The Left Berlin News & Comment

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Month: May 2024

Letter from the Editors: 30th May 2024

Tonight (Thursday), experience the electrifying synergy where ART intertwines with MUSIC, and EUROPE converges with the ARAB REGION. KÄF unites talents from both regions to celebrate diversity & foster unity through shared passions. The event offers culture feating world-jazz trio NOON & cognitive installations and paintings by STUDIO APELBAUM. Doors open at 6 PM, show […]


30/05/2024

Tonight (Thursday), experience the electrifying synergy where ART intertwines with MUSIC, and EUROPE converges with the ARAB REGION. KÄF unites talents from both regions to celebrate diversity & foster unity through shared passions. The event offers culture feating world-jazz trio NOON & cognitive installations and paintings by STUDIO APELBAUM. Doors open at 6 PM, show starts at 7:30 PM. Tickets are available at the door, cash only. KÄF takes place at Panke Culture, Hof V, Gerichtstraße 23 in Wedding, and is curated by Asper Casper, one of the performers at the recent Palivision concert.

Tomorrow (Friday) there’s a School and Uni Strike for Gaza and against Repression. The strike has the following demands:

  • Stop the falsification of history in the news and educationals institutions.
  • Stop the restriction of our rights.
  • Stop the repression against school students and students.

There will be a demonstration at Sophie-Scholl-Schule, Elßholzstraße 34-37, at 10am.

Friday evening alse sees our next Palestine Reading Group. This week we will be asking Palestine and Climate Change. You can find the recommended 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.

We recently had a poll on future subjects to be discussed at the Palestine Reading Group, and decided on the following:

On Saturday, there’s a demonstration for better education. Education crisis meets democracy crisis. 15 million people experience the German education system every day – a system that is suffering from considerable deficiencies across the board. There is a lack of 10,000 educators and teachers as well as hundreds of thousands of kita places. 50,000 young people leave school every year without any qualifications. Urgently needed investments in the ramshackle system are skimped everywhere. The education crisis affects us all and we say “enough”. The demo starts at 11am at Dorothea-Schlegel-Platz.

Also on Saturday, there’s a demonstration: The Rent is too high! Rents and other housing costs are exploding. Wages are stagnating. Every day people are being evicted from their home. Rented accomoation is being transformed into private property. People are being evicted because of “Eigenbedarf” (personal need of the landlord). Homelessness is massively rising. Whole neighbourhoods are being destroyed. Social centres and small businesses cannot find affordable space. Second homes and holiday apartments are changing whole districts into ghosts towns. If you want to stop this happening, join the demo at Potsdamer Platz at 2pm.

All day on Saturday, which is International Children’s Day, you can join the vigil organised by Honouring the Children of Gaza. The vigil is in memory of over 14,000 children who have been killed in Gaza by reading out their names. Many more children have been injured, orphaned, or are suffering starvation. The action will be accompanied by the display of some 10,000 children’s shoes, aiming to materialise the shocking numbers of innocent victims. The action will be taking place between 9am and midnight at the Neue Wache, Unter den Linden 4. Honouring the Children of Gaza is our Campaign of the Week.

On Monday at 7pm, it’s the next coordinating meeting of theleftberlin. This month, we will be hearing report backs from recent Events, like the 1st May and Palivision, making the last preparations for Events we have already planned, like the film “Jews Like Me“, discussing future activities for Palestine and against the AfD, and deciding what we want to organise in the future. At the end of the meeting we will be electing a new coordinating committee and decide on future financial projects like t-shirts, stickers, and a banner. These meetings are open to anyone who is interested and take place in Ferat Kocak’s office, Schierker Straße 26.

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, police beat a journalist when they were clearing the HU occupation, demonstration against rent rises on Saturday, Berliner Senat admit mistakes when policing the banned Palestine Conference, 75,000 people subscribe to the new Berlin €29 ticket, mayor Wegner questions the statue against sexual violence in Japan, and Berlin transport secretary resigns.

In News from Germany, video of celebrating racists goes viral, and CDU bans vote on greener transport after vast majority votes for banning combustion engines.

