The Left Berlin News & Comment

This is the archive template

Category: Campaign of the week

IPPNW

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War


29/09/2022

IPPNW stands for International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. The IPPNW is an international association of doctors which campaigns for a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons and understands itself as a professional organisation for peace.

Tens of thousands doctors worldwide in over 60 countries on all 5 continents belong to the IPPNW. As a form of “political medicine” which aims at preserving life and making life worth living, we campaign for the health of their patients: for a shared future across all political borders and social systems. In Germany, almost 6,000 doctors and medical students are active in the IPPNW for a healthy and dignified life without nuclear weapons or nuclear energy.

40 years ago, a Russian and a US-American doctor launched the IPPNW in the middle of the Cold War. Their aim was to prevent a nuclear war. Barely one year later, in 1982, the German section was formed. The doctors are involved in different campaigns to raise awareness of the consequences of a nuclear war, stressing the social, economic and psychological costs of the arms race. In 1985, the organisation received the Nobel Peace Prize for their engagement.

On 1st October, members of the doctors’ organisation are taking part in demonstrations, rallies and vigils, including one in Berlin. They are following a call of the two national networks “Bundesausschuss Friedensratschlag“ and “Kooperation für den Frieden“ which demands political change towards peace and disarmament,

Following the illegal invasion by Russian troops of Ukraine, peace organisations fear an escalation of the war. The danger of the deployment of nuclear weapons or even a nuclear war has not been as great for decades. In Germany, and worldwide, tremendous sums are invested in armaments, money that could be used for climate protection and social spending. Food scarcity endangers the lives of people in the whole world.

Berlin action: Stop the War! Immediate Ceasefire! Negotiations not Shooting!, Neptunenbrunnen (Alexanderplatz). Saturday, 1st October, 2pm.

International Safe Abortion Day

Abortion: Our right, our choice! Here and worldwide!


22/09/2022

Call to action on International Safe Abortion Day, 28.09.2022

This year, Section 219a of the German Penal Code (StGB) has finally been repealed, removing the ban on “advertising” abortions. Doctors will finally be allowed to provide information on all relevant aspects such as methods, procedures and costs of abortions and will no longer be subjected to pressure from opponents of reproductive rights, who used this absurd paragraph to criminalise doctors.

This long overdue step wouldn’t have been possible without significant pressure from the pro-choice movement, but we’re not ready to celebrate yet! As long as Section 218 of the German Penal Code exists, abortion is considered a criminal offence in Germany. We call on the federal government to act immediately and implement sexual and reproductive rights: because these are human rights!

We demand:

  1. Removal of §218 StGB from the penal code.
  2. Unrestricted, comprehensive and accessible access to legal abortions close to home.
  3. New human rights-based regulation of abortion on the basis of sexual and reproductive health and rights.
  4. Removal of the obligation to undergo counselling and the compulsory “waiting period” (§218a).
  5. The right to qualified and open-ended counselling guaranteed by the federal government/federal states.
  6. That health insurance providers cover all costs related to abortion as part of statutory health care.
  7. Training in the methods of abortion as a compulsory part of the training of medical specialists and medical students .
  8. Comprehensive information about all contraceptives and free access for everyone, including free distribution of the “morning-after pill” as emergency contraception.
  9. Removal of the taboo on abortion and inclusion of the topic in sexual education.
  10. Social and economic support on the part of the state, guaranteeing the necessary infrastructure for those who decide to have a child, to allow self-determined family planning.

In 2022, sexual and reproductive rights are still not guaranteed in many countries around the world. On the contrary, they are under attack more than ever. In the USA, the right to abortion is currently under acute threat. In the neighbouring European country of Poland, abortion is de facto banned. As a result of these restrictive regulations, pregnant women have already died because doctors refused to perform vital abortions for fear of criminal consequences. People who fled the Ukraine war have also reported difficulties accessing abortions in Poland (even after rape).

Around the world we experience inequality and oppression as a result of constant attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights. We stand in solidarity with all those fighting for reproductive justice and demand unrestricted physical, sexual and reproductive self-determination for all, especially women, non-binary and trans* people, and people with disabilities – in Germany and worldwide!

Berlin action: 6pm at the Haus der Statistik, Otto-Braun-Straße 70-72, Wednesday 28th September

Zero Waste Berlin Festival

The first international event for zero waste, circularity and sustainability


15/09/2022

The Zero Waste Berlin Festival take places on September 16-17th at Engelnest Co-Working in Berlin-Schöneberg.

This year’s festival focuses on Green Cities and how it connects to sustainability, circularity, and zero waste. See more info on the website.

