Impressions of the Palivision concert for people who wanted to observe the Eurovision boycott. AlHamra, Berlin, Saturday 11th May 2024
The Left Berlin
15/05/2024
Weekly news round-up from Berlin and Germany
NEWS FROM BERLIN
Neukölln: ‘Mythos Israel 1948’ brochure in schools
The parliamentary group “the Left” in Neukölln has criticised the decision made by the CDU and SPD district council (BVV) on the use of the brochure ‘Mythos#Israel1948’ in schools. According to a Facebook post, the Left believes that politics is influencing the choice of schools materials. Moreover, the brochure itself does not clarify myths about Israel, but rather produces them. A panel discussion on the use of the brochure has been organised on 16 May (7 pm at Café Engels in Herrfurthstraße 21). Taking part are Middle East expert Hikmat El-Hammouri, Neukölln student Yazan Abo Rahmie and Udi Raz, PhD student at the Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies. Source: berliner Zeitung
Police initiate 39 proceedings in Neukölln
The Berlin police have initiated 39 criminal investigations related to a pro-Palestinian demonstration and subsequent riots in the Neukölln district on Saturday evening. According to the police, the charges include suspected incitement to hatred, offences against the assembly law, attempted prisoner liberation and attacks on law enforcement officers. Around 1,500 people marched from Kreuzberg to Neukölln in the late afternoon. Individual participants threw bottles at police officers. The police said they had temporarily detained almost 50 people, in order to take their personal details. Around 220 police officers were deployed. Source: rbb
NEWS FROM GERMANY
Nathan Thrall: award-winning there, but cancelled here
It was announced last Monday that Nathan Thrall is one of this year’s Pulitzer Prize winners. His book ‘A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy’, published in 2023, won in the non-fiction category. It deals with the reality of life for Palestinians under Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The next day, the author was due to speak about the current situation in Israel and Palestine at the Union International Club in Frankfurt am Main. However, few days beforehand, the club cancelled the event – without an official explanation. It is not the first time he has been “cancelled”. Source: nd-aktuell
AfD cannot shake suspicion
Last Monday, the AfD’s appeal against its categorisation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) was rejected in Münster. This means that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution can monitor the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist organisation and inform the public about it. The same applies to the Junge Alternative, a now disbanded ‘wing’ of the party, which was even definitively categorised as right-wing extremist. The judgement is not yet final. As usual, a further assessment of the AfD will now be made in due course in an open-ended review process. Source: taz
Protesters attempt to storm Tesla German plant in Brandenburg
Last Friday, protesters opposed to the expansion of the U.S. electric vehicle company Tesla clashed with police. The activists claim the expansion would damage the environment. “We are here today to draw attention to the Tesla factory in Grunheide for the environmental destruction here,” Disrupt Tesla spokesperson Ole Becker told Reuters. The group also wants to highlight environmental destruction in other countries like Argentina or Bolivia, brought about by lithium mining, according to Becker. Lithium is a key resource for electric vehicle batteries. Some of the demonstrators have damaged a few Tesla cars using pyrotechnics and paint at a nearby car storage site, a police spokesperson added. Source: Reuters
Germany plans to end homelessness
The federal German government has released an Action Plan to eradicate homelessness by 2030. However, the plans have been critised by Homeless people and charities as too vague, although admirable. In recent years, homelessness has been on the rise, due to an ongoing lack of affordable housing. The 31-point plan includes ideas such as giving money to state governments to build social housing, and helping people get access to health insurance, among others. However, charities say the situation in the housing market is so desperate that, without any indication of how this will be achieved, it is little more than a statement of intent. Source: dw
Asylum seekers in Brandenburg to receive support as cash
The payment card for asylum seekers is to be introduced throughout Brandenburg with only some of the finanical support to be paid out in cash. A decision has now been made regarding the amount of support paid out in cash which does not meet demands of the Greens. According to the local government, adult asylum seekers in Brandenburg will receive 50 euros per month in cash, while children will receive 25 euros in cash. Refugees from Ukraine will not receive a payment card, as they receive citizens’ benefits. Source: rbb
German forests in poor condition
Many trees in German forests are sick. So says a survey carried out by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in 2023. Around 80 per cent of the most common species – spruce, pine, beech, and oak – are damaged. Such stressed condition is due to the heat, drought and beetle damage. Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) said during the presentation of new data in Berlin that only one in five trees is still completely healthy. ‘The forest is turning into a permanent patient.’ The study attributes the problems facing German forests to climate change. Source: rbb
Open Letter in support of the Right to Protest signed by over 1,000 educators
The Left Berlin
14/05/2024
Editor’s Note: On 7th May, authorities at the Freie Univerität (FU) called the police who cleared a Camp for Gaza organised by FU students. In response, teaching staff released this open letter, which over 1,000 educators have since signed. Thanks to the teaching staff for providing theleftberlin with this English language version of their open letter.
As lecturers at Berlin universities, our professional standards require us to stand by our students as equals, ensuring their safety and protection from any form of police violence.
Regardless of whether we agree with the specific demands of the protest camp, we firmly support our students’ right to peaceful protest, including their occupation of university grounds. These are core democratic rights of assembly and expression that must be upheld, especially within academic settings. Given the dire situation in Gaza and the announced bombardment of Rafah, it should be understandable to recognize the urgency behind the protesters’ cause, even if we don’t endorse every detail of their demands or their chosen methods.
