram group and follow the channel Reading group. The Reading Group starts at 7pm, and there is a meeting for Moderators at 6.30pm open to everyone who’s interested.

There is much more going on in Berlin this week. To find out what’s happening, go to our Events page. You can also see a shorter, but more detailed list of events in which we are directly involved here.

If you are looking for Resources on Palestine, we have set up a page with useful links. We will be continually updating the page, so if you would like to recommend other links, please contact us on team@theleftberlin.com. You can also find all the reading from our Palestine Reading Groups here. You can also visit the Palestine film evening every Wednesday at 8.30pm in Al Hamra. The title of the film is usually released too late for us to name it in this Newsletter, but you can stay informed by following Al Hamra on Instagram and facebook.

In News from Berlin, Die Linke Neukölln opposes a brochure containing lies about the Nakba which the local government wants to distribute in schools, police arrest 25 people on the Nakba demo, the queer housing project Tuntenhaus will not be forced to close after all, and Tesla is given the green light to expand its controversial plant.

In News from Germany, 16 and 17 year olds may now vote in the EU elections, and AfD’s #2 candidate in the EU elections is raided by the police following accusations of money laundering and bribery.

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

New on theleftberlin, Nathaniel Flakin looks at Berlin mayor Kai Wegner’s contempt for democracy on ths housing questions, Phil Butland argues why Berliners should demonstrate on Nakba Day, we publish a video gallery of all the speeches and acts at Palivision, Johanna Rothe criticise Germany’s dialogue about Palestine, Steve Cedar in Barcelona analyses a setback for the Left in the recent Catalonian elections, there’s a photo gallery from the Nakba Day demonstration, Ilya Kharkow asks how much does freedom cost?, Hari Kumar visits an exhibition of DDR art in Dresden, and Colin Falconer in Paris looks at the ongoing uprising in New Caledonia.

This week’s Video of the Week is the speech from Palästina Spricht at last Saturday’s Nakba demo.

You can follow us on the following social media:

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 please do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.

Keep on fighting,

The Left Berlin Editorial Board

CineForo organized by SoliSur

Latin American cinema in Berlin


22/05/2024

We invite you to join us in a space of film and political debate, where we will showcase Latin American documentaries focused on issues such as migratory rights, the advance of the right wing, and struggles against extractivism. We will screen a documentary every two months in the auditorium of Spore Initiative at Hermannstraße 86, 12051 Berlin.

In the second CineForo of SoliSur, we will show The Panama Deception (1992), a documentary shedding light on the US invasion of Panama in 1989. After the screening, we will open a dialogue to discuss other cases of US military interventions in Latin America, such as Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative (Plan Mexico). Come and share your opinions in this space of critical and solidarity analysis. Through memory, consciousness, and reflection, we weave networks of internationalist resistance. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, the 23rd of May at 18:00.

SoliSur is a migrant political group based in Berlin. We are united by a political practice that seeks to articulate the Latin American migration experience with our lives in the city from an internationalist perspective. For the past two years, we have focused our political work on defending migrant rights, questioning the extractivist practices that Latin American territories suffer from big capital benefiting local elites and “developed” countries, and fighting against the extreme manifestations of capitalism that result in the rise of the extreme right, both in Europe and in Latin America / Abya Yala.

Kanak Protests for Independence in New Caledonia

Protestors are right to resist French Imperialism

On May 15th, the French government declared a state of emergency in the country’s semi-autonomous overseas territory of New Caledonia, which lies 1400 kilometers east of Australia (17,000 kilometers from Paris). Earlier, the French High Commissioner had described the situation there as “ insurrectional ”, while a former minister and local member of parliament spoke of “ civil war ” inspired by “ anti-white racism ”.

There have been several nights of large-scale rioting, mainly in Greater Noumea, which is home to two-thirds of the territory’s 270,000 population. Dozens of shops and other properties have been fire-bombed, while the streets are littered with burnt-out vehicles. A government spokesman admitted that certain areas were «”out of control ”.

Security forces using bulldozers and armoured vehicles are gradually destroying barricades but many are rebuilt as soon as they leave.

At the time of writing, 600 police, gendarmes and members of elite special forces are attempting to open up the strategic road leading to the airport where up to 80 barricades have been erected. All commercial flights are cancelled until further notice, though Australia and New Zealand have sent military planes to evacuate their citizens.

Residents in the mainly European districts have organised armed vigilante (or “self-defence”) groups.  Many of the indigenous Kanak rioters are also armed. There have been six deaths so far including a gendarme killed by ‘friendly’ fire.