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

New on theleftberlin, Phil Butland and Aubane Décobert explain how they and others organised the Palivision concert within 4 weeks, Dave Gilchrist asks how socialists should react to the forthcoming British elections, Roser Garí Pérez looks at Spain’s continued arms sales to Israel, we publish the first part of the new manifesto by the Bloque Latinoamericano, Ilya Kharkow considers returning to Ukraine, Negro Matapacos looks at the links between Palestinian Liberation and Climate Change, Nathaniel Flakin has a simple solution to the number of car deaths in Berlin, and we publish an open letter to the world from academics in Gaza.

This week’s Video of the Week is the first ever English-language video by anti-racist activist Ferat Kocak. On the 75th anniversary of Germany’s constitutions, Ferat looks at recent bans on activities for Palestine.

You can follow us on the following social media:

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

Open letter by Gaza academics and university administrators to the world

We call on our supporters to help us resist the Israeli campaign of scholasticide and rebuild our universities


29/05/2024

We have come together as Palestinian academics and staff of Gaza universities to affirm our existence, the existence of our colleagues and our students, and the insistence on our future, in the face of all current attempts to erase us.

The Israeli occupation forces have demolished our buildings but our universities live on. We reaffirm our collective determination to remain on our land and to resume teaching, study, and research in Gaza, at our own Palestinian universities, at the earliest opportunity.

We call upon our friends and colleagues around the world to resist the ongoing campaign of scholasticide in occupied Palestine, to work alongside us in rebuilding our demolished universities, and to refuse all plans seeking to bypass, erase, or weaken the integrity of our academic institutions. The future of our young people in Gaza depends upon us, and our ability to remain on our land in order to continue to serve the coming generations of our people.

We issue this call from beneath the bombs of the occupation forces across occupied Gaza, in the refugee camps of Rafah, and from the sites of temporary new exile in Egypt and other host countries. We are disseminating it as the Israeli occupation continues to wage its genocidal campaign against our people daily, in its attempt to eliminate every aspect of our collective and individual life.

Our families, colleagues, and students are being assassinated, while we have once again been rendered homeless, reliving the experiences of our parents and grandparents during the massacres and mass expulsions by Zionist armed forces in 1947 and 1948.

Our civic infrastructure – universities, schools, hospitals, libraries, museums and cultural centres – built by generations of our people, lies in ruins from this deliberate continuous Nakba. The deliberate targeting of our educational infrastructure is a blatant attempt to render Gaza uninhabitable and erode the intellectual and cultural fabric of our society. However, we refuse to allow such acts to extinguish the flame of knowledge and resilience that burns within us.

Allies of the Israeli occupation in the United States and United Kingdom are opening yet another scholasticide front through promoting alleged reconstruction schemes that seek to eliminate the possibility of independent Palestinian educational life in Gaza. We reject all such schemes and urge our colleagues to refuse any complicity in them. We also urge all universities and colleagues worldwide to coordinate any academic aid efforts directly with our universities.

We extend our heartfelt appreciation to the national and international institutions that have stood in solidarity with us, providing support and assistance during these challenging times. However, we stress the importance of coordinating these efforts to effectively reopen Palestinian universities in Gaza.

We emphasise the urgent need to reoperate Gaza’s education institutions, not merely to support current students, but to ensure the long-term resilience and sustainability of our higher education system. Education is not just a means of imparting knowledge; it is a vital pillar of our existence and a beacon of hope for the Palestinian people.

Accordingly, it is essential to formulate a long-term strategy for rehabilitating the infrastructure and rebuilding the entire facilities of the universities. However, such endeavours require considerable time and substantial funding, posing a risk to the ability of academic institutions to sustain operations, potentially leading to the loss of staff, students, and the capacity to reoperate.

Given the current circumstances, it is imperative to swiftly transition to online teaching to mitigate the disruption caused by the destruction of physical infrastructure. This transition necessitates comprehensive support to cover operational costs, including the salaries of academic staff.

