Hello everyone,

As a heads up, starting this week onward this Newsletter will be delivered on Thursdays. The main reason is to give you due warning about the many environmental demos which are now taking place on Fridays. This week we have the added bonus of being able to announce a rally against Macron’s pensions reforms this evening at 6pm at the French Embassy on Pariser Platz. The recent demonstrations in France have been covered extensively on theleftberlin.com. Show your support by attending this protest which has been called by French left wing organisations in Berlin.

This weekend, from Friday to Sunday, the Smart Prisons conference will be investigating systems of surveillance around prisons, detention centres and borders, and the effects of technological violence and discrimination directed at migrants, activists, and dissidents in Europe and worldwide. The Event, with workshops, films and artistic productions is the 29th conference of the Disruption Network Lab, and will take place at the Kunstquartier Bethanien on Mariannenplatz. The conference will also be available via livestream.

Tomorrow night, La Jaima de Tiris invites you to an evening with the author of a comic about Western Sahara. Fine, the author, from the education from below collective, spent a month in 2014 and another month again in 2022 as a guest in the Sahrawi refugee camp in Algeria. This is where she developed her comics about the historical background to the conflict and her personal impressions of the place. The event starts at 7pm in Nansenstraße 2. It will be in German and Spanish.

On Saturday, the trade union ver.di is organising a demonstration “We’re not paying for your crisis“, starting at Brandenburger Tor at midday. The demonstration is called together with many civil initiatives, including the Berliner Mieterverein. The demonstration is in support of striking public sector workers, and for affordable energy, public transport, and rents. The organisers are demanding that the referendum for fair rents referendum are finally implemented, and that the big landlords are expropriated.

Sunday sees another referendum in Berlin – for climate neutrality by 2030. As many of us have learned, only people with German passports are eligible to vote in such referenda, but if you do have a vote, don’t waste it. Remember to tell your German friends to vote. You can also join the demonstration on Saturday which starts at 2pm and is followed by a concert. Klima Neustart Berlin, who are organising the campaign for climate neutrality, are our Campaign of the Week.

On Monday, at 7pm, the Berlin LINKE Internationals are meeting at LINKS*44, Schierkerstraße 26. There’s lots on the agenda, among other things, agreeing on the contents of Summer Camp in June. We hope to be able to publish an initial programme in next week’s Newsletter. There’s also a big meeting coming up on Palestine, some possible film showings and – hopefully – a MyFest on 1st May. If you’re interested in getting involved, or just want to hear what’s going on, please come along.

This week is full of activities in Berlin, so make sure you find out what else is going on by looking at our Events page. You can see a shorter, but more detailed, list of Events which we are directly involved in here.

And here’s an Event for your diaries. The next political walking tour organised by the Berlin LINKE Internationals will be on Riots in Kreuzberg. Every year since 1987, Kreuzberg has seen protests on May 1. “Revolutionary May Day” combines Germany’s knack for organization with Berlin’s predisposition for nihilism. This is the very first tour that Revolutionary Berlin tours organised. The first one was in 2009 and they have been updating ever since. It takes place on Sunday, 16th April and is free (donations welcome). More information and registration here.

In News from Berlin, an AfD member has been removed from office as a judge on suspicion of being involved in the Reichsbürger suspected coup, on Sunday Berlin will vote on going Climate Neutral by 2030, with a demonstration and concert on Saturday, and there is some scepticism at Berlin’s plans to expand its underground network.

In News from Germany, social groups groups call for a rise in the minimum wage in response to high inflation, a new electoral reform to reduce the number of German MPs may remove the Left from the Bundestag, and Germany drops down to 16th place in the World Happiness Report.

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

New on theleftberlin this week, we publish two reports from John Mullen about the demonstrations and strikes in France – one written before Macron pushed through his Pensions Law against the will of parliament, and one after. Ali Khan interviews British Junior Doctors about why they are striking, and Phil Butland asks whether the Left should take part in demonstrations against Benjamin Netanyahu which exclude Palestinians.

You can follow us on the following social media:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• We also support the Berlin LINKE Internationals facebook page.

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

Hello everyone,

This Newsletter went out in its new format for the first time last week. Apologies for any delays, especially to people with yahoo email addresses. We are dealing with these teething problems as quickly as we can. If you are experiencing any problems or have any suggestions about how we can improve the Newsletter, please contact us at team@theleftberlin.com.

Because there is so much going on this week, we have two Campaigns of the Week. The first, BerlinZusammen (Berlin together) is organising a demonstration tomorrow (Saturday) against the possibility of a “Coalition of Regression” in Berlin between the CDU and the SPD. The demonstration starts at midday at Hermannplatz, and is intended to be a first step towards building a network or extra-parliamentary alliance for an open, diverse and social city for everyone!

