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Pride Art

Art in a time of war


22/02/2023

5 years ago Lars Deike founded prideART in his studio on Wiesenweg near Ostkreuz. Many group exhibitions followed, partly in my showroom in the Brezel in Schöneberg, partly in the factory hall of the prideART Ateliers and the Trabi workshops in Friedrichshain. In 2022 we founded a non-profit art association, prideART Berlin e.V. Today, with A. David Holloway, Markus Hoffmann-Achenbach and Michael Smejkal at the helm prideART occupies a wing of The Knast a former women’s prison in Berlin-Lichterfelde. 

Membership to prideART Berlin e.V. Is open to LGBTQ+ artists from all disciplines and we encourage all interested parties to contact us for more information. 

After a year of prideART e. V. this Friday we have one of our largest exhibitions, the Friedens Ausstellung/Pride Art Peace Exhibition VERNISSAGE, with over 45 artists.  

24th of February to commemorate a year of the war in Ukraine at 19:00 we open our first exhibition of 2023. Entry is free, 18+ unless with parental supervision. We are unfortunately at the moment not wheelchair accessible. 

Söhtstrasse 7, 12203, Berlin-Lichterfelde 

www.prideart.eu

@prideart_berlin (Insta) 

A weekend with “Care for Calais” supporting asylum seekers

The recent attacks on asylum seekers in Liverpool are the direct consequence of a government which demonizes desperate people. Eye-witness report from Northern France


18/02/2023

‘The Jungle’, was the sprawling refugee camp near Calais. In 2016 it was dismantled. Since then almost no images of refugees in France reaches screens in England. Our media images are dominated by the arrival of refugee ‘small boats’ – unseaworthy inflatables. They discharge exhausted and relieved people onto the south coast beaches. But smaller encampments are still dotted around close to the beaches of Northern France.

Last month with friends, I travelled to France to volunteer with the UK charity Care for Calais. Warehouses are kitted out with floor to ceiling shelves, bodged together from scrap wood and pallets. Van loads of donations are shipped in, sorted and repacked for distribution: warm clothes, sleeping bags, hygiene products and footwear. In the mornings we opened up and checked donated tents salvaged at the end of UK music festivals. Tents, bedding and clothing are needed in abundance because police routinely turn up and bulldoze the camps, trashing the refugees’ fragile nylon homes and meagre belongings. The work is constant. Three paid staff manage a through flow of volunteers, some like us come just for a weekend, others stay for months or years.

In the afternoon we visited bare fields across the road from houses on the outskirts of town. Care for Calais visit a different area every day bringing packs of clothes, hot drinks and snacks, mini generators and power panels. Utility alongside distraction and solidarity. Some of the young men played cricket or football. Lots came to charge their phones or get a haircut. Some wanted to practice chatting in English. I volunteered on the English teaching table giving me the incredible privilege of talking to several people at length about their journeys, their aspirations. What they were running from and to.

The next day, after a morning in the warehouse, we parked up on a patch of concrete in Dunkerque beside a large expanse of treeless scrubland. Dozens of people, including a small number of women and children, appeared shortly after our arrival ducking through a broken corner of the chainlink fence. At this much bigger gathering several other charities turned up. One provided hot food, one bottled water. Organisations from around Europe coordinate to provide medical care, food, supplies and legal advice.

The stories I heard that day were harrowing and awe inspiring by turns.

The young Afghan man of 17 who had reached Dunkerque after walking for 7 months, dodging police bullets at the Turkish border. Life had stopped for him at home when the Taliban took over. He’d lost any sense of safety or hope. With his family’s blessing he left everyone and everything behind.

I met a baby just a few months old peeking out from under her mother’s coat; and a small girl with grubby face and swollen red hands playing on the ground, filling a broken shuttlecock with sand with all the serious intent and curiosity of every toddler. She’d ‘borrowed’ a plastic tipper truck from the Care for Calais toybox and when it was time to go she wouldn’t give it back. Her tenacity, clinging with frozen fingers to the cheap toy seemed to symbolise the extraordinary resilience we saw all around us.

