Month: January 2026

2025 started in the middle of an election campaign, after the SPD-Green-FDP coalition collapsed in November. The elections were held in February, and the big winners were the right wing, with Friedrich Merz’s CDU gaining 28.5% of the vote, and the AfD 20.5%. All the ruling parties saw their vote fall, some dramatically. In contrast, Die Linke got 8.7%, nearly 3 times as many as what they were polling at at the beginning of the campaign.

The CDU-SPD coalition immediately went into attack mode and tried to make us pay for Germany’s failing economy. Police violence against Palestine demonstrators in Berlin and throughout Germany reached a worrying level. By the end of the year, Germany was building its military and making the first steps towards compulsory military service—steps which were resisted by a growing youth movement.

The increasing Nazification of the AfD, combined with its growing electoral support, led to a number of large demonstrations—against its party conference in Riesa in January, in Berlin in February, and against the formation of their street fighting youth organisation in Gießen in November. We will need to build more of these demonstrations in 2026.

As Israel continues to bomb Gaza (despite a so-called “ceasefire,” the world, and even Germany, saw mass actions for Palestine in front of the Bundestag in February, on Nakba Day in May, in Berlin in June with 60,000 demonstrators, and many more. 27th September saw Germany’s largest ever demonstration for Palestine, with between 100,000 and 150,000 taking to the streets.

Berlin saw a whole number of other internationalist demonstrations, including those for Congo in February and March, on International Women’s Day in March, for the Philippines and at Internationalist Queer Pride in July, and against Donald Trump’s attacks on Latin America in December.

We tried to cover all of this in our website and Newsletter, in which we introduced a new feature (“This week in working class history”). The list below tells you which articles you, our readers, read the most. It follows similar reports about 2022, 2023, and 2024. The statistics show an increasing number of people both reading and writing the articles. The 30 articles with 1,000 readers or more were written by 24 different authors.

We would like to encourage you to be a more active part of creating our website and Newsletter. In particular, we invite you to a face-to-face open meeting of our editorial board on 17th January, and our Fourth Left Journalism Day School on 21st February in Theater X. If you want to know more, you can contact us at team@theleftberlin.com. And if you are not already one of our 3,908 subscribers, you can subscribe to our Newsletter now.

Most viewed articles

#1 The Confused and Contradictory politics of Nico (1938-1988), Phil Butland (7,600 views)

Our most viewed article of 2025 was first published in November 2024. Following 2 articles of pen portraits of the radical activists and artists buried in Berlin’s cemeteries, Phil Butland wrote a longer biography of solo artist and occasional Velvet Underground singer Nico. The article covers Nico’s radical music, together with her less savoury politics, including racism, nationalism, and internalised misogyny.

Excerpt: “Good politics can inspire good music, but there is no direct relationship between the two. Wagner was a great composer and an antisemite, Ezra Pound a great poet and a Fascist. David Bowie produced some of his greatest works when he was calling for a new Hitler and raping underage girls.”

#2: Boycott of Berghain: from March 2024 to now, Antifascist Music Alliance (5,699 views)

Also written in November 2024 (and our fourth most read article last year), this analysis by the Antifascist Music Alliance, which was updated in January, continued to find an audience. It looks at Berghain’s active role in the suppression of pro-Palestine acts and the boycott organised by Ravers for Palestine. Antifascist Music Alliance interviewed the artists supporting the boycott and called for bigger names to do the same.

Excerpt: “As we’ve seen in other solidarity efforts, it’s those with the least wealth, structural privilege and access that are standing with Palestine. It’s not a coincidence that these are generally also the artists that are pushing techno and other forms into the future.”

#3 Berlin’s Antideutsch Bars Love Israel but Don’t Like Jews, Nathaniel Flakin (4,691 views)

In February, as pro-Israel bars in Berlin launched a campaign against so-called “threats, violence, and boycott,” Nathaniel Flakin interviewed Jewish activist Yuval Carasso who had attended a meeting about antisemitism in Bajszel bar and been violently ejected from the event for being the “wrong sort of Jew.” Carasso was then arrested, but the case by the police was thrown out of court.

Excerpt: “when the audience had the chance to ask questions, Udi Raz asked if there were any Jewish people present. She was the only person who raised her hand. The only other Jews in the room were me, who had already been kicked out.”

#4 Europe is preparing for war, Gabriel Helfenstein (3,808 views)

In October, as Europe prepared for war and Germany introduced the first stages towards conscription, Helfenstein looked at the drive to militarisation. Helfenstein argued that violence is being normalised as a way of encouraging us to accept wars in the (potentially) near future. The German Zeitenwende is an important part of this, especially in Germany whose history has encouraged a feeling of pacifism.

Excerpt: “War is not just a single event to prepare for, it is an ongoing situation that requires the cooperation of a whole society. For war to happen, people must be ready to fight, while others must cheer for the soldiers—or at the very least look away. It requires a profound change in culture.”

#5 The philosemitic Delusions of Sascha Lobo, Dan Weissmann (2,684 views)

In another old article (and 9th most read last year), Weissmann’s dissection of Sascha Lobo from April 2024 remains relevant as Lobo plays the role of Zionism’s clown prince in the German media. Lobo demanded dismantling UNRWA, which he claimed had overlapping interest with Hamas. Unsurprisingly, if depressingly, Lobo still has a column in Der Spiegel and is a sought-after public speaker.