Student fees, the main source of income for universities, have collapsed since the start of the genocide. The lack of income has left staff without salaries, pushing many of them to search for external opportunities.

Beyond striking at the livelihoods of university faculty and staff, this financial strain caused by the deliberate campaign of scholasticide poses an existential threat to the future of the universities themselves.

Thus, urgent measures must be taken to address the financial crisis now faced by academic institutions, to ensure their very survival. We call upon all concerned parties to immediately coordinate their efforts in support of this critical objective.

The rebuilding of Gaza’s academic institutions is not just a matter of education; it is a testament to our resilience, determination, and unwavering commitment to securing a future for generations to come.

The fate of higher education in Gaza belongs to the universities in Gaza, their faculty, staff, and students and to the Palestinian people as a whole. We appreciate the efforts of peoples and citizens around the world to bring an end to this ongoing genocide.

We call upon our colleagues in the homeland and internationally to support our steadfast attempts to defend and preserve our universities for the sake of the future of our people, and our ability to remain on our Palestinian land in Gaza. We built these universities from tents. And from tents, with the support of our friends, we will rebuild them once again.

Signatories:

Dr Kamalain Shaath, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Omar Milad, President of Al Azhar University Gaza, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Mohamed Reyad Zughbur, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Nasser Abu Alatta, Dean of Students Affairs, Al Aqsa University

Dr Akram Mohammed Radwan, Dean of Admission, Registration, and Student Affairs, University College of Applied Sciences – Gaza

Dr Atta Abu Hany, Dean of Faculty of Science, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Hamdi Shhadeh Zourb, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Ahmed Abu Shaban, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Ahmed A Najim, Dean of Admission and Registration, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Noha A Nijim, Dean of Economics and Administrative Science Faculty, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Hatem Ali Al-Aidi, Dean of Planning and Quality, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Ihab A Naser Dean of Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al Azhar University Gaza

Eng Amani Al-Mqadama, Head of the International Relations, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Mohammed R AlBaba, Dean of Faculty of Dentistry, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Rami Wishah , Dean of the Faculty of Law, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Basim Mohammad Ayesh, Head of MSc Programme Committee and Professor of Molecular Genetics, Al Aqsa University

Prof Hassan Asour, Dean of Scientific Research, Al Azhar University Gaza

Khaled Ismail Shahada Tabish, Head of Salaries Department, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Mazen Sabbah, Dean of Faculty of Sharia, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Ashraf J Shaqalaih, Head of Laboratory Medicine Dept, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Mahmoud El Ajouz, Head of Food Analysis Center and Lecturer at the Faculty of Agriculture, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Mazen AbuQamar, Head of Nursing Department, Al Azhar University Gaza

Eng Abed Elnaser Mustafa Abu Assi, Head of Engineering Office, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Ahmed Rezk Al-Wawi, Vice President of the Islamic University Workers’ Union, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Shareef El Buhaisi, Head of Administration Office at the Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Saeb Hussein Al-Owaini, Director of Employees, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Mai Ramadan, Director of the Drug and Toxicology Analysis Centre, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Mohammed S M Kuhail, Director of Libraries, Al Azhar University Gaza

Eng Emad Ahmed Ismail Al-Nounou, Director, Technical Department, Al Azhar University Gaza

Eng Ismail Abdul Rahman Abu Sukhaila, Director Engineering Office, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Osama R Shawwa, Director of Administrative Office in the Department of Political Sciences, Al Azhar University Gaza

Adnan A S El-Ajrami, Director of Administrative Office at the Faculty of Medicine, Al Azhar University Gaza

Hashem Mahmoud Kassab, Director of Public Relations and Media Department, Al Azhar University Gaza

Mazen Hilles, Director of Administration of Diploma Programme, Al Azhar University Gaza

Adel Mansour Suleiman Al-Louh , Services Manager, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Hammam Al-Nabahen, Director of IT Services, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Maher Haron Ereif, Audit Department Assistant Director, Al Azhar University Gaza