The camps are bleak, windswept wastelands. Since they broke up the jungle there is no on-site infrastructure. No toilets, running water, paths, litter collection, permanent or communal shelters – just scattered clusters of small tents. Everyone is trying to make it to the UK. They are matter of fact about it. There was no acknowledgement of the extreme risks of crossing the busiest shipping lane in the world in freezing conditions. I wondered if they know about the boat full of men women and children who died in the Channel at the end of 2021. Both French and British coastguard agencies took multiple desperate calls from the boat and wrangled for hours about whose waters it was in and whose responsibility it was – meanwhile it sank and 30 people drowned.

Everyone is determined to reach the UK. It was quite hard to hear their hopes and dreams of studying and working, and meeting up with relatives when we know they are likely to end up in detention, or in hotels for years, unable to earn money, work or study. At worst they may even face deportation to Rwanda.

One man asked me a favour. ‘Please’, he said, ‘can you campaign for your government to stop the French police slashing the boats. They get to the beach before us, they break our boats’. Of course the UK Government pays the French police millions of Euros to do just that. To prevent the crossings by any means necessary.

The only real way to stop the crossings, thwart the people traffickers making thousands from each dinghy full of desperate people, and to close the camps in Northern France – would be to create ‘safe routes’ for refugees heading for the UK. They could set up assessment centres in France and allow those with a legitimate claim to cross the channel safely by ferry or train; and allow British consular services around the world to assess claims and provide visas. But safe routes simply won’t happen with the baying hounds in the UK media that daily amplify racist and hateful rhetoric about migrants.

The response to the small boats ‘crisis’ has been brutal. A new Nationality and Borders Act reduces safe routes further, preventing family reunion and creating a hierarchy of entitlement to asylum. An agreement with Rwanda will deport refugees there with no right to make any further claims for asylum in the UK. This a vastly expensive and performative dogwhistle. It signifies to the anti-immigration lobby, a government ‘getting a grip’ on the situation. So far it has been prevented by legal action, but further legislation is planned to smooth the way for this to go ahead. If they have to tear up every international convention to do so and pull out of the European Court of Human Rights, they will.

The opposition Labour party opposes the Rwanda scheme as impractical and expensive. They consistently deflect questions about whether it is ethical, legal or acceptable. Asked for a solution to the immigration ‘crisis’ they have called for more investment in processing applications in order to remove illegal claimants faster. The leader Keir Starmer suggested putting ankle tags on claimants like criminals released from prison so that we can track their movements by GPS.

‘Controlling our borders’ was the rallying cry of the Brexiteers. The propaganda during the referendum deliberately conflated  free movement of EU citizens into the UK, and refugees arriving to seek asylum. Both groups were blamed for the failures of our public services (all at breaking point after years of funding cuts and privatisation), though immigrants of all kinds are as likely to work in those services as to use them. Those who voted for Brexit in the hope it would keep ‘foreigners’ out are disappointed and bitter. Brexit has successfully reduced the flow of, largely skilled, EU workers into the UK leaving us with staffing crises across all sectors: health, transport, construction, agriculture. But the failure of the government to negotiate a ‘returns agreement’ on leaving the EU has actually increased small boat traffic.

Those who do arrive in England – estimated to be 40,000 people in 2022 – have no right to work while their claims for asylum are processed. That can take years in a system that is underfunded and understaffed. Refugees are housed in flats or hotels in communities  suffering from years of austerity. That resulted in yearly real terms wage cuts; spiralling inflation; a housing crisis and unaffordable rents; huge rates of in-work poverty with mass reliance on foodbanks; and families unable to heat their homes, and even their food, for fear of astronomical bills. A demoralised, desperate population are told every day by their political leaders, and newspapers that idle, criminal immigrants have come to claim benefits and be housed for nothing in their neighbourhoods while they work multiple jobs just to keep a roof over their heads.

Immigrant hater-in-chief home Secretary Suella Braverman (herself a second generation immigrant) was recently asked to apologise for her use of hateful, othering language about people seeking asylum. The holocaust survivor who confronted her told her that her words echoed those used by the Nazis to justify the murder of her family. She warned that words have real life consequences. Braverman refused to apologise.

Only three weeks later a protest took place outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Knowsley North West England – the second most deprived borough in England. It degenerated into a stand-off with police and the burning of a police van. The demo was organised by far right groups on social media around the unproven claim that asylum seekers were predatory paedophiles, preying on young English women. In her late and tepid denunciation of the demonstration, the Home Secretary managed to endorse this atmosphere of suspicion.

