Compiled by Ana Ferreira
NEWS FROM BERLIN
47 percent of Berliners in favour of expropriation of real estate corporations
The opinion research institute Civey asked 2,502 representatively selected Berliners about their attitude to the expropriation of real estate companies. The result: in total, 47.1 per cent think it is the right thing to do, while around ten per cent of all respondents were undecided. As in previous surveys, the proportion of supporters is highest among Left Party voters. It currently stands at 89.3 per cent. But even 20 per cent of CDU and FDP voters think the expropriators’ cause is worth supporting. A clear majority of supporters of these parties – just like the AfD – reject expropriation. Source: tagesspiegel
Remembering women and migrants
Ulisone Rodrigues, a pastor from Mozambique, offered church services for contract workers from Mozambique in Friedrichshain in 1986. This turned the parish hall into a meeting place where Mozambicans and other contract workers could celebrate and exchange ideas, also about their experiences of racism in the GDR. Stories such those illustrate why Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg sees itself with justification as a trendsetter when it comes to addressing social conditions and making repressed histories visible. However, the “Kiezmuseum“ wants to go even further on inclusiveness, identifying four thematic areas: women’s history, migration history, queer political history and colonialism. Source: taz
NEWS FROM GERMANY
The Corona “emergency brake” is getting closer
In Berlin, the Bundestag passed amendments to the Infection Protection Act, tightening it up. Extremists have called for a storming of the Reichstag, which brings back memories of August 2020. In the parliament, during the debate on the Rules of Procedure, the Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble had to slow down the speakers. The managing director of the AfD parliamentary group called the whole affair a “farce.” The Liberals also complained harshly. Only after more than two and a half hours the results came up: with a sufficient majority (342 votes in favour, 250 against, 64 abstentions), the Bundestag passed the law. Source: dw
Left Party leader Wissler leaves Wiesbaden for Berlin
The former parliamentary group leader of the Left Party in the state parliament, Janine Wissler, is moving out to the Bundestag in Berlin. As the most diligent speaker in the opposition, she has earned the respect of the other parliamentary groups over the years. Wissler named the abolition of tuition fees in Hesse, the commitment against the airport expansion and for the decommissioning of the Biblis nuclear power plant as among her most formative issues. Currently, she and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, leader of the Left Party in Thuringia, form the new dual leadership of the party. Source: hessenschau
Laschet is the Union candidate for Chancellor
CSU leader Markus Söder has accepted the vote of the CDU federal executive committee. This means that the leader of the Christian Democrats, Armin Laschet, is the Union’s candidate for chancellor. Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Laschet and further statements also came from other politicians. The Green Party leader Annalena Baerbock said she was counting on “a fair election campaign for the leadership of this country.“ FDP leader Christian Lindner said there were many substantive issues on which the Liberals agreed with Laschet, wishing him every success, “as long as it is not at our expense”. Source: dw
When will Corona vaccinations for children and adolescents come?
In the “vaccination hierarchy” of most countries, children and adolescents are not even mentioned. They would probably be vaccinated last. However, the question has not yet arisen because no Corona vaccine has yet been licensed for children and adolescents. And, since last Spring, sudden cases of a multi-organ disease, the Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS), have been increasing worldwide – mostly after an asymptomatic infection.In the meantime, BioNTech says a vaccine for younger children could be available in early 2022. Moderna aims to present initial results by the summer. Source: dw
The majority of Germans wants the rent cap
Thousands of people demonstrated in Berlin ‘s Neukölln and Kreuzberg districts against the ruling on the rent cap. According to the latest survey, almost 61 per cent of Germans can imagine stricter rent regulation in individual regions. The Civey survey also distinguished between property owners and tenants. Not surprisingly, around 69 percent of tenants would like to see stricter rules on the ground. It is interesting, however, that even more than half of the property owners (50.6 percent) would welcome regional rent caps. Most economists are of the opinion that one should not regulate further. Source: welt