Khalid Solayman Alsayed, Information Technology Administrator, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Amani H Abujarad, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics Department of English, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Ayman Shaheen, Assistant Professor in Political Sciences, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Alaa Mustafa Al-Halees, Faculty of Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Basil Hamed, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Mohamed Elhindy, Assistant Professor in Veterinary Medicine, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Bassam Ahmed Abu Zaher, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Fakhr Abo Awad, Faculty of Science – Department of Chemistry, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Saher Al Waleed, Professor of Law, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Kamal Ahmed Ghneim, Faculty of Arts, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Khadir Tawfiq Khadir, Department of English Language – Faculty of Arts, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Marwan Saleem El-Agha, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Mona Jehad Wadi, Assistant Professor of microbiology, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Mohammed Faek Aziz, Deanship of Quality and Development, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Muhammed Abu Mattar, Associate Professor in Law, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Abdul Fattah Nazmi Hassan Abdel Rabbo, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Saher Al Waleed, Professor of Law, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Sari El Sahhar, Assistant Professor in Plant Protection, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Nidal Jamal Masoud Jarada, Law, University College of Applied Sciences – Gaza

Dr Sherin H Aldani, Assistant Professor in Social Sciences, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Wael Mousa, Assistant Professor in Food Technology, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Mohamed I H Migdad, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Alaa Mustafa Al-Halees, Faculty of Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Usama Hashem Hamed Hegazy, Professor of Applied Mathematics, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Basil Hamed, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Tawfik Musa Allouh, Professor of Arabic Literature, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Bassam Ahmed Abu Zaher, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Zaki S Safi, Professor of Chemistry, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Fakhr Abo Awad, Faculty of Science – Department of Chemistry, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Kamal Ahmed Ghneim, Faculty of Arts, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Khadir Tawfiq Khadir, Department of English Language – Faculty of Arts, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Khaled Hussein Hamdan, Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Ata Hasan Ismail Darwish, Professor of Science Education and Curriculum, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Hazem Falah Sakeek, Professor of Physics, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Mohammed Abdel Aati, Department of Electrical Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Nader Jawad Al-Nimra, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Prof Nasir Sobhy Abu Foul, Professor of Food Technology, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Rawand Sami Abu Nahla, Lecturer at Faculty of Dentistry, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Hussein M. H. Alhendawi, Professor of Organic Chemistry, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Ihab S. S. Zaqout, Professor in Computer Science, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Rushdy A S Wady, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Abed El-Raziq A Salama, Assistant Professor in Food Technology, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Ahmed Aabed, Admin Assistant in Administrative and Financial Affairs Office, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Ahmed Mesmeh, Faculty of Sharia and Law, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Emad Khalil Abu Alkhair Masoud, Associate professor of microbiology, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Alaa Issa Mohammed Saleh, Lecturer at the faculty of Dentistry, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Ali Al-Jariri, Continuing Education Department, Al Quds Open University

Dr Arwa Eid Ashour, Faculty of Science, Department of Mathematics, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Hala Zakaria Alagha, Assistant Professor in Clinical Pharmacy, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Marwan Khazinda, Professor of Mathematics, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Moamin Alhanjouri, Associate Professor in Statistics, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Sameer Mostafa Abumdallala, Professor of Economics, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Bilal Al-Dabbour, Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Nabil Kamel Mohammed Dukhan, Faculty of Education – Department of Psychology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Jamal Mohamed Alshareef, Assistant Professor, Linguistics Department of English, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Sadiq Ahmed Mohammed Abdel Aal, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Khaled Abushab, Associate Professor in Applied Medical Sciences, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Abed El-Raziq A Salama, Assistant Professor in Food Technology, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Emad Khalil Abu Alkhair Masoud, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Hala Zakaria Alagha, Assistant Professor in Clinical Pharmacy, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Jamal Mohamed Alshareef, Assistant Professor, Linguistics Department of English, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Khaled Abushab, Associate Professor in Applied Medical Sciences, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Suheir Ammar, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Dr Waseem Bahjat Mushtaha, Associate Professor in Dental Medicine, Al Azhar University Gaza