Constitutionally protected rights to protest are not contingent on dialogue, but we do believe it’s the duty of university leadership to prioritize dialogue and seek non-violent resolutions whenever possible. Unfortunately, the recent dismantling of the protest camp by the Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin) administration, without prior dialogue, was a breach of this responsibility. The right to peaceful assembly is not conditioned on specific viewpoints and extends to public spaces like the FU Berlin campus, as confirmed by the German Federal Constitutional Court (“Fraport” case).
We urge Berlin university administrations to avoid police interventions and further legal actions against their own students. Dialogue with students and preserving universities as hubs of critical discourse should be paramount, which cannot coexist with police interventions on campus. It is only through open engagement and debate that we, as lecturers and institutions, fulfill our responsibilities.
The AfD is full of antisemites. Nonetheless, it fully supports Israel.
The AfD’s support of Israel is hinged on hypocrisy. Despite their history of antisemitism and controversial foreign policy stances, on this topic, they seem to be in agreement with the coalition government. The reasons for this are multi-faceted, but ultimately boil down to their Islamophobic and anti-immigrant agenda; using the October 7th attack to further demonise Palestinian and Arab people, including those living in Germany.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz frequently reinforces his support of Israel, both through words and weaponry, and refers to the ‘Staatsräson’: the responsibility Germany has to protect the state of Israel after the Holocaust. Due to this concept, it may be considered too risky for any political parties to speak out about the genocide in Gaza, as there is a terrifying culture of censorship in contemporary German politics. Yet, the AfD’s support of Israel predates October 7th, for example, supporting Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital. (This support is not mutual; Israel has cut all ties with the AfD.)
Following Hamas’ October 7th attacks, Alexander Gauland (speaking as the honorary AfD chairman) said “The attack was not only aimed at the Jewish state, it was also aimed at us. Israel is the West in an environment that rejects and fights the West. When we stand with Israel, we are also defending our way of life”. This idea of ‘defending a way of life’ is common anti-immigrant rhetoric, and one the AfD frequently utilises to criticise immigration policy in Germany.
The AfD also submitted proposals in October to end financial donations to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees. Following this, a press release from the Bundestag said “the SPD accused the AfD of using Hamas’ terror to fuel Islamophobia”, and also mentioned a representative of the Greens calling out the antisemitic comments made by AfD members, as well as contacts between party members and Iran (who support Hamas).
The AfD is notorious for intra-party division, with some members decidedly far-right, and others leaning to the more moderate, Eurosceptic right. Attitudes to Israel are no exception, with co-leader Tino Chrupalla condemning the October 7th attack, but calling for ‘de-escalation’, also saying ‘a viable solution for all sides must be the goal’. This Tweet was criticised by many within the AfD, particularly his use of the word ‘war dead’ for Israeli victims.
The AfD have a long track record of antisemitism and neo-Nazi affiliations, ranging from Björn Höcke’s use of a Nazi paramilitary slogan (‘Everything for Germany’), to Alice Weidel’s advisor Roland Hartwig attending a meeting in Potsdam with known neo-Nazi groups. Specifically in relation to memory culture, Höcke was critical of Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial, saying Germans are “the only people in the world to plant a monument of shame in the heart of its capital.” How can a party claim to care about Jewish citizens when they show such blatant disrespect toward those who were murdered during the Holocaust?
The AfD have caused huge controversy with their stances on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying Germany should stop sending weapons to support Ukraine, and maintaining close ties with Russia financially and politically. So, why are they toeing the line on this point, when it is clear they do not care about the safety of Jewish citizens, or about remembering the victims of the Holocaust? The answer is that it helps them further their (domestic) Innenpolitik agenda, utilising all possible avenues to justify their Islamophobic and anti-migrant stances.
A party that will so readily turn human lives into political pawns, atrocities into justification for bigotry, is a true danger to society, both in Germany and abroad. It is further proof that the AfD’s only real political convictions are fear-mongering and xenophobic hatred.
The Filipino People vs the US Government and the Marcos and Duterte regimes
The International Peoples Tribunal 2024 is a quasi-judicial forum that aims to investigate and address alleged war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law committed by the US-supported Marcos Jr. and Duterte regimes.
The tribunal will examine various cases to be filed against the defendants including political killings, torture, enforced disappearances, mass arrests, indiscriminate firing, aerial bombings of communities and other forms of political suppression tantamount to crimes against humanity.
The IPT 2024 follows a long history of peoples’ tribunals that have shaped international public opinion and tried various regimes on crimes against humanity. The IPT takes inspiration from the Russel Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, which held two sessions in 1967 to expose the war crimes committed against the Vietnamese people. This was succeeded by the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) that was founded in June 1979 in Italy by law experts, writers, and other intellectuals.
The IPT 2024 seeks to address the war crimes committed by the US-Duterte regime (2016-2022) and the current US-Marcos regime (2022-present) under their respective ‘counterinsurgency’ operations patterned after the US National Security Strategy and the US ‘Counterinsurgency Guide’. The Marcos-Duterte ruling clique continue to cling to power, roaming free with impunity and complete disregard of international humanitarian law. The period in question is marked by countless cases of political killings, enforced disappearances, torture and widespread and systematic suppression of dissent with the full support and backing of the US government.
The panel will consist of individuals with recognized expertise in human rights, international humanitarian law, and other relevant fields. Witnesses will be individuals and/or representatives of groups or organizations who have firsthand experience or knowledge of the emblematic cases under consideration.
Support for the IPT 2024 can come in various forms, including:
By combining efforts across these areas, your organization can play a crucial role in supporting the work of the International Peoples’ Tribunal 2024.
You can also follow the IPT 2024’s official social media accounts:
For more information, visit www.peoplestribunal.net or email secretariat@peoplestribunal.net
The tribunal will be livestreamed here on Friday May 17th and Saturday May 18th 2024
