Firstly, thanks to everyone who attended our evening of film, food and discussion about Gaza last Saturday. We raised €550, which we will donate to the Unity for Gaza: Mutual Aid & Resilient Livelihoods financial appeal, organised by Gaza Collective. Amid the breakout of indiscriminate violence in the ongoing war in Gaza, numerous families find themselves trapped in a dire humanitarian crisis. Our primary objective is to assist them by addressing their urgent needs. This campaign is recommended by Gazan activists in Berlin and we recommend that you also donate.

Tomorrow (Friday), the LINKE Berlin Internationals are organising a public meeting: Neosovereignism in the West African Sahel: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. What role do the military governments and their “neosovereignist” discourse play in West Africa? Are the juntas getting as close to Russia as is often claimed? What repercussions will these ties have? And what is, or could be Germany’s possible role in these new geostrategic developments in West Africa? Join the discussion with Prof. Dr. Baz Lecocq (HU Institute of Asian and African Studies),  Franza Drechsel (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation) and Dr. Lamine Doumbia (HU Institute for Asian and African Studies). It starts at 7pm in the Rosa Luxemburg Saal of Karl Liebknecht Haus, Rosa Luxemburg Platz.

There are 2 important demonstrations Saturday afternoon. At 1pm, #FreeCongo is demanding the immediate cessation of exploitation, corruption, and genocide by the government of the DR Congo. As well as, calling upon the German government and global corporations to cease their complicity in neo-colonial injustices and for ethical trade practices and reparations. In solidarity with the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, we urge immediate mobilization to work for a just and sustainable future for all. The demonstration starts at 1pm at Wilhelmstraße 77, 10117 Berlin and ends at the Europahaus.

Then at 2pm, there is a demonstration to mark 9 years of war in Yemen under the title Together for Peace in Yemen and Palestine. The Berlin-Brandenburg-based peace initiative Stop the War in Yemen, together with international organisations and activists for human rights and peace, want to inform parties, trade unions, organisations and particularly the people in Germany– about this illegal war. Specifically a war in which Saudi Arabia and its war coalition have been carrying out against Yemen since 26th March 2015. Help to end this insane genocide through land, air and sea blockades, massive arms shipments by NATO and EU powers, as well as the US drone war from the US airbase in Ramstein. The demo starts at the US Embassy at 2pm.

On Saturday night, the Jüdische Stimme is showing a sneak preview of the film Israelism, a US-American documentary about the presentation of the Israel-Palestine conflict in US-American-Jewish institutions. As two young US-American Jews, who have grown up with unconditional love for Israel, witness the brutal methods with which Israel treats Palestinians, their life take a sharp turn to the left. They join a movement of young US-American Jews who are fighting against the old guard to redefine the Jewishness of Israel. This opens a new deep generation conflict about modern Jewish identity. The film starts at 7pm in the Spore Initiative, Hermannstraße 86. It will be followed by a discussion with members of the Jüdische Stimme.

On Sunday, R2C Kino goes to Lisbon. Right2TheCity, the non-German working group of Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen is showing the film What’s going to happen here? As in many other cities, Lisbon is experiencing fierce gentrification over the last several years. This documentary follows Right to the City movements that resist the capitalistic development of urban spaces and fight to keep Lisbon liveable! We’ll start with a short introduction, and finish with a discussion after the film. Doors open at 18:00, the film starts at 18:30 in B53, B*raunschweiger*str. 53-55 (S/U Neukölln). This is part of the Housing Fight Movie Night series: screening films related to the struggle for fair and affordable housing, while looking at the housing crisis from different angles.

Also on Sunday evening, it’s our latest Palestine Reading Group at 7pm. This week we’ll be discussing Pinkwashing and Purplewashing – the attempt to use LGBTQ rights to justify Israel’s crimes. You can find the selected reading here. The Palestine Reading Group takes place every week, on either Friday or Sunday (partly depending on room availability). Check the page of Events which we’re organising for the coming dates and subjects under discussion. If you’d like to get more involved in the group, to suggest and vote on future subjects, you can join our Telegram group and follow the channel Reading group.  Meetings are currently in the Agit offices, Nansenstraße 2. There is a meeting for moderators (open to anyone who’s interested) half an hour before the meeting starts.

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 in here.