Prof Ali Abu Zaid, Professor of Statistics, Al Azhar University Gaza

Dr Zahir Mahmoud Khalil Nassar, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Abdul Hamid Mustafa Said Mortaja, Faculty of Arts, Department of Arabic Language, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Abdul Rahman Salman Nasr Al-Daya, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sharia and Law, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ayman Salah Khalil Abumayla, Officer – Student Affairs Department, Al Azhar University Gaza

Abdullah Ahmed Al-Sawarqa, Library, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ashraf Ahmed Mohammed Abu Mughisib, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammed Abdul Fattah Abdel Rabbo, Deanship of Engineering and Information Systems, University College of Applied Sciences – Gaza

Basheer Ismail Hamed Hammo, Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Bssam Fadel Nssar, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Eng Mohammed Awni Abushaban, Teaching Assistant IT Department, Al Azhar University Gaza

Etemad Mohammed Abdul Aziz Al-Attar, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Fahd Ghassan Abdullah Al-Khatib, Engineering Office, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ibrahim K I Albozom, Administrative Officer Faculty of Arts, Al Azhar University Gaza

Abdullah Ahmed Anaqlah, Faculty of Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Abdelrahman Abu Saloom, Radiologist at the College of Dentistry, Al Azhar University Gaza

Feryal Ali Mahmoud Farhat, Administrator, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Fifi Al-Zard, Campus Services, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Manar Y Abuamara, Secretary, Al Azhar University Gaza

Hani Rubhi Abdel Aal, Graduate Studies, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Abdul Raouf Al-Mabhouh, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Adnan Al-Qazzaz, Faculty of Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Sfadi Salim Abu Amra, Supporting Services Department, Al Azhar University Gaza

Hassan Ahmed Hassan Al-Nabih, Department of English Language – Faculty of Arts, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Hassan Nasr, Information Technology, University College of Applied Sciences – Gaza

Hatem Barhoom, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Tamer Musallam, Lecturer in Business Diploma Programme, Al Azhar University Gaza

Ahmed Adnan Mahmoud Mattar, Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Jaber Mahmoud Al-Omsey, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Qadoura, Administrator, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Hussein Al-Jadaily, Faculty of Nursing, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ibrahim Issa Ibrahim Seidem, Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ezia Abu Zaida, Secretary, Al Azhar University Gaza

Khaled Mutlaq Issa, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Khalil Mohammed Said Hassan Abu Kuweik, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ibraheem Almasharawi, Instructor at the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Al Azhar University Gaza

Maher Jaber Mahmoud Shaqlieh, Information Technology Affairs, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Mousa Asraf, Department of English Language, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Mohammed Said Abu Safi, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Omar Ismail Al-Dahdouh, Faculty of Information Technology, University College of Applied Sciences – Gaza

Ahmed Salman Ali Abu Amra, Faculty of Sharia and Law, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Saqer, Faculty of Science, Department of Mathematics, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ahmed Younes Abu Labda, Personnel Affairs, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Alaa Fathi Salim Abu Ajwa, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mahmoud Said Mohammed Al- Damouni, Central Library, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Ghasasn Alswairki, Adminstration Officer at Faculty of Pharmacy, Al Azhar University Gaza

Mahmoud Shukri Sarhan, Faculty of Education, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mahmoud Youssef Mohammed Al- Shoubaki, Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Majdi Said Aqel, Faculty of Education, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Muahmmed Abu Aouda, Security Department, Al Azhar University Gaza

Majed Hania, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Majed Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Naami, Faculty of Literature, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mamoun Abdul Aziz Ahmed Salha, Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Emad Ali Ahmed Abdel Rabbo, Administrator, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Imad Alwaheidi Lecturer in Livestock Production Al Azhar University Gaza

Manar Mustafa Al-Maghari, Medical Department, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammed Bassam Mohammed Al- Kurd, Campus Services, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Marwa Rouhi Abu Jalaleh, Information Technology Department, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Yousif Altaban, Security Department, Al Azhar University Gaza

