Hello everyone,
Today (Thursday), the interior ministers of different German Bundesländer are meeting in Berlin. At this meeting, ministers and senators will decide on the lives, perspectives and futures of people who are not at the table to speak for themselves and their situation. The alliance Courage for anti-racist migration policy is organising a demonstration calling for: the right to stay for refugees, apartments instead of camps, security for all instead of racist police violence, safe escape routes instead of selective admission, and the participation instead of social exclusion. The demonstration is at 5:30pm at the Bundeskanzler*innen-Amt.
An emergency demonstration has been called this eveinng at 7pm following the tragic events in Pylos (Greece) due to the negligence of the Greek coast guard. Approximately 750 people where fighting with their lives on the night of the 13th of June. This led to 79 deaths, 104 rescued people and all the rest missing. We urge for an immediate call of action, a protest against the criminal politics and dispositions of the Greek government that creates unsafe passageways in land and sea for people in need. We won’t tolerate any more deaths! Open the borders now!! The demonstration will take place at Oranienplatz
Tomorrow is the court hearing of the Bundestag 3 For Palestine (BT3P), who are suing Germany for its anti-democratic + anti-#Palestinian anti-#BDS resolution! For more information about the case, see the interview with BT3P member Christoph Glanz, that we published on theleftberlin last November. The court hearing will be at the district court in Charlottenburg, Hardenbergstraße 31. There will be a demonstration at 10am, and the hearing will start at 11am.
Saturday is the Day of the German Army, an annual celebration of this country’s war machine. This year, after Germany’s military budget was doubled–the day has a particular importance. An alliance of LINKE groups, ATTAC Berlin and anti-war groups have called a protest Keine Werben für das Sterben “no recruitment for dying” at the Bundeswehr recruitment centre next to Friedrichstraße S-Bahn at 5:30pm on Friday. On Saturday, there will also be a protest in Brandenburg-Havel, site of one of the Bundeswehr events.
Also on Saturday, the Berlin LINKE Internationals will be showing the film Still the Enemy Within, about the British miners’ strike. Still the Enemy Within is a unique insight into one of history’s most dramatic events: the 1984-85 British Miners’ Strike. No experts. No politicians. Nearly forty years on, this is the raw first-hand experience of those who lived through Britain’s longest strike. Follow the highs and lows of that life-changing year. At this free screening in Berlin, we will be joined by the film’s Executive Producer Mike Simons, who will take part in a Q&A after the film is screened. It starts at 3pm in the Rosa Luxemburg Saal of Karl Liebknecht Haus, Kleine Alexanderstraße 28 on Rosa Luxemburg Platz.
On Sunday, it’s the latest Berlin LINKE Internationals Political Walking Tour. To mark Saturday’s 70th anniversary of the East German Workers’ Uprising, this month’s tour is on the 40 year history of the DDR. “Risen from ruins,” the anthem starts, “and facing the future.” The German Democratic Republic was founded in 1949, and collapsed almost exactly 40 years later. East Germany left behind some amazing architecture, starting with the broad avenue once called Stalinallee. We will start at the spot where a bronze statue of Stalin stood — today, only Stalin’s ear remains. Meet at U-Bhf Strausberger Platz, outside the exit to Andreasstraße (in front of Andreasstraße 46). As usual, the tour will last around 2 hours. Donations for the tour guide are not required, but kindly encouraged.
On Monday, more than 100 migrant workers who worked for WOLT will be protesting under the slogan WOLT owes us money and rights. The workers are still without pay since six months! In response, they have organised a campaign, starting with a petition. On Wednesday, they will hand over the petition. They need your support. Assemble in front of Rossmann’s at Kottbusser Tor at 3pm. The Wolt protest is our Campaign of the Week.
There are many more activities this week in Berlin, which are listed on our Events page. You can also see a shorter, but more detailed, list of events which we are directly involved in here.
In News from Berlin, policeman being investigated for drugging a female colleague and offering her for rape on a dating website, and water in Berlin may be rationed.
In News from Germany, study shows that one third of German men find violence against female partners acceptable, Rammstein singer accused of sexual abuse, church exhibition on the Nakba banned, AfD candidate in Thuringia may become mayor, and doctors arbitrarily change the medication of an imprisoned anti-fascist.
Read all about this week’s News from Berlin and Germany here.
New on theleftberlin this week: in Part 3 of his interview Hossam el-Hamalawy talks about the importance of Palestine for the Egyptian Left, the Bloque Latinamericano Berlin look at Germany and the Ukraine war, and we publish a 2-part article by Joseph Choonara, editor of the International Socialism Journal on trade union struggle today. Part-1 is on the current wave of strikes around Europe, and Part-2 focuses on the role of the trade union bureaucracy.
The Video of the Week is footage of the recent meeting that Ilan Pappe gave in Berlin at the Marxismuss Conference on 75 Years Nakba: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
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Keep on fighting
The Left Berlin Editorial Board