Also starting tomorrow, Kuringa is organising a weekend of workshops and films to celebrate Augusto Boal’s “Theatre of the Oppressed”. On Saturday. there will be a workshop from 2pm and a showing of the film “Augusto Boal e O Teatro do Oprimido” at 7:30pm. And on Sunday from 2pm, Madalena Berlin will lead a Feminist Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop (ONLY FOR FLINTA, no cismen welcome). This will be followed at 7pm by the short documentary “NO means no, a journey into feminist Legislative Theatre”. Registration and more information: evagloria@kuringa.org.

On 2pm on Saturday, Aufstehen gegen Rassismus has called a rally at 2pm at Garbatyplatz near S- und U-Bahn Pankow. The rally, part of the International Weeks against racism is in commemoration of Yazy. Yazy was a 44-year old Syrian woman who died on 10th February this year after a Nazi arson attack on a refugee home in Bahnhofstraße in Französisch-Buchholz. This rally is in defence of all victims of racist violence.

On Sunday, it’s the latest walking tour organised by the Berlin LINKE Internationals. This month, the subject is colonialism and anti-colonialism in Berlin. Germany isn’t well know as a colonial empire. But in just a few decades at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the Kaiser’s troops massacred hundreds of thousands of people across Africa and Asia. The tour starts at 2pm outside the Akademie der Künste in front of Brandenburger Tor. Last-minute information will be delivered to all participants on Saturday, so please register here.

The trials of people arrested for being near Hermannplatz on last year’s anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba continue. The next big court case is next Wednesday, 22nd of March outside the Amtsgericht Tiergarten in Kirchstraße from 11am. Join the protests outside the court house. Nakba75, which is organising a demonstration on the anniversary of the Nakba in 2023, and preparing any attempt to ban people showing basic solidarity with Palestinians is our other Campaign of the Week.

On Wednesday evening at 7pm, Aufstehen gegen Rassismus is organising an Online Meeting in English on The fight against racism and the extreme right in Europe. Speakers are Laura Fernández, a human rights activist from Spain, David Karvala from Barcelona, active in the alliance Unitat contra Feixisme i Rascisme (UCFR) – Unity against Fascism and Racism, and Petros Konstantinou from Greece, spokesman of the Greek anti-racist and anti-fascist alliance KEERFA.

This week is full of activities in Berlin, so make sure you find out what else is going on by looking at our Events page.

Looking into the future, on Monday 27th March, the LINKE Berlin Internationals are having their next organising meeting in Ferat Kocak’s office in Schierkerstraße 26. Everyone is invited to join the debate. Top subjects will be Palestine solidarity in Berlin, the MyFest on 1st May, and setting an initial programme for this year’s Summer Camp. Summer Camp will be on June 10th-11th in the Naturfreundehaus Hermsdorf at the edge of Berlin. You can register here.

In News from Berlin, survey shows broad support for the aims of the Climate Referendum as the final mobilisation takes place in a rally at Nollendorfplatz, 86% of postal workers vote for indefinite strike action, as workers at BER airport also take part in a warning strike, and a project starts to eliminate parking spaces in Kreuzberg.

In News from Germany, government issues plans to reform hospitals, €49 Germany-wide travel ticket to start in May – but you must order 10 days in advance, and Roger Waters sues the City of Frankfurt for banning his concert there.

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

New on theleftberlin this week, we interview Berlin-based South African Jewish artist and Palestine activist Adam Broomberg, Srijon Sinha looks at a new BBC documentary exposing Prime Minister Modi’s collaboration with the far right, Anna Southern praises Gary Lineker for taking on the British Tories and defending refugees, we publish the call to action for a demonstration against Benjamin Netanyahu’s Berlin visit, Carol van Buren explains why Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey wants a coalition with the CDU, Ramsis Kilani gives a Palestinian’s view on the new Israeli government, and Dimitra Kyrillou reports from Athens about the train crash which provoked a general strike yesterday.

And finally, a video announcing the start of the Nakba 75 campaign, organised by our Campaign of the Week. Elisa Baş speaks in the name of BIPoC against the restriction of democratic rights of freedom of opinion and assembly. Elis has been active in the climate movement for years, and is the national spokesperson of  Fridays for Future Deutschland.

NOTE. Because of the increase on Friday afternoon demonstrations, most notably by Fridays for Future, we have received the request that this Newsletter go out a day earlier, so that people have enough notice of the demos they want to attend. For this reason, from next week onwards, this Newsletter will be sent out on Thursday lunchtime. Thanks to everyone who has suggested how we can improve our content resource.

You can follow us on the following social media:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• We also support the Berlin LINKE Internationals facebook page.