This week’s Campaign of The Week is the campaign Stop Political Expulsion at Berlin Universities. On March 26, Berlin is debating a change to the Higher Education Act, where “politically motivated expulsion” can be used as a disciplinary measure in universities. This not only threatens people’s right to stay in Germany (as visas can be tied to student status), but sets a frightening precedent of shutting down student political organizing and restricting academic freedom. They are quickly pushing this in during semester break, and leaving little possibility of organized opposition. We need a wide alliance of students and non-students to oppose the right-wing turn in Germany: WE CANNOT LET THIS PASS! 

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.

In News from Berlin, fire breaks out at refugee camp at Tegel, and Berlin’s techno clubs fight for state support.

In News from Germany, CDU suggest restricting support to the unemployed while SPD defends “citizens’ income”, cooperation between the CDU and the AfD is growing, government breaks its promises on climate protection, and fdp blocks bill to fight right-wing extremism.

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

New on theleftberlin, Photographer Rasha Al-Jundi and cartoonist Michael Jabareen look at homelessness and gentrification in Berlin, DD Habib looks at the ties between ethno-nationalism in India and Israel, Phil Butland salutes Welsh singer and activist Charlotte Church, and Nathaniel Flakin looks at Berlin mayor Kai Wegner’s antisemitic friends.

This week’s Videos of the Week are taken from last week’s demonstration for Syria and Palestine held in Berlin on the 13th anniversary of the Syrian revolution.

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 please do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.

Keep on fighting,

The Left Berlin Editorial Board

Hello everyone,

Friday sees the next national climate strike organised by Fridays for Future. This month’s stike is organised in cooperation with transport workers in the trade union ver.di. In recent months, a climate activists and trade unionists have built a strong alliance under the slogan Wir fahren zusammen (we’re travelling together). We have built bridges, listened to each other, swapped ideas and learned from one another. And we have forged plans: we are building a movement which is fighting for climate protection and social justice. In Berlin, strikers and activists will be gathering in Invalidenpark at 10am.

A new pamphlet containing myths about the formation of the State of Israel is going to be distributed in schools. This pamphlet, which falsifies history and denies the historic suffering of Palestinians, has no place in schools. The pamphlet has been supported by the Berlin office for political education and will be used in Neukölln schools after a vote by the CDU and SPD members of the local parliament. The Greens abstained, and die LINKE opposed the proposal. A protest against this falsification of history has been called by Kifaya and the Palestine Campaign. It will take place on Friday at 4pm outside the Rathaus Neukölln.

On Saturday, the Global South Unites alliance has called a Joint Demo for Palestine. Resistance gives us meaning. Resistance is an on-going purpose. From Gaza to Algolan Heights, from Jenin to Idlib, from Al-Quds to Cairo, from Tulkarm to Ayn al-Hilweh and Shatila, from Nablus to Al-Yarmouk Camp and Al-Nayrab Camp, from Palestine to all of the diaspora; we see no borders! Together, we end colonialism, racism, and white supremacy! The demonstration starts at Neptunenbrunnen, near Alexanderplatz, at 2pm. If you would like to march with other international activists, we will be meeting at the Marx-Engels statue at 1.45pm.

There is no Palestine Reading Group this week as the current venue is booked for something else, and we are still negotiating new, larger rooms. Instead, on Friday night, members of the Reading Group will be attending the performance Court Fantasies in Ballhaus Ost. With the help of visions of the future, the performers Salma Said und Miriam Coretta Schulte take a look at the apparently unchangeable asylum system. They invite the public to look at a future archive. The performance starts at 8pm. If you’d like to meet members of the Reading Group, you can find us in the theatre bar before it starts (and possibly afterwards). If you can’t make it on Friday, there’s also a showing on Saturday as well.

The following Reading Groups are planned for March:

• Friday, 8th March: Palestinians in the Diaspora
• Sunday, 17th March: Reading Ghassan Khanafani
• Friday, 22nd March: Pinkwashing, patriarchy and feminist theories of occupation
• Sunday, 31st March: Manufacturing global Islamophobia

The Reading Group currently meets in the Agit offices, Nansenstraße 2, but we are seeking a larger venue. To be sure of the right venue, check our Events page and future Newsletters. You can also join our Telegram Group to keep up with the debate and suggest future subjects or readings.

On Monday at 7pm, it’s the next monthly meeting of the Berlin LINKE Internationals. This month, the main discussion is on how we can stop the AfD. Currently, the AfD is polling second in polls, which continues to strengthen the likelihood of German support in the upcoming elections. How can they be stopped? Are social democrats and Greens our friends or our enemies? How can we build broad demonstrations which are welcoming to everybody? With large demonstrations planned against the AfD national conference at the end of June, are demonstrations alone enough? We will be discussing these questions and more with Ferat Kocak, anti-racist activist, local councillor and blogger (active on social media as Der Neuköllner). Everyone is invited to join the debate which takes place in Ferat’s office, Schierker Straße 26.