Hala Muti Mahmoud Abu Naqeera, Student Affairs, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Marwan Ismail Abdul Rahman Hamad, Faculty of Education, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammad Hussein Kraizem, Health Sciences, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammed AlAshi, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammed Hassan Al-Sar, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammed Ibrahim Khidr Al-Gomasy, Faculty of Education, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammed Juma Al-Ghoul, Faculty of Sharia and Law, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammed Khalil Ayesh, Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Faiz Ahmed Ali Hales, Computer Maintenance Department, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Mohammed Taha Mohammed Abu Qadama, Administrator, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Yousef Fahmy Krayem, Lab Technician at Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Al Azhar University Gaza

Nabhan Salem Abu Jamous, Department of Supplies and Purchases, Head of Storage Section, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Nihad Mohammed Sheikh Khalil, Faculty of Arts – Department of History, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Tamer Nazeer Nassar Madi, Faculty of Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Rami Othman Mohammed Hassan Skik, Faculty of Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Salah Hassan Radwan, Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Salem Abushawarib, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Salem Jameel Bakir Al-Sazaji, Faculty of Information Technology, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Abed Alraouf S Almasharawi, Administrative Officer in the Library, Al Azhar University Gaza

Samah Al-Samoni, Public Relations, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Wafa Farhan Ismail Ubaid, Faculty of Nursing, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Tawfiq Sufian Tawfiq Harzallah, Admission and Registration Department, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Walid Zuheir Aidi Abu Shaaban, Finance and Auditing Department, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Yasser Zaidan Salem Al-Nahal, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Youssef Sobhi Abdel Nabi Al-Rantissi, Computer Technician, Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Tiny changes could reduce deaths on Berlin’s streets

Berlin’s government does little to prevent dozens of people from being killed by cars every year. A Kiezblock could change this


Last year, a dozen cyclists and a dozen pedestrians were killed by cars in Berlin. Just two months ago, a mother and her four-year-old son were run over by a speeder. The courts tend to see vehicular manslaughter as a petty offense: a driver who breaks the law and kills someone often gets nothing more than a suspended sentence. As one father said after his 11-year-old daughter was run over: »Every driver gets one dead child for free.«

Berlin’s government doesn’t seem to care. While other cities have a Vision Zero, aiming to stop all murder-by-car, Kai Wegner’s Senate is working in the opposite direction, attempting to dismantle bike lanes and raise the speed limit.

And yet: There are small signs of progress at a local level. Three years ago, Neukölln’s district council voted to create Kiezblocks. This is a system to reduce through traffic in residential neighborhoods. In recent years, the problem has gotten far more severe, as Google Maps sends drivers on shortcuts through once-peaceful streets.

I live in Rixdorf, an 18th-century Bohemian village that became the core of Neukölln – you might know it for its charming, non-commercial Christmas market. Thousands of cars rumble down the cobblestone streets every day, trying to get around the near-permanent traffic jams on the neighboring thoroughfares Karl-Marx-Straße and Sonnenallee.

The Kiezblock Rixdorf will block off just three streets with bollards – little red-and-white poles – and make an additional one-way. These small changes should make it impossible to cross through the neighborhood, even while every address can still be reached by car. This has already been implemented in Reuterkiez and is currently expanding to other parts of Neukölln.

Cars are fundamentally undemocratic: a minority of people gets to monopolize the majority of public space. Imagine how wide Berlin’s streets used to be, before each one was packed with two rows of metal boxes that sit idle for 23.5 hours each day. Streets used to be for strolling and hanging out.

In 2019, less than ten meters of road were blocked off at Böhmischer Platz near my house. Suddenly, this Bohemian Square was full of life: throughout the day, children eat ice cream and play with chalk, while adults drink beer and play pingpong. This is urbanity – and it was completely impossible before, just so an occasional car could pass.

It’s been more than a year and a half since I last wrote about the plans for a Kiezblock around my home. The bureaucracy in Neukölln, under the supposedly »green« transportation councilor Jochen Biedermann, continues to drag its feet – they have been »working« on a bike lane on Hermannstraße for more than four years now! My kid hadn’t even been born when that measure was decided, and I wonder if they’ll finish before my kid can ride a bike.