I can’t help wondering whether some of those I’d met in France three weeks earlier might be among those peering out in fear from behind curtains of the besieged hotel. People who are looking only for safety and opportunity like Ali, 23, from Darfur. Ali had somehow reached Libya where he’d spent a year at the mercy of traffickers. When I asked him about life in Libya he just pointed to scars across his hands. He finally made it across the Mediterranean to Italy and walked across the Alps and across France. When I asked him what or who he missed about home, his solemn face lit up and he told me about his beloved mum. She always encouraged and supported him in his ambition. After getting to England he hoped to study and become an engineer.

The demonization of people like Ali, to deflect from the economic failures of the most incompetent, damaging and corrupt government in modern British history, demonstrates a fundamental lack of humanity. It is also an enormous failure of imagination that we can’t work out as communities and nations, how to capitalise on the extraordinary energy and grit of people willing to walk across continents for better lives.

You can find out more about Care4Calais here. Donate to their activities here.

The trial of Nakba Day protestors begins with a “Not Guilty” verdict

Now lets ensure that we can protest on the 75th Anniversary

At midday on Thursday, 16th February, 50 people gathered opposite the Tiergarten District Court to protest at the first prosecution of someone arrested on Nakba Day 2022. Protestors held banners that read, “Defend Civil Rights” and “No Nakba Demo ban”. Given the time of day and the difficulty of discussing Palestine in German politics, this was an impressive mobilisation.

A report in the Electronic Intifada, the day before, pointed out that the first person put on trial, who prefers to remain anonymous, was Jewish, and a member of the Jewish Bund. He was facing a fine of over €300 for being in Hermannplatz a few days after the Israeli state murdered Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

One of the people arrested in Hermannplatz last year explained her experience: “Being surrounded by the German police for an hour in the middle of Berlin, under 30 degrees in the sun, without any explanation. This whole thing still feels surreal and I cannot believe that for the first time in my life I got a fine and face a court hearing. Simply because I wanted to use my rights.”

Christine Buchholz, former MP and member of the LINKE national executive, who was attending the trial as a witness told TheLeftBerlin: “We are at the court case to clearly show that we will not accept this limitation on the freedom of opinion. The Berlin Nakba demo ban is primarily aimed at Palestinians, but it affects us all. This is why it is important that we organise solidarity now.”

The protest started with speeches from representatives of Palästina Spricht, the Jewish Bund, Jüdische Stimme (Jewish Voice for Peace), as well as Berlin councillor Ferat Kocak and others. Speakers pointed out that one hour earlier, an environmental activist from Letzte Generation had been tried in the same court. They said we must unite the different struggles against repression.

A first victory

After the speeches, most people attending the protest went to a court room, which was too small to hold everyone, so most of us were forced to wait in the lobby outside. After about 45 minutes, Ahmed Abed, lawyer for the accused, came out to tell us that there wasn’t a case to answer. Witnesses who were present were not called. Instead, proceedings were stopped and the case was dropped.

The good news is that the accused does not have to pay any fine, but this is not necessarily a case which can be used as a precedent. Other protestors are due in court in the coming months, and at least one has already paid their fine. Although the accused are organising and supporting each other, people are under intense pressure, especially those who don’t hold German passports.

Pawel Wargen, who is also facing a fine, said “It’s clearly good that the court recognised the absurdity of the situation and dismissed the case, and we hope this will be true for the others facing trial, but that’s a very low bar. The ultimate goal is an end to the punishment of Palestinian solidarity in Berlin.”

The protests must continue at future court cases, and we must start preparing for May 2023, the 75th anniversary of the Nakba. Last year, while demonstrations took place worldwide, even in Israel and other parts of Germany, several planned demonstrations in Berlin were banned, including one called by the Jüdische Stimme protesting the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh.

Demonising Muslims

The bans were justified by the police on the grounds that “the current situation”, by which they meant the cold-blooded murder of a journalist, “can provoke the anger of Palestinians living here.” They went on: “The Palestinian diaspora here is considerably tense and emotional. As a result, these gatherings often caused considerable disruptions to public safety.” In other words, bans are more likely to take place when people are angry about a recent injustice.

Of course, this only applies to certain communities. The police statement continues: “The majority of participations in the demonstration will be from the Arab diaspora, especially those with a Palestinian background. In addition, other Muslim-inluenced groups of people, preferably from the Lebanese, Turkish and Syrian diasporas, will participate on the march. A large number of youths and young adults are also expected, who will continue to be highly emotional.”

This statement comes in the wake of recent demonstrations by right-wing conspiracy theorists and open Nazis. The German police and legal system can live with this, but is systematically denying a voice to “Muslim-influenced groups”, whoever they may be.

Forward to the 2023 demo

The danger that there will be a similar ban in 2023 is very real. This will be much easier to impose if Palestinians and other groups are left isolated. This is why, although all significant protests have been led by Palestinians, it is significant that recent pro-Palestine demonstrations in Berlin have been attended by an increasing number of white faces. This could be reflected both at Thursday’s demonstrations and in the people who have been fined.

There is some more ground for optimism as Thursday’s demonstrators have made it clear that the fight for justice is not over. Over ten people registered to help the organising team planning #Nakba75, the demonstrations in Berlin that should take place in May. As we can expect further repression, it is important that this group is as strong as possible.

Summing up the day, Ramsis Kilani from Palästina Spricht said: “The first court case has shown: the Nakba demo bans have no legal basis. They are politically motivated. On the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, we must make it clear that we will not be silent about our basic democratic rights of opinion and assembly. We are ready to call and mobilise for demonstrations which are both large and broad.”

We will continue to report on future cases, and on the limitation of the right to protests on TheLeftBerlin.com. We also urge you to support the legal fund for the people who were arrested. If you would like to know how you can get more involved in the campaign, please contact us at team@TheLeftBerlin.com.

“Law, order and cars” win in Berlin

The CDU wins the elections in Berlin, in most of the district elections with a rhetoric very close to that of the far-right.

This Sunday regional elections were held in Berlin (which is a federal city-state) and in its twelve districts, which exercise the administrative function of municipalities. The Christian-Democratic CDU won with 28.2% (+10.2%) of the vote and 52 seats, 10 points ahead of the SPD and Bündnis 90 (Greens), both with 18.4% (-3% and -0.5% respectively) of the vote and 34 seats (only 105 votes gave second place to the Social Democrats). DIE LINKE (The Left) obtained 12.2% (-1.9%) and 22 seats, while the far-right AfD obtained 9.1% (+1.1%) and 17 seats. The liberal FDP fell below the 5& barrier with 4.6% of the vote (-2.5%) and other parties obtained 9% (-3.4%). The turnout dropped from 75.3% to 63%. In addition, the Christian Democrats won in 9 of the 12 Berlin districts, while the Greens won in the other 3.

The victory of the CDU and Kai Wegner was based on several argumentative pillars: on the one hand, law and order, fed by the events of New Year’s Eve, when tens of thousands of people went onto the streets to “celebrate” the new year with firecrackers, rockets and flash guns, in some cases resulting in attacks on public transport, cars and buildings, as well as on the firemen who tried to put them out, and the police. Immediately all right-wing parties accused criminal immigrants. Later, after dozens of arrests, it was noted that most of the people arrested were German, to which the right wing responded by asking for “the German surnames”, to see if they had roots in migrant families. From there, the story of insecurity, the permissiveness of the left with criminality, the lack of order and the need for a strong hand. One of the CDU’s slogans read: “what criminals will soon hear: arrest warrant”. Another argument was the debate on mobility and car use, under the slogans “Berlin is for everyone, also for drivers” and “Berlin: don’t let them ban the car”.

With the first argument, the CDU has managed to attract potential voters from the extreme-right AfD, which has obtained 9%, a minimal increase compared with the national polls, where it is polling between 15% and 17%. With the issue of mobility, the CDU has also found an enormous reservoir in the voters of the FDP (liberals), who have ended up being expelled from parliament, a probably undesired effect, as the CDU has been deprived of one of its natural allies and its seats have been distributed among three parties of the center-left and two of the right.

To all this is added popular discontent about the elections themselves, which are a repetition of those of 2021 following a sentence of the Constitutional Court, which detected massive failures in the previous vote, such as late opening of polling stations, stations closing for hours due to lack of ballots, ballots in the wrong polling stations (each district has its candidates also for the Berlin chamber) and the publication of results while voting was still going on. The CDU took the opportunity to denounce the chaos generated by the ruling left-wing coalition (SPD, Alliance 90, Left) and especially by the then senator for the Interior, Andreas Geisel.