There is much more going on in Berlin. 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 in here.

Two dates for your calendars:

• On Saturday, 16th March, we will be showing the film Aisheen, Still Alive in Gaza in oyoun. The film was originally scheduled for 10th February. Food will be available, and following the film there will be a discussion with Palestinian activist Ramsy Kilani.
• Please note: the LINKE Internationals Summer Camp has now been postponed to avoid clashing with a big demo against the AfD. Summer Camp will now take place on 21-22 September, still in the Naturfreundehaus Hermsdorf.

This week’s Campaign of The Week is a project by Palestinian journalist Hebh Jamal, and British journalist Tom Wills, both of whom are long-time collaborators with theleftberlin website. Hebh and Tom are currently fundraising so that they can make a film: The Reason of State. The film aims to investigate, explain, and reveal Germany’s support for Israel, its impact on Europe’s largest Palestinian community, and how those affected are fighting back. After producing the first episode, Hebh and Tom hope to extend the project into a series or a feature-length film focusing on how Germany’s pervasive pro-Israel bias has infiltrated society. You can make your donations 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.

In News from Berlin, transport strikes in Berlin unite with climate activists, Deutsche Wohnen charged with breaches of data protection, fast mobile phone links to be available on Berlin U-Bahns, and Berlin’s mayor calls for punishment measures against the Berlinale.

In News from Germany, Grünheide residents vote against the extension of the Tesla plant, investigation into racism allegations against law students in Hessen, cannabis is decriminalized – but not legalized – in Germany, survey calls for a Digital Reset to protect the climate, and AfD to be categorised as a “confirmed extremist party.”

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

New on theleftberlin, we report from the police assault on the Palestine bloc at this week’s demonstration commemorating the Hanau murders, Rasha al-Jundi and Michael Jabareen visualise state surveillance. Nathaniel Flakin looks at the fabricated Berlinale antisemitism scandal, and Phil Butland is impressed by Jonathan Glazer’s new Holocaust film, The Zone of Interest.

This week’s Video of the Week shows the acceptance speech of Palestinian film maker Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham after their film No Other Land won the public prize for documentaries at this year’s Berlinale. The speech has enraged German politicians. Watch it and judge for yourself.

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 please do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.

Keep on fighting,

The Left Berlin Editorial Board

Hello everyone,

The exhibition Kite of Four Colours has been running since Monday in Bardo Projektraum, Jessnerstraße 33. Kite of Four Colors is a photo exhibition with live-events that aims to counter the dehumanizing image of the Palestinian people spread by the Western media. The exhibition includes a selection of pictures that are part of a larger exhibition: GAZA HABIBTI*. During the week of the exhibition there will also be live events exploring different aspects of Palestinian culture. The events will be announced in the coming days. Stay tuned! The exhibition is open from 5pm every day until Sunday. The event is free, but a minimum donation of 5€ is strongly suggested. The photographs on display will also be available for sale. All proceeds will be donated.

This week’s demonstrations for Palestine are on Friday at 4pm at the Auswärtiges Amt under the motto Let Rafah Live, and on Saturday at 3pm at Hermannplatz under the motto Stop the War – Stop the Aggression.

Our latest Palestine Reading Group will be taking place at 7pm in our usual venue of Agit, Nansenstraße 2. This week we’ll be discussing the Violence of the Oppressed. Follow the link for suggested reading. The Palestine Reading Group takes place every week at 7pm in the Agit offices, Nansenstraße 2. This means that the following group (on The Israeli “Left”) will be on Sunday 25th February. Because the rooms are not always free, you may need to check the dates of some meetings. Future dates are posted on our Events page and will be posted in future Newsletters. You can also join our Telegram Group to keep up with the debate and suggest future subjects or readings.

This week is the fourth anniversary of the racist murders in Hanau, when 9 BIPoC people were murdered by a white racist. There will be a national memorial demonstration in Hanau on Saturday. Busses will be leaving Oranienplatz in Berlin at 5am. Please contact community@welcome-united.org to book your place on the bus. There will be also 2 memorial Events in Berlin on Monday, the day of the anniversary – a rally at Oranienplatz at 5pm, and a Commemoration (at 5.30pm) and Demonstration (at 7pm) at S-Bahn Sonnenallee. The Sonnenallee Event, organised by Migrantifa, is our Campaign of the Week.