The Friday is set up for professionals working in the sustainability field—and you’ll notice this in the pricing 😅 The focus here is on networking, sharing ideas, and finding collaboration partners, and we also have a few masterclasses for those who want to go deeper.

Saturday is meant for the broader public, and tickets are only around 10 euros 🙂 We’re inviting Berlin citizens and anyone curious about the topics of sustainability, circularity, and zero waste.

Here is how you can get a discount ticket

• Visit our tickets website.
• Click on Tickets
• In the left top corner click on Enter promo code
• Insert your code: 20BYZWBF2022
• Get your discounted ticket and fill in the details

Initiative Wahlrecht für Alle

Voting Rights for Everyone


08/09/2022

The “Initiative Wahlrecht für Alle” (Initiative voting rights for everyone) invite you to a meeting on Friday, 9th September 2022, 7pm in Oranienstraße 159 (kub/Allmende, shop on the ground floor), Here, we would like to discuss with you how we can let people know about the demand VOTING RIGHTS FOR ALL around the International Day of Democracy (Internationaler Tag der Demokratie, ITD, 15th September).

In addition, we would also like to chat with you about how we can middle- and long-term make public this subject which time and again falls into obscurity.

Because of the short time and other planned meetings on ITD, we have discussed our own idea.

With an A2 poster and leaflets, we want to make people aware of the undemocratic situation in Germany, to emphasize the demand for VOTING RIGHTS FOR EVERYONE.

The posters are to be hung up throughout the city, and will be naturally designed by a graphic designer.

Who are we?

  •  At the end of 2021, representatives of the groups ABA (Aktionsbündnis Antira – activity alliance anti-racism), Right2TheCity (Deutsche Wohnen & Co working group for non-Germnas) and Nicht Ohne Uns 14% came together to set up our    initiative         
  • In February 2022, we issued a statement to the Berliner Senat, which was signed by around 50 organisations         
  • In mid-April we organised a rally at Kotbusser Tor

After the Summer break, we want to be active again, and extend our group to include you.

How can you get involved?

  • Best case, regularly come to our meetings and join the work and help make decisions         
  • If you can’t regularly attend our meetings, you can practically support our work, for example by putting up posters on the evening of 14th September, so that people wake up to the posters on 15th September 🙂

More Information

Dekoloniale Festival 2022

Memory culture in the city


01/09/2022

Although not always visible, the colonial past is omnipresent. This can also be said about the reverberations of the colonialism that emanated from Germany into the world. Berlin wants to face its responsibility as former colonial metropolis and capital of the German Reich. This is the reason why we have started the Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City in January 2020 as cultural project to critically deal with the history of colonialism and its consequences.

The model project traces back to an initiative of four member organisations of the civic alliance Decolonize Berlin e.V. and the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. The Stadtmuseum Berlin Foundation could be attracted as a cooperation partner. The project is thus significantly upheld by stakeholders who for years have been committed to achieving a critical appraisal of colonialism by the city of Berlin.

Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City perceives colonialism as a system of injustice, which always met with the resistance of the colonised people. The project picks up on the ever louder demands for a consistent change of perspective in the post-colonial memory culture. Instead of colonial and colonial-racist stakeholders, from now on the victims and opponents of colonial racism and exploitation are to receive attention and appreciation.

As a participatory solidarity project of historical-political education, we have set ourselves the goal of working with experts and activists worldwide to explore the past and present of the (anti-)colonial in Berlin, in the rest of Germany and in Germany’s former colonies explore and make visible online. Colonial history is always also a global history of entanglements: histories of life, places, objects and institutions connect Europe with Africa, Asia, Oceania, Australia and America.

Using the example of Berlin, Dekoloniale of Memory Culture in the City tests how a metropolis, its space, its institutions and its society can be examined on a broad level for (post-)colonial effects, how the invisible can be experienced and the visible can be irritated. The participatory cultural project is aimed at a broad and diverse urban society. It not only questions individual actors or fields – such as museums – about their (post-)colonial realities. During the project period, Dekoloniale mobilizes the entire city with its own activities and supporting cooperation.

Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City is a joint project of Berlin Postkolonial eV , Each One Teach One – EOTO eV , Initiative Black People in Germany – ISD-Bund eV and the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin . The state network Berlin Development Policy Advice – BER eV supports the project as a partner. In addition, we cooperate closely with the German Museum of Technology and the Berlin district museums in Treptow-Köpenick, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Berlin-Mitte. The project is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe and the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

The Dekoloniale Festival 2022 takes place from 1st – 4th September around Mariannenplatz. You can see the full programme in English here.