Predictably, Macron claimed that the revolt had been fomented by “foreign interference ” by Azerbaijan of all places! Interior minister Gérald Darmanin singled out the CCAT a recently-formed coalition of parties, trade unions, and associations accusing it of being a “mafia ”.

Yet, the most obvious cause of the revolt was two decisions taken recently by Macron himself, as we shall see later.

So what is the background to this crisis, the latest in France’s troubled – and troublesome – overseas territories stretching from the Caribbean to the Pacific via the Indian Ocean?

For decades after being claimed for France in 1853, New Caledonia was the country’s largest penal colony. Up to 22,000 prisoners were sent there  not only common law criminals but also political deportees, including Algerian rebels and survivors of the 1871 Paris Commune (most famously, Louise Michel, who became a champion of the indigenous Melanesians).

But France’s aim was to establish a settler colony in the south-western Pacific in addition to its Polynesian  possessions further east. New Caledonia was exploited for its natural resources, but France’s interest also had to do with military and geopolitics. The tiny island territory is the world’s third largest producer of nickel, after Indonesia and the Philippines. And a strong French foothold in the region is seen as a useful counterweight to the growing influence of China.

As in Algeria, Africa, and Indo-China, indigenous peoples were subject to France’s draconian colonial regime and their lands were confiscated. They were mainly confined to villages run by ‘tribal’ chiefs according to customary law. Kanaks were denied citizenship until as late as 1953.

Economic development, especially the postwar nickel boom that attracted immigrants from Japan, Vietnam, Java, and Polynesia as well as France, combined with the attractive conditions offered to expatriates, has resulted in growing inequality, a concentration of wealth in the southern province (which includes Noumea) and a significant shift in the demographic balance. The Kanak share of the population has now fallen to 41 per cent.

Kanak society has not stood still, however. Increasingly politically conscious and educated young Kanaks and women, in particular, are proud of their culture and committed to independence. Many Kanaks work in the nickel mines. There is a powerful trade union, the UTSKE, with an associated Labour Party.

Regional governments in Kanak-dominated areas in the north and the outlying islands have benefited from devolved powers, including a share in nickel mining.

Today, half of Kanaks live in the Greater Noumea area, many in suburbs where poverty and unemployment are rife. The city itself is known as “Nouméa la Blanche ” because of its mainly white population.

Crucially, the vast majority of Kanaks support the independence movement and they have recently been joined by many Pacific island migrants. White New Caledonian loyalists have traditionally voted for right-wing conservative parties, while Marine Le Pen received 50% in the second round of the 2022 presidential election in Noumea.

Against this background, the present crisis was sparked by a hardline shift in government policy. After the bloody four-year conflict which rocked Kanaky-New Caledonia in the1980s, leaving nearly a hundred dead, a carefully negotiated agreement was reached between the pro-independence parties and the socialist government.

Outnumbered and up against the full might of the French state, Kanak leaders opted for a strategy of progressive change leading either to full independence (which remains their goal) or at least a form of ‘independence-in-association-with-France’.

The much-hailed agreement was followed by a 30-year period of relative stability. Jobs have been created and Kanaks promoted, infrastructures built, and Kanak history and culture recognised. Pro-independence parties now run two of the three regions – the poorest and least populated – and control part of the nickel industry in partnership with private capital.

According to the agreement, three referendums on independence were to take place after a 30-year transitional period. Crucially, newly-arrived immigrants and expats were not to be allowed to vote in elections to the provincial parliament, thus ‘freezing’ the demographic balance (in which, let us remember, the Kanaks were still outnumbered).

In the second referendum, in 2020, support for independence grew from 44 to 47 per cent. Yet, at the same time, ‘loyalist’ opinion was hardening.

It was at this point that Macron showed his hand. First, he decided to go ahead quickly with the third and ‘final’ referendum in the hope of closing off the debate. The vote was boycotted by the Kanaks, whose communities were still in mourning for the victims of the Covid pandemic. The boycott was extremely effective, and resulted in a 96 per cent majority against independence (since mostly white French voted). Kanak leaders claimed  the result was illegitimate, while Macron presented it as a definitive vote in favour of « Kanaky in France ».

Ignoring warnings of a likely confrontation, Macron and Darmanin then went ahead with a constitutional law designed to allow those who had settled in the territory since 1998 to vote in elections to the provincial parliament (after ten years’ residence), which currently has a pro-independence majority.