On Saturday at 3pm, there will be a magazine Release : 8 years after the ‚March of Hope‘ offering stories of and perspectives on the ‚Balkan route‘.What events have shaped the ‚Balkan route‘ since 2015/16? How was the EU border regime expanded? What interventions and resistance have there been? Balkanbrücke have addressed these and many other questions, speaking to people on the move, activists and NGOs. The result is a series of artistic, activist and academic articles about the so-called Balkan route. The magazine launch takes place at Konserve at Haus der Statistik. There will be activities, a panel discussion, many exciting groups on the topic and a concert afterwards.

Also on Saturday, at 7.30pm, the Tech Workers Coalition is organising Part 2 of their online workshop Bringing Palestine Solidarity to Your Workplace. As the genocide in Gaza continues, more and more tech workers are looking for ways to bring Palestine solidarity to their workplaces. But what to do if your company isn’t actively doing business with the Israeli military? The ongoing Palestine liberation movement teaches us that war profiteering, imperialism, and militarism are the bedrock of occupation in Palestine and elsewhere. By bringing their Palestine solidarity to their workplaces, tech workers are engaging their leadership and co-workers to examine the tech industry’s complicity. Join tech workers throughout the world be registering here.

There is much more going on in Berlin. 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 in 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. And Berlin-based Palestinian photographer Rasha Al-Jundi is launching a limited print sale of images from occupied Palestine to support production costs of another project of mine related to Palestinians in exile. More information here.

In News from Berlin, the Berlinale invites, then disinvites AfD politicians, more delays and train cancellations from the BVG, police attack Palestine demo on Sonnenallee, and AfD gains votes at re-run elections while government parties record losses.

In News from Germany, Germany joins the largest NATO manoeuvre since the end of the Cold War, the head of German’s employment agency says that Germany needs migrant workers, donations to charity fall, commemorations planned for the victims of the Hanau massacre, and AfD transphobia is increasing.

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

New on theleftberlin, Palästina Spricht Hamburg call for more acceptance of racial minorities on demos against the far right, Nathaniel Flakin counters media disinformation about alleged antisemitism at the FU, the latest photo and cartoon from Rasha Al-Jundi and Michael Jabareen in their series It’s So Berlin!, Sophia Deeg looks at Germany’s lack of empathy for Palestinians, Christine Buchholz explains why she will stay in social movements and not take a seat in parliament, Dave Gilchrist reports from London on a German trade unionist’s speech at a conference against racism, and Alice Lambert remembers the Hanau massacre, which took place 4 years ago this week.

This week’s Video of the Week shows the demonstration for Palestine on Sonnenallee this week before it got attacked by the police.

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 please do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.

Keep on fighting,

The Left Berlin Editorial Board

Hello everyone,

Apologies to anyone who didn’t get the Newsletter last week. We are having technical problems with our server and a minority of readers didn’t receive anything last week. We apologise for this, and hope that the problem has now been fixed. Middle-term we are moving to more consistent software which will hopefully eradicate all problems.

This afternoon (Thursday), the Student Coalition Berlin is organising a meeeting with Dr Norman Finkelstein on A Critical Examination of the Role of German Academia in the Midst of Genocide. In this conversation with Prof. Finkelstein we will dive into the complex geopolitical landscape surrounding the ongoing and escalating genocide in Gaza. Germany’s continued unwavering support for Israel, stemming from both historical ties (Israel as Germany’s “Staatsräson”) as well as an ongoing commitment to “security”, is exemplified in Germany’s recent stance against South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice. The meeting starts at 6pm and can be viewed in person at Mozaik Centre, Grunewaldstraße 87, or online via Zoom. Follow the link for more information.

On Friday, theleftberlin is organising an Eye Witness Report from Gaza with Duha Almusaddar, Project Manger of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Gaza. Duha recently left Gaza and will talk about the situation on ground. The meeting starts at 7pm, and will be taking place in Oyoun, Lucy Lameck-Straße 32. Please note that after the Berliner Senat evicted the Oyoun building, there will only be a limited number of chairs so come early to get a seat. Floor seating will also be available to latecomers. We want to organise a second event with Duha in February, with proper seating and translation into German.