Yet now we might be close to the Kiezblock, at least. The bollards were supposed to go up last weekend (which is why I scheduled this column). The latest information says they might go up a month from now. By the end of the summer, there might be no more traffic jams in front of my house.

But we need more than Kiezblocks. It should be safe for kids to go out onto the streets – and that means getting rid of cars. The noise and pollution ruin city life. Naturally, some people in Berlin need a vehicle to get around. A golf cart with a maximum speed of 20km/h is enough – no one needs an SUV that can go 200km/h or more.

In car-obsessed fossil capitalism, we accept an astounding amount of death as an unavoidable fact of life. Yet as other cities are showing, Berlin could stop the killing – if only we had a government that loved people as much as it loves cars.

This is a mirror of Nathaniel’s Red Flag column for Neues Deutschland. Reproduced with permission

Honouring the Children of Gaza

Vigil and Public Reading


On Saturday, June 1,  Berliners from all national backgrounds and all religious and political creeds are invited to meet in front of the Neue Wache to read aloud the names of the 15,000 children who’ve been killed in Gaza since October 2023. 

Initiated by three International Berlinerinnen, the action means to break the silence surrounding the tragedy unfolding in Gaza, and express compassion. Behind the anonymity of the mass tallies, there were 15,000 children who each had a family, a life, and a face — they had names, which Berliners are invited to speak together over a 14-hour public reading.

“Faced with the German media’s failure to inform, and the subsequent silence surrounding the horrific death tolls of so many innocent victims, we want to speak aloud: our frustration, our outrage, our grief…. and those children’s names!”

Strictly apolitical and 100% independent, the movement is supported by local initiatives Grieving Doves, gesundheit4palestine and Stimmen aus Gaza, as well as associations, groups and artists calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

  • The public reading: Berliners of all backgrounds and all political and religious beliefs will gather and honour the memory of the children killed in Gaza by reading aloud their names. The reading starts at 9am and continues without interruption until the last name on the list (after midnight). 
  • The shoe display: The public reading will be accompanied by the display of thousands of children’s shoes — a symbol aiming to materialise the scope of the mass killings. 

A symbolic location and a special date:

  • When: On International Children’s Day, June 1, 2024, from 9am till after midnight — without interruption
  • Where: Outside the Neue Wache, on Unter den Linden 4 — Germany’s official Memorial to “the victims of wars and tyranny,” which houses Käthe Kollwitz’s famous Pietà (“Mother and her Dead Son”) — a symbol!

Hundreds of Berliners of all nationalities and backgrounds, including Jews and Germans, have already signed up to read between 9am and midnight. Anyone can book a slot of 5 to 10 minutes ahead of the event (see below, no Arabic skills needed). Or just drop by on Saturday either to help read or simply to join the collective expression of solidarity, human grief and compassion for the innocent victims of Gaza and their families. 

To Contribute/book a slot:  

Email: starttalkingaboutgaza@gmail.com 

IG: honouringthechildrenofgaza 

TG: https://t.me/honouringthechildrenofgaza

Press requests: n.vancauw@gmail.com 

News from Berlin and Germany, 29th May 2024

Weekly news round-up from Berlin and Germany


NEWS FROM BERLIN

Police officer beats journalist during evacuation at the Humboldt University

A video documented how a police officer hits a reporter from the ‘Berliner Zeitung’ (BZ) during the evacuation of an occupied institute at Humboldt University (HU) on Thursday. As BZ reported on the next day, the reporter, who had identified himself as a representative of the press, was beaten by an officer while filming the eviction. The newspaper also published the video about the incident. The police commented on the article, saying the following: ‘We were not previously aware of this video.’ The authorities had sent it ‘immediately’ to the State Office of Criminal Investigation for evaluation. The Journalists’ association demands a “complete clarification”. Source: tagesspiegel