In the weeks leading up to a decision in the French parliament, there were massive and peaceful protest marches in Kanaky, while representatives lobbied MPs in France. They were supported by most of the French left and several elected leaders of overseas departments and territories from Guadeloupe in the Caribbean to French Polynesia. There was also an impressive Kanak block on the traditional May Day march in Paris.

On May 14th, Macron’s MPs, supported by the conservative right and Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN), voted for the change in the electoral rules, with the left-wing NUPES opposition group (Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise, communists, ecologists, and socialists) voting against. The result was unfortunately a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile, 17, 000 kilometers from France’s parliament, authorities in New Caledonia imposed a curfew and made hundreds of arrests, while the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) called on militants to lift road blocks to allow essential supplies to be delivered. The anger on the streets is such that this may have little effect.

Macron still has some room for manœuvre, as the law has yet to be ratified. It is unclear how flexible he is prepared to be. Underlying  his move is a strategy designed to please the conservative and far-right electorate in France where his party is trailing far behind Le Pen’s Rassemblement National in the European election campaign. It is also, perhaps, a message to other powers and potential challengers that French imperialism does not intend to scale down its role in the region as has recently happened in several former African colonies.

It is a strategy that may still backfire.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY MAY 22ND

In an unprecedented move, president Macron, accompanied by three government ministers, has flown out to New Caledonia in person. For the moment it is unclear how he hopes to resolve the crisis.

News from Berlin and Germany, 22nd May 2024

Weekly news round-up from Berlin and Germany

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Neukölln and the Nakba

The CDU wants to have the publication ‘Mythos Israel 1948’ in Berlin schools. Die Linke in Neukölln opposes this. The brochure was published a few weeks before 7 October and has since been the subject of a fierce debate. ‘It is important for us to point out that it [the Nakba] was not a systematic expulsion,’ declared a spokesperson for the Masiyot association, which published the brochure. The authors mention that ‘the brochure was never intended to be distributed to schools,’ but only as background material for informed readers. Source: taz

Tuntenhaus is saved

For three months, the residents of the Tuntenhaus in Prenzlauer Berg had to fear for their home, but since Thursday it has been clear: the district of Pankow has a preemptive right to buy the property and the future of the queer house project is secure. Tuntenhaus has occupied the building in Kastanienallee since 1990. The Bavarian investor who had bought the house had until last Wednesday night to sign a settlement agreement, but failed to do so. The house will be sold to the Edith Maryon Foundation. Source: taz

Musk is allowed to build

The alliance ‘Tesla den Hahn abdrehen’ (Turn off the tap on Tesla) describes the vote in the Grünheide municipal council as a ‘bitter blow for water protection and democracy:’ 11 of the 19 Grünheide representatives voted in favour of a development plan last Thursday. Despite the fact that more than 60% of Grünheide residents had spoken out against it in a public survey in February, the US car manufacturer Tesla was given the green light to expand its plant. After the result of the vote became known, its opponents announced further resistance. Source: jW

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Investigations after demonstration to remember Nakba

The Berlin Police are investigating 25 criminal charges following another demonstration involving thousands of people to mark the Palestinian Nakba Memorial Day. The charges include incitement, insults, and attacks on police officers. 25 participants were provisionally arrested during the protest march on Saturday. According to the police, around 6,200 people took part at the peak. Around 2,000 participants had been expected. The protest march was therefore stopped several times, but the demonstration managed to reach its destination in Mitte. Source: zeit

EU elections: German 16-year-olds to cast their first votes

A decrease in Germany’s voting age from 18 to 16 could bring more than a million additional people to the polls for the European elections. There are even posters designed to encourage young people to vote in June’s European elections. One has the slogan “First kiss, first time, first vote” and was created by media design students Maja Steinbach, Maria Viktoria Junker and Fabian Navarro. Within Germany, 16-year-olds are eligible to vote in state elections in six states, but this is the first year that people as young as 16 can vote in the elections for the European Parliament. Source: dw

Bystron’s offices raided over bribery probe

German police have raided the offices of a leading member of the AfD over money-laundering and bribery allegations. MP Petr Bystron is accused of receiving money from Russia in return for influence – something he denies. The raids were carried out in a number of locations, including Munich, Mallorca, and the MP’s parliamentary office in Berlin. The Bundestag has agreed to lift parliamentary immunity and to allow for criminal proceedings against him. Bystron is the party’s number two candidate for next month’s European Parliament elections. Another of the AfD’s lead candidates, Maximilian Krah, is currently being investigated for alleged payments from Russia and China, but denies any wrongdoing. Source: bbc