This week’s demonstrations for Palestine include the following:

• Friday at 4pm at Werdescher Markt 1
• Saturday at 2pm at Neptunenbrunnen near Alexanderplatz
• Sunday at 2pm at Hermannplatz
• Sunday at 2pm at the Egyptian embassy

On Saturday evening, Indian socialists are showing the film Ram Ke Naam (In the Name of God). This Monday (22.01.2024), the Prime Minister of India inaugurated a grand temple — the Ram Mandir — in the north Indian city of Ayodhya. The temple stands exactly at the site of the destroyed Babri Masjid — a 400 year old heritage site and place of worship. The film documents this rallying of armed Hindu nationalist mobs, and the destruction of the mosque that followed. The film screening is in the Rosa Luxemburg Saal of Karl Liebknecht Haus on Rosa Luxemburg Platz.

As of this week, our weeklyPalestine Reading Group will be on alternate Sundays and Fridays at the AGIT offices, Nansenstraße 2. This is to accommodate people who could not make our previous regular date of Friday evenings. The next meeting is on Sunday, January 28th at 7pm. The subject is Post-colonialism, colonialism and settler colonialism. Follow the link to register and to find the recommended reading. We are currently running a poll to decide the subject of future reading groups. To join the poll, and to keep up-to-date with the latest from the Reading Group, you can join our Telegram group here.

On Monday, Moviemento is showing the film We Are Here – Young Gaza on Stage against the backdrop of the devastating war in Gaza. Especially now, we want to show people’s lives in Gaza, to give «Gaza» a face or in this particular case the many faces of the actors, their stories and their longing for a life in peace, security and dignity. The film, which was produced in cooperation with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Palestine Office, is followed by a film talk with the director Sabrina Dittus and Ali Al-Hasani, a member of the theater ensemble from Gaza. Afterwards Duha Almussadar, RLS Palestine and Jordan Office programme manager (who is also speaking at theleftberlin meeting on Friday), will join us to speak about the current situation.

There is much more going on in Berlin. 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 in here.

A reminder that you have a week more to vote for the workshop that you want to have at the LINKE Berlin Internationals annual Summer Camp. This year’s Summer Camp will be on 29th-30th June in the Naturfreundehaus Hermsdorf, near Berlin. There will be keynote meetings from Ferat Kocak and activists from Italy and Poland on the rise of the far right in Europe, and Hossam el-Hamalawy and others on Palestine, the Arab States and the Arab Street. The voteends on January 31st. Survey results will be used to make a decision at the next LINKE Internationals open meeting on 5th February.

This week’s Campaign of the Week is Appointment in Samarra, a new blog by Berlin-based Egyptian journalist Simsim Abdo. Follow this link to subscribe.

If you are looking for Resources on Palestine, we have just 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.

In News from Berlin, hundreds of thousands demonstrate against the AfD – but the police exclude the Palestine block, Berlin politicians distance themselves from the AfD, and DJs boycott Berghain in solidarity with Palestine.

In News from Germany, massive rent rises in Bavaria, demonstrations against the far right are being registered every day throughout Germany, some German MPs join the call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and Hamburg stands up against right-wing extremism.

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

New on theleftberlin, Nathaniel Flakin argues that present government policy is paving the way to the rise of the far right, the Antifascist Music Alliance report on a possible culture boycott of Germany because of censorship on Palestine, we publish the first contribution to It’s So Berlin! – a photographic and cartoon intervention by Palestinian artists Rasha al-Jundi and Michael Jabareen, Sarah Adler interview Jewish anti-Zionist artists Joanna Rajkowska and Robert Yerachmiel Sniderman, we report on last week’s protests against anti-Palestine censorship outside the Gorki theatre, the Bloque Latinamericano explain what’s going on in Ecuador, and Dave Gilchrist looks at Germany, Gaza, and last-week’s massive demonstrations against the AfD.

Our Video of the Week is the recording of our meeting last week on Apartheid Israel with Nadija Samour (Palestinian lawyer), Patrick Bond (South African academic and activist) and Barbara Schreiner (South African activist and Executive Director of the Water Integrity Network). Click on the picture of the speakers below to view the video.

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 please do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.

Keep on fighting,

The Left Berlin Editorial Board

Hello everyone,

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR YOUR CALENDARS: On Friday, 26th January, we’ll be organising an Eye Witness Report from Gaza with Duha Almusaddar, Project Manger of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Gaza. Duha recently left Gaza and will talk about the situation on ground. The meeting starts at 7pm, and will be taking place in Oyoun, Lucy Lameck-Straße 32. Please note that after the Berliner Senat evicted the Oyoun building, no chairs will be available, so we will make ourselves comfortable on the floor. We want to organise a second event with Duha in February, with proper seating and translation into German.