Excerpt: “The assumption that Jews can only be safe in an ethnostate that metes out violence onto others is an implicit and, from Lobo’s worldview where Israel is the eternal victim, paradoxical admission that Jews can only be safe if they become perpetrators of mass violence themselves.”

#6 The AfD and Israel, Isobel White (2,457 views)

In an article from May 2024, which is as relevant as ever, White looked at the AfD’s links with Israel. Although the party is riddled with antisemites, its Islamophobia and anti-migrant rhetoric has led it to find common cause with the apartheid State. Isobel goes on to argue that the AfD’s Nazi links and derision for Holocaust victims means that it can offer no protection for Jewish people, whatever it says about Israel.

Excerpt: “A party that will so readily turn human lives into political pawns, atrocities into justification for bigotry, is a true danger to society, both in Germany and abroad. It is further proof that the AfD’s only real political convictions are fear-mongering and xenophobic hatred.”

#7 Dominick Fernow (Prurient) Releases Split Album with Neo-Nazi Band Genocide Organ, Antifascist Music Alliance (2,432 views)

Another old article by the Antifascist Music Alliance, this time from June 2023. This article shows that despite its clampdown on pro-Palestine artists (see above), Berghain, and its label Ostgut were much more indulgent of neo-Nazi Dominick Fernow and his KKK-supporting band Genocide Organ. When confronted about this, Berghain, Resident Advisor, and Pitchfork all refused to respond.

Excerpt: “Genocide Organ has released KKK and neo-nazi music, like their 1998 album Klan Kountry, with cover art featuring a Confederate flag. Some song titles from other albums include White Power Forces, Woman Is Meat, and John Birch Society, referencing a far-right extremist group in the US.”

#8 What are the CDU Promising this Election?, Rowan Gaudet (2,390 views)

Published in December 2024, as the election campaign was kicking off, Rowan Gaudet looked through the CDU/CSU’s manifesto. Rowan looked at CDU leader (and current Chancellor) Friedrich Merz’s sexist record, and correctly predicted a government of austerity, militarisation, and cuts in social services, including attacks on the unemployed and tax benefits for landlords and the rich.

Excerpt: ”any CDU-led government will need to be widely opposed … As crucial is opposing the austerity measures which would strip safe housing and continue to slowly destroy Germany’s hospitals and Kitas, not to mention reduced building regulations putting families at risk for generations to come.”

#9 Book Review: Perfect Victims by Mohammed El-Kurd, The Left Berlin (1,949 views)

In one of last year’s best books, Mohammed El-Kurd explained how and why the Western media dehumanise all Palestinians—including supporters of Hamas. He argued that all Palestinians should be heard, that the media must explain and understand Palestinians who feel provoked into violent reaction, and not just those which the West have deemed to be “good.” We reviewed Mohammed’s book in March.

Excerpt: “Why is it that Palestinians are expected to constantly temper their grief and rage toward them, as they collect their loved ones’ limbs in bags? Does it change the quality of Israeli atrocities against them? Or in other words, must victims be ‘good’ and possess all the ‘right’ views to deserve human rights, to deserve life?”

#10 Inciting Hatred and Slinging Insults: Exploring the Legal Apparatus of the BRD, Jason Oberman (1,926 views)

In March and April, Jason Oberman published 3 articles about Germany’s legal apparatus. The first article was the most popular. It explains Volksverhetzung, a hate speech law often used by the Berlin police. Jason looked at the history of the Volksverhetzung, and argued that, although it has always been used as an instrument of repression, its use against pro-Palestine protestors have reached a new level.

Excerpt: “As antisemitism has been redefined to mean Palestinian people, Muslims, leftist Jews and critics of state violence and genocide, one must wonder how far we have come from Germany’s darkest years. As we keep exploring the history of this law, we must realize with heavy hearts, we have not come very far at all.”

The Left Berlin News & Comment

Month: January 2026

A year of militarism, rising right wing authoritarianism, and resistance

Most viewed articles

#1 The Confused and Contradictory politics of Nico (1938-1988), Phil Butland (7,600 views)

#2: Boycott of Berghain: from March 2024 to now, Antifascist Music Alliance (5,699 views)

#3 Berlin’s Antideutsch Bars Love Israel but Don’t Like Jews, Nathaniel Flakin (4,691 views)

#4 Europe is preparing for war, Gabriel Helfenstein (3,808 views)

#5 The philosemitic Delusions of Sascha Lobo, Dan Weissmann (2,684 views)

#6 The AfD and Israel, Isobel White (2,457 views)

#7 Dominick Fernow (Prurient) Releases Split Album with Neo-Nazi Band Genocide Organ, Antifascist Music Alliance (2,432 views)

#8 What are the CDU Promising this Election?, Rowan Gaudet (2,390 views)

#9 Book Review: Perfect Victims by Mohammed El-Kurd, The Left Berlin (1,949 views)

#10 Inciting Hatred and Slinging Insults: Exploring the Legal Apparatus of the BRD, Jason Oberman (1,926 views)

Other articles with more than 1,000 readers