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

Hello everyone,

Our wonderful weekly Newsletter with a bit of facelift. Following some software updates we’ve made, we’ve made some changes to both the content and the look of our Newsletter. Let us know what you think! Send us any suggestions to: team@theleftberlin.com.

In a few weeks, from 26th-29th March, there will be a gas summit in Vienna, where gas companies, investors and politicians will talk about Europe’s dependency on fossil fuels. Protests have been called calling for an end to fossil capitalism. To help inform you about these protests, there will be a showing of Eleanor Goodfield’s film “Hard Road of Hope“ this evening in Wagenburg Lohmühle, Lohmühlenstr. 17, at 7pm. The film will be in English with German subtitles, and the discussion will be in German.

On Saturday, there will be a demonstration, Rip the Chains from the Unicorn, organised by our Campaign of the Week; Germans for Scottish Independence. The organisers say: “Together with European neighbors and supporters from all over the world we want to send a united signal to Westminster and to Scotland! A broad, colorful and peaceful, but strong and solidary signal of support for Scottish independence.” It starts at Pariser Platz at 11am. Demonstrators are also invited to a jam session and post-demo meet up from 7pm in Arcanoa.

Also on Saturday from 7pm, Perperúna invite you to an event: Voices of Feminist Solidarity in Der Frevel. In the wake of the mobilizations for the international Women’s Day, on the evening of March 11th the women of Perperúna vocal ensemble, meet Feminists4Jina, a transnational feminist group formed in the context of “Jin Jiyan Azadi” revolution in Iran. The evening will be full of polyphonic tunes from Greece and the Balkans but also voices and songs of the “Jin Jiyan Azadi” revolution.

On Sunday at 6pm, there are 2 different online events about Palestine, one in English, one in German. In a meeting organised by the Palestine museum, Anna-Esther Younes will be talking about Redefining antisemitism in a campaign to silence criticism of Israel and stigmatize support for Palestine in Germany/Europe. At the same time, Jüdisch-Israelischer Dissens (JID) in Leipzig invite you to an information evening in German on the current political situation in Israel-Palestine. The Zoom link will be made public on the day of the event.

On Thursday, at 7pm, the Bildungszentrum Lohana Berkins is organising a meeting: Training process for migrant workers. This space was born out of the need for migrant workers to get organized to defend their rights and to be able to protect themselves from the precariousness of the labor market in Germany. This is the third time that we do this series of training and debate meetings.  BUT THE FIRST TIME IN ENGLISH! Come to learn, discuss and meet people who want to organize like you! The event is in Rote Lilly, Emser Str. 114.

Per usual, these are not the only interesting events in Berlin this week. For more information, please check out our Events page.

In News from Berlin, CDU and SPD start negotiations about the next Berlin government, shots fired at the Gay Museum, and possible new vote on building on Tempelhofer Feld

In News from Germany, after warning strikes, 45,000 join the ver.di trade union, Last Generation protest at Germany blocking EU talks on protecting the environment, despite court victory, women still earn 18% less than men, and Sahra Wagenknecht says she will not stand for elections again for die LINKE.

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

New on theleftberlin this week, we talk to Israeli historian Ilan Pappe about 75 years Nakba, the new Israeli protest movement, and discussing Palestine in Germany, Tina Andersen Vågenes reports on Norwegian protests against wind farms build on indigenous lands, Dr. John Puntis makes the case for investing in the NHS, John Mullen reports from the strikes and protests in France – the biggest so far against Macron’s pension reforms, Hari Kumar looks at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s attempt to woo the BRICs countries, and we publish an analysis of the Battle of Lützerath from an activist involved in the campaign against lignite mining.

This week’s Photo Gallery of the Week contains pictures of Wednesday’s demonstration for International Working Women’s Day, organised by the ver.di and GEW trade unions and the Bündnis für Sexuelle Selbstbestimmung.

In This week’s Radio, in the latest programme from Radio Berlin International, Srijon Sinha talks to Nesrine, a Tunisian activist and member of the group FACQ Berlin (Front for Anti-Colonial / Anti-Capitalist / Anti-Cistem Queers), Gavin Taylor, a Scottish journalist with Independence Live, and Alicja Flisak from CoLiberation, a Polish-speaking queer feminist collective working around abortion, queer and women’s liberation and migration

And our Podcast of the Week welcomes a new podcast Delivery Charge. In the first edition, host Aju John explains how you can form a works council in six easy steps. He explores how platform delivery workers are organising for fairer conditions of work in India where he is from, and in Germany, where he lives. In 2021, the delivery workers of Gorillas, many of whom were recent migrants to Germany, navigated several intimidating procedures, to campaign for, conduct elections to, and establish a betriebsrat for the company in Berlin. This episode contains the story of the Gorillas Workers Collective.

You can follow us on the following social media:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• We also support the Berlin LINKE Internationals facebook page.

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