The Muslim Futures weekend starts today in the ACUD Gallery and Club and lasts until Sunday 21st. With Muslim Futures, an empowering and disruptive space is created together with Muslim futurists from art, culture and political education, who translate, exhibit and discuss their imaginations in various installations, interventions and forms of expression. The futurists make use of literary, artistic, documentary, musical and many other perspectives and focus in part on different sensual experiences in imaginative processes. Come, and enter the world of Muslim Futures and to radically imagine more just and inclusive futures with us. Muslim Futures is one of two Campaigns of the Week.

Today also is the start of Views on Israel – a series of films about Israel organised by members of the Judische Stimme. Tonight’s film is Two Blue Lines. Shot over a period of 25 years, Two Blue Lines examines the human and political situation of Palestinian people from the years prior to the creation of Israel to the present day. By primarily featuring the narratives of Israelis whose positions run counter to their country’s official policy, the documentary provides a portrait of the ongoing conflict not often depicted in mainstream media. It starts at 7pm at Café MadaMe, Mehringplatz 10 (venue of last night’s meeting on Apartheid Israel).

Our Regular Palestine Reading Group continues on Friday with a discussion on Why do the US and Europe fund Israel? Follow the link to register and access the suggested reading. Following feedback that some people are not available on Fridays, the Reading Group will now take place on alternate Fridays and Sundays. Next week’s Group will meet  on Sunday, 28th January to discuss Post-colonialism, colonialism and settler colonialism. As ever, the meeting is in the AGIT offices, Nansenstraße 2. If you would like to join the discussion about what we read in the future, you can join our Telegram group here.

On Saturday at 10.30am, buses will be leaving Ostbahnhof to take people to a demonstration in Hamburg against state repression. Six and a half years after the G20 summit in Hamburg, the public prosecutor still has a strong intention to persecute. In the so-called Rondenbarg trial, the court case against six affected comrades begins this year. Together we want to travel to Hamburg on the 20th of January 2024 by Solibus and fight with you against the state and repression. The buses are being organised by Gemeinschaftlicher Widerstand (Community resistance), who are our second Campaign of the Week.

On Sunday, 21^st January we are organising a Walking Tour about Rosa Luxemburg’s Berlin. “Berlin has made the most unfavorable impression on me.” It is 1898 and Rosa Luxemburg has just arrived in the capital of the German Empire. She describes it in a letter as: “cold, tasteless, massive — a real barracks; and the dear Prussians with their arrogance, as though every one of them had the stick up their ass with which they had once been beaten…” Fair to say it isn’t love at first sight, but Luxemburg stays here until the bitter end. Berlin is her home for the next two decades. The tour will start at 2pm at Mehringplatz, not far from Café MadaMe, and finish around 4.30pm near U-Bahn Friedenau. Participation is free, but we recommend a €10 donation to the tour guide.

There is much more going on in Berlin. 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 in here.

The LINKE Berlin Internationals are organising their annual Summer Camp on 29th-30th June in the Naturfreundehaus Hermsdorf, near Berlin. There will be keynote meetings from Ferat Kocak and activists from Italy and Poland on the rise of the far right in Europe, and Hossam el-Hamalawy and others on Palestine, the Arab States and the Arab Street. We are now deciding which workshops to organise. You can vote for the workshops that you want to see here. The survey ends on January 31st. Survey results will be used to make a decision at the next LINKE Internationals open meeting on 5th February.

In News from Berlin, the Rosa Luxemburg Conference shows solidarity for Palestine, and thousands of farmers demonstrate once more in Berlin.

In News from Germany, secret meeting of AfD and CDU politicians and neo-Nazis planning mass deportations exposed, thousands demonstrate against the AfD, new government in Hessen is younger but has few female faces, and Namibia accuses Germany of not having learned from its past genocides.

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

New on theleftberlin, Nathaniel Flakin accuses German élites of instrumentalising antisemitism to cover up for their own rotten histories, Patrick Bond exposes the corrupt side of German footballer and manager Franz Beckenbauer who died recently, and we publish an open letter to the UN criticizing Germany’s crackdown on cultural freedom.

Our Videos of the Week show scenes of the police attacking the Palestine block of last Sunday’s Luxemburg-Liebknecht demo, which resulted in 15 demonstrators being hospitalised.

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 please do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.

Keep on fighting,

The Left Berlin Editorial Board