In this context, the CDU presented itself as the party of order and seriousness. It is also worth mentioning that all these 2023 elections could be invalidated and the status quo of 2021 could return if a challenge to the unconstitutionality of the 2021 elections is successful. This should be resolved in the first week of March. It could result in an acceptance of the 2021 results, in the acceptance of the 2023 results, or in the partial acceptance of some of the 2021 results (for example, some districts without incidents) and some of the 2023 results (where the major incidents occurred).

(Editor’s note: it has since been revealed that during the rerun election, around 450 uncounted voting papers were found in Berlin-Lichtenberg. The chaos could run and run).

For their part, all the parties of the center-left alliance have lost, especially the SPD and its candidate Franziska Giffey. Giffey is a very polarizing person, who had the highest degree of satisfaction among the candidacies, but also the highest degree of hatred (unlike with the other candidates, few people showed indifference). The SPD obtained its worst result ever with 18.4%, only 105 votes more than Jarasch’s Bündnis 90 (Greens). Jarasch herself has burdened a party that is generally on the rise in the rest of Germany and has caused it to lose 0.5% of the votes.

For its part, DIE LINKE. has paid for enter inga government that has not satisfied the demands of the people on the street (the party’s anchor point), especially regarding the referendum on the expropriation of the large real estate companies Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen, which has not been transferred into law due to the blockage of Mayor Giffey and Senator Geisel, together with the lukewarm attitude of Bündnis 90 and Jarasch, who speak of “not knowing whether it could be carried out in the next few years”.

In addition, the internal fights at the national level between the different factions have led to an enormous loss of militants for the party. It was not for nothing that the Berlin federation tried to distance itself with posters that did not say “DIE LINKE”, but Berliner LINKE (Berlin Left). Candidate Klaus Lederer, despite being one of the most loved and least hated, did not manage to prevent the party from losing 1.9% of the votes and, in the district elections, from losing first place in Lichtenberg, possibly the mayor’s office in Pankow, and three municipal groups in the so-called “outer districts” in the West (Reinickendorf, Spandau and Steglitz-Zehlendorf, each with 2 councilors without a group from now on). Nevertheless, the loss of seats is minimal at the Berlin level, as the seats of the liberals who remain outside are distributed, and yesterday the feeling in the central election party was that “it could have been worse”.

And now what?

In less than 24 hours, all kinds of statements have been made: the CDU claims the Berlin government as the undisputed winner; the SPD is fracturing between part of the party, which after the debacle would not see going into opposition as the worst option, and most of the parliamentary group, which wants Giffey to remain the mayor; Bündnis 90 – The Greens distanced itself from a pact with the CDU during the campaign, but is not ruling out co-governing with a racist party which is opposed to any progress on climate issues. Nonetheless, the Green candidate is still saying that they “would prefer to keep the left-wing alliance”.

Finally, the leadership of DIE LINKE in Berlin would not be unhappy about continuing with the “left” coalition, so as not to give the government to the CDU, despite the enormous skepticism of its basis. Only a clear programmatic turn of the coalition and a written commitment to implement the referendum on the expropriation of large real estate companies within a specific period of time could win confidence for this coalition.

Germany is expecting a hot few months: the anti-war and peace movements seem to be gaining new momentum, the strength of which will be seen on February 25th in Berlin; the unions are threatening strikes, if their conditions for wage improvements are not fulfilled, so as not to lose buying power in relation to inflation. Negotiations are still in progress in the public sector., where the Ver. di and GEW unions are demanding 10.5% wage increases. The DWE housing expropriation referendum, won with 59% of the vote in 2021, believes that its hopes of transposition into law may vanish with a CDU government, and has announced the preparation of a binding referendum, in the midst of an unchecked rise in housing prices.

Finally, the environmental movements have also regained muscle after the events in Lutzerath: the reactivation of the largest open-pit coal mine (by a government of the Greens of Bündnis 90). In this context, a left that loses the pulse of the street to hold on only to the institutions, would be a failed left. That is why the debacle for the center-left and the left in Berlin is a great warning.

Jaime Martinez Porro is the Co-speaker of DIE LINKE Steglitz-Zehlendorf and a member of Izquierda Unida Berlin.

News from Berlin and Germany, Thursday 15th February 2023

Weekly news round-up from Berlin and Germany

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Fast admission for earthquake victims with relatives in Berlin 

After one of the worst earthquake catastrophes of the last decades at the Turkish-Syrian border area, with several thousand dead, the readiness to help and donate is great in Berlin. Turks, Syrians and other people from the affected region who want to reach their relatives in Berlin should be able to obtain the necessary visa quicker than usual. More specifically, the regulation applies to close relatives such as minor children and spouses, the Senate’s internal administration announced on Friday evening. According to the statement, the acceleration of visa issuance is valid until 31 July 2023. “The relatives will receive a residence permit.” Source: berlin.de

CDU election winner Wegner wants to start talks “immediately”

“A clear mandate to govern” is what CDU top candidate Kai Wegner sees after the Sunday election in Berlin. After his victory, Wegner wants to enter into talks with the SPD and the Greens immediately. “In essence, we have two runners-up, two two-party constellations are possible – that is, black-red and black-green. I will invite both at the same time and hope for quick talks,” Wegner mentioned last Monday. The SPD won only 105 votes more than the Greens in the repeat election for the Berlin state parliament. Source: rbb24

Almost 4 million inhabitants

Berlin keeps growing and growing. Last year, the number of inhabitants rose by more than 75,000. A large part of the new Berliners are refugees from Ukraine. The number of residents in Berlin has reached a new high: as of 31 December 2022, around 3,851,000 people had their primary residence in the capital, more than at any time since the Second World War. This was announced by the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistics Office on Tuesday; the data comes from the population register. At the same time, the number of people with German citizenship fell by 13,481. Source: rbb24

Police station at Kottbusser Tor opened

After years of discussions and planning, the controversial new police station at Kottbusser Tor in Berlin-Kreuzberg has opened. Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) spoke on Wednesday morning of the most modern police station in Berlin. She was “incredibly proud” of the project. However, in front of police cordons at Kottbusser Tor, around 200 mostly young people from the left-wing scene demonstrated against the police station, chanting: “Get lost, get lost”. The new small “Nebenwache am Kottbusser Tor”, as it is officially called, is located on the first floor of a high-rise building in the overpass over Adalbertstraße. Source: tagesspiegel

Little credibility

Activists from Fridays for Future at the Technical University of Berlin stand in front of the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall) during a demonstration under the motto “#BerlinWantsClimate”. In view of the election of the Berlin House of Deputies, the activists are calling for a climate-neutral Berlin by 2030. Many voters do not trust the parties represented in the Berlin state parliament to be able to meet the challenges of the climate crisis. This is suggested by the results of a representative survey, the results of which were published on Sunday by the Initiative Clever Cities of climate and transport lobbyist Heinrich Strößenreuter. Source: taz

NEWS FROM GERMANY

At the expense of victims

Since the beginning of December, the Cologne Regional Court has been hearing a claim for damages for pain and suffering that could have extremely costly consequences for the Catholic Church, not only in this specific case, but overall. A young altar boy in the 1970s, who was repeatedly the victim of sexualized harassment at the hands of the Catholic priest Erich J., demands around 750,000 euros in damages. The Cologne archdiocese under the leadership of Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki does not deny the acts, which are part of the so-called Cologne Abuse Report. Source: jW

Saxony denies hardship case

The Saxon Hardship Commission does not consider the case of the family of former Vietnamese GDR contract worker Pham Phi Son, who is threatened with deportation, to be a case of hardship. Last Friday, the commision rejected the family’s application for a humanitarian right to stay. The 65-year-old Pham Phi Son came in 1987 as a contract worker and lived in Chemnitz as a blameless citizen. He had an unlimited residence permit. In 2016 he made a mistake: he extended his Vietnam leave to nine months for health reasons. However, a maximum of six months is allowed, otherwise the right of residence expires. Source: nd

Germany to produce Gepard ammunition

Germany has delivered more than 30 Gepard tanks to Ukraine – but ammunition is in short supply. Switzerland is blocking the delivery of Swiss-produced ammunition, considering the country’s neutral status, so Germany now wants to produce ammunition itself. “The contracts for the production of Gepard ammunition have been signed,” Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) told at the NATO defence ministers’ meeting. He also appealed to the German defence industry to ramp up production capacities. The NATO countries are in Brussels to discuss further military support for Ukraine. Possible fighter jet deliveries are also likely to be a topic. Source: zdf