On Thursday at the K19 Café (Kreutziger Straße 19), Udi Raz from the Jüdische Stimme is talking on Green Politics and Racial Supremacy in Palestine. Udi offers a historical contextualization of the perception of the relationship between the categories of “the land” and “the people” in Zionist knowledge production, and shows, through contemporary examples, how Green Politics are being deployed by Zionists in order to maintain Jewish Supremacy between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, through practices of genocide and epistemicide. The meeting starts at 8pm, and will be preceded by a vegan Küfa from 6.30pm.
Friday sees the opening of an exhibition Palestinian Identities in Ulme35 (Ulmenallee 35). Ulme35 and the der Ibn Rushd Fund invite you to spend an evening exploring Palestinian identities. Different artistic positions open perspectives of what these could be. Students and Almuni of Bard College Berlin will show short films and sketches. The evening also sees the opening of the exhibition Eyes of Gaza, a collection of photos young people in Gaza took of their world in 2020. When Eyes of Gaza was last shown in Berlin, we reviewed it in theleftberlin. The exhibition will run until the middle of June.
On Saturday, there’s a demonstration Solidarity with Palestine. Stop the genocide in Gaza! Stop the project of Israeli settler colonialism! Stop the renewed forced displacement of Palestinians! Stop Nakba 2.0! The demonstration starts at 3pm at the corner of Wilmersdorferstraße and Kantstraße.
On Sunday, it’s our latest Palestine Reading Group, where we’ll be discussing Socialist perspectives on Palestinian liberation. You can find the selected 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.
On Monday, at 7pm, there is a Meeting to found a new theleftberlin Group. theleftberlin was initially a journalistic project, responsible for our Website and, later, this Newsletter. Organising meetings and other Events was mainly in the hands of the Berlin LINKE Internationals. At its most recent organising meeting, the Berlin LINKE Internationals decided to restrict their work to Events done in direct contact with die LINKE, and to let theleftberlin organise everything else. If you like what we do, and are interested in getting more involved, or are just curious about our work, please come along. It’s in Ferat Kocak’s office, Schierker Straße 26.
Also on Monday evening, Emily Dische-Becker & Basma al-Sharif will be leading a talk on censorship in Berlin, accompanied by the German premiere of Basma al-Sharif’s short film Capital. Emily Dische-Becker is a writer, organizer, and curator. She’s the German director of Diaspora Alliance. Basma al-Sharif is a Palestinian artist working in cinema and installation. The evening is part of Making Waves – a series of monthly screenings, talks, and lectures, on freedom of speech, art as resistance, Palestine, the German question, and more. Making Waves is organized by Khomasi, who are our Campaign of the Week.
One for your diary. Next Saturday, 11th May, theleftberlin is organising Palivision – an evening of live performance for everyone who wants to observe the boycott of Eurovision 2024. Besides 11 musical acts, there will be speeches by Palestinian lawyer Nadija Samour, Udi Raz from the Jüdische Stimme, plus representatives of the Palestine Campaign, Handala Leipzig, GewerkschafterInnen4Gaza, and KlimafürPalästina. All money raised at PALIVISION will be donated to the European Legal Support Centre to help their fight against the repression of Palestine Solidarity in Germany. The event takes place in AlHamra (Raumer Straße 16). Doors open at 6pm, but be early as places are limited. The first act is on at 7pm. More information in next week’s Newsletter.
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, Berlin police ban speaking Gaelic at the Camp for Gaza, transport senator resigns after alleged plagiarism, and Ferat Koçak attacks the deportation of and adult and a child with mental illness.
In News from Germany, Germany will probably support EU environmental reforms, first trial of the Reichsbürger begins, and following a demonstration in Hamburg against Islamophobia the interior minister calls for “tough intervention”, lastly inflation in Germany starts to level out.
Read all about it in this week’s News from Berlin and Germany.
New on theleftberlin, Dan Weissmann examines the popular German columnist repeating Israeli army propaganda, Helga Baumgarten, professor at the Bir Zeit University looks at the writings of Constantine Zurayk and Salman Abu Sitta, Isobel Knight looks at the worrying recent case which highlights femicide in Kazakhstan, Ilya Kharkow worries about a murder in Kyiv, Roser Garí Pére condemns Germany’s proud complicity in genocide in Gaza, Alan Fernandes examines the trial following the murder of Brazilian socialist Marielle Franco, and we publish die Linke’s short manifesto for the coming European elections.
This week’s Video of the Week shows the production of the latest merchandise available from theleftberlin. Palestine T-shirts cost €15, or 3 for €40. Tote bags are €10. We also have a limited number of posters and other merch. Merchandise is available at all theleftberlin events, including Palestine reading groups and Palivision (although we sold all of the current batch of tote bags on 1st May). You can contact us beforehand at team@theleftberlin.com to ensure that we will have what you’re after. Profits made from the merch will be shared between improving theleftberlin website and the European Legal Support Centre for its work defending Palestinians and their supporters in Germany.
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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