Rent demo on 1 June

The official website of the Left party invites citizens to a demonstration against the rise of rent prices. It considers that “While rents are being increased, many people receive horrendous utility bills and everything is more expensive, little is happening when it comes to wages. And while the federal government prevents improved tenant protection, the CDU-SPD Senate allows rents to rise at the state-owned housing companies and it delays the referendum.” They then invite people to join for a demonstration shortly before the European elections taking place at 2pm on June 1st at Potsdamer Platz. Source: die Linke

Separation of powers in danger

The Berliner Senate admits that the ‘Palestine Congress’ was hastily ended in April. State Secretary of the Interior Christian Hochgrebe (SPD) now admits that the four bans on political activity were imposed at very short notice and communicated to the police. Salman Abu Sitta himself was not informed of the ban either verbally or in writing. The organisers only found out about it while Sitta’s video greeting was already running, even though he had been announced as a speaker for weeks. Furthermore, during the eviction at Humboldt University, a lawyer was arrested and a journalist was beaten by police officers. Lawyer Michael Plöse doubts that the Senate acted lawfully. Source: taz

Berlin 29-euro ticket: 75,000 subscriptions sold in its first month

Almost one month after Berlin’s 29-euro public transport ticket first went on sale, 75,000 passengers subscribed for it. According to the Berlin Senate for Transportation, 85 percent of the 29-euro tickets were sold to existing customers who were transferring over from another kind of ticket. Transport authorities in other German federal states fear the Berlin-wide ticket could diminish the popularity of the Deutschlandticket. Criticism has also come from police and emergency services in Berlin, which, according to police union representative Stephan Weh, have had 31,8 million euros of funding cut at the expense of “internal security” services, namely ambulances and police cars, to fund the 29-euro ticket. Source: iamexpat

The statue of “comfort women”: is Berlin planning to remove it?

The Friedenstatue (the statue of peace) which was inaugurated in September of 2020, is a memorial for the so-called “comfort women”, the hundreds of thousands of women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops during the Second World War – as well as to stand as a symbol against sexual violence more widely. Meanwhile, the recent years have seen the Japanese government putting pressure on foreign cities to remove such memorials. During a diplomatic visit to Japan, mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) affirmed he is committed to ensuring there is a monument against violence against women, but a “one-sided representation should no longer take place.” Source: the berliner

Berlin State Secretary Claudia Elif Stutz resigns

Berlin’s new transport senator Ute Bonde (CDU) has lost an important member of staff. State Secretary Claudia Elif Stutz (CDU) has announced that she is leaving the transport administration. According to the ‘rbb’ and ‘B.Z.’, the dispute over the 29-euro ticket is one reason for the resignation. The previoud State Secretary had argued in favour of the reintroduction of the ticket in the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB). Bonde, the new transport senator as of last week and now Elif Stutz’s superior, was the chairwoman at the time. State Secretary Britta Behrendt (CDU) will take over until the position is filled. Source: rbb

 

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Champagne, Rolexes and racism

At the end of last week, a short video went viral. The video was taken last Sunday in the exclusive club ‘Pony’ in Kampen on the island of Sylt. A group of young people sing the phrase ‘Foreigners out, Germany to the Germans’ to Gigi D’Agostino’s song ‘L’Amour toujours’. The Nazi version was also sung on Monday at the Schützenfest in Löningen in the district of Cloppenburg. In the midst of these scenes, bottles of champagne are opened, using the teeth, or credit cards. All of it makes clear that racist statements are not just a phenomenon of boozing neo-Nazis. Source: taz

CDU cancels online vote against combustion engine ban

The planned ban on combustion engines for new cars has met with disapproval from the CDU, and the party wanted to secure support with an online poll.  However, reports from the Bild am Sonntag claim that things didn’t go according to the CDU’s plan.  The vote took place last saturday and in the morning more than 85 per cent of participants were in favour of a ban. The poll was taken offline in the afternoon and the vote cancelled. This was justified by Christoph Schleifer, who works for the company commissioned to conduct the survey, speaking of massive manipulation. He claims that ‘Tens of thousands of votes were cast automatically.’Source: tagesschau