The Left Berlin News & Comment

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Category: Campaign of the week

Lieferando Workers Collective (LWC) Berlin

Independent workers of Lieferando organizing


21/07/2022

It’s election season for Berlin workers. From August 2nd to August 8th, Lieferando couriers in Berlin will elect a workers council (Betriebsrat) at their company. Forcing this election is the latest achievement of a years-long organizing push within Lieferando, spearheaded by the Lieferando Workers Collective (LWC).

The LWC has fought for, and won: unlimited contracts for couriers, the right to stop work (and be paid) in bad weather conditions, and proper compensation around using one‘s own phone, data, and bike. The LWC helps their colleagues know their rights and assert them.

Both these accomplishments and the self-organized structure of the LWC challenge business-as-usual at companies like Lieferando. The courier business model relies upon atomization, isolation, and increasingly precarious work conditions; if couriers don’t know their rights, Lieferando profits.

It’s no surprise, then, that the LWC (and the Election Council) have faced sabotage from management, ranging from individual harassment to arbitrary lawsuits.

The Lieferando Workers Collective is an integral part of the current wave of worker self-organization in Berlin. Their members were instrumental in supporting the Gorillas Workers Collective last year and the Flink Workers Collective this year.

There are several support actions planned for the run-up to the election. If you’re interested in supporting, message @mokuh on Telegram.

For links to LWC social media, and updates for the latest support actions, visit this page. Expect some news from around 8pm this evening (Friday, 22nd July) about planned actions this week-end.

Corner Späti

Weekly discussions of a deteriorating world all from the comfort of your local smoke-filled Spätkauf


14/07/2022

Corner Späti is a weekly political comedy podcast about Europe based out of Berlin hosted by comedians, researchers, historians and journalists Ciarán, Nick, Julia, Uma and Rob. You may remember them from the 2021 election night show in Donau115. The podcast discusses news, history and movements from a left wing perspective while laughing at an absurd world and system that demands to be taken seriously.

The podcast has been going since 2019 covering a wide range of topics such as more serious discussions of Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen, Palestine in German Media and revolutions in the post-Soviet world to less serious and more comedic discussions of Bulgaria’s richest man attempting to start a political party in exile or Georgia’s ruling party being named after the richest man’s son’s hit rap song. You can browse the full range of topics discussed here. Hopefully there’s an episode here that’s interesting and will make you laugh.

On Sunday July 17th at 18:30, Corner Späti will be doing a live show in noisy Rooms, Revaler str. 99 as a part of Podfest Berlin 2022. Podfest Berlin is a festival that brings together various podcasts in this city, in German, English, French, Arabic etc to conduct live recordings with an audience. Tickets are available here  and you can use the code COMMUNITY-DEAL-EINS to get 20% off a single ticket or COMMUNITY-DEAL-22 to get 20% off the weekend ticket. Here’s a facebook event for those who need it. The Podcasts range from comedy to serious, news to story telling, so there should be something for everyone.

Die LINKE Neukölln AG Straße

Fighting homelessness in Neukölln


23/06/2022

The number of homeless people and people affected by poverty is very high in the district of Neukölln. Due to the austerity policy of the senate towards homelessness and the ever worsening gentrification of the district, services have been cut in recent years and funds for socially vulnerable people have been reduced.

The AG Straße was founded to draw attention to and address the political and social needs of homeless and socially vulnerable people. Through our work, we hope to identify failures in and solutions to the current social care infrastructure and pass these up within Die Linke party to achieve changes in policy. The AG Straße sees itself as a voluntary and donation-based working group of the Left Party in Neukölln. In order to understand the needs of those affected, it is essential to talk to people and to address their needs.

To this end, a focal point of our working group is that we cook and serve a warm meal on the streets of Neukölln once a month, normally on the last Sunday of the month. Through this we hope to become visible and reliable points of contact for people affected by homelessness. 

Behind the scenes, we are working on projects and campaigns to draw attention to the problems that homeless people face and to bring about political improvements in the provision of services for vulnerable and socially disadvantaged people in Berlin.

In the long term, we want to contribute to ensuring that all people in the district of Neukölln have access to adequate care infrastructure.

We are committed to alternative forms of housing and want to enable everyone to live a self-determined life with the support they need.

During the Zeit der Solidarität (Time of Solidarity) we have been carrying out interviews with homeless people and those in precarious living situations in Neukölln, and will conclude the week with a Kiezfest on Hermannplatz this Sunday, 26th of June, between 14:00-18:00. Come along and bring your friends, there will be music, speeches and food for all on a pay as you can basis! If you would like to find out more to get involved with the monthly meal distribution or our upcoming campaigns and projects, please get in touch at agstrasse.linke-nk@posteo.de. 

Kotti und Co

The tenants’ community at Kottbusser Tor


16/06/2022

In 2011, some social tenants at Kottbusser Tor, then and now one of the poorest neighborhoods in Berlin, found the third rent increase within a year in their letterboxes. What followed was a journey that has yet to stop. First, an open letter was written, asking to end the rent increases. After all, this was social housing and still at the time more expensive than the free market average in Kreuzberg.

One year later, the first iteration of the Gecekondu, a protest hut built from pallets, was constructed on the sidewalk. Few were read into it and we had no roof, but we made a promise: We won’t go away until our problem with high rents is solved. Weekly demonstrations, a conference on social housing and other topics and 24/7 protest at Kottbusser Tor followed. We did not fight only against high rents anymore. The protest is about dignity, it is about migration, the right to the city and friendships that seek and find the common ground in order to fight for our common goal: A safe and just future, right here where we belong.

10 years after that day when we constructed the Gecekondu, a lot has been achieved, from social rent freeze to re-nationalization. We even have a roof now.

To celebrate the victories, honour former members and have a great time, join us on Saturday, 18th of June, from 3pm at our Gecekondu at Kottbusser Tor (Admiralstraße).

There will be food, a lot of music, face-painting for kids and we’ll present the most bizarre case of bad landlording, a co-production from Deutsche Wohnen and Howoge.

More Infos here.

Watch our documentary here.

 

Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland

Representing the interests of Black Germans and standing up for justice in the migration society


09/06/2022

The Initiative Scharze Menschen in Deutschland (Initiative of Black people in Germany) which was formed in 1985 as the Initiative Schwarze Deutsche, has become the oldest self-organisation by and for Black people in Germany.

The formation of the ISD led to the book “Farbe bekennen”, which as the first publication by Black people laid a foundation stone for the young Black movement.

If we speak today of the young Black movement, this is because before the initiatives which exist today there have been socially relevant activities by Black people in Germany for a long time already. So, for example, in the 1920s Black workers, trade unionists, artists and colonial migrants join together to fight for their rights and life plans.

The contributions in “Farbe bekommen” laid the foundation stone for the political work of the ISD and shape it in part until today. For example, the book contributions from May Ayim and Katharina Oguntoye discuss German colonial history from the perspective of Black people for the first time, and present their effectiveness on a global and local level.

The ISD represents the interests of Black people in society and politics and wants to make a legislative impact. The subjects everyday racism, racist violence and police violence are a central focus of the work. Black resistance for is is primarily a fight for the recognition of this perspective.

The aim is the advancement of the political participation of Black people and the improvement of their living conditions in German. We demand an anti-racist stance in all areas of politics (education, residence, citizenship, asylum laws) and that the reality of different and interlocking forms of discrimination are recognised. In the awareness that collective political work is essential, the ISD organises networking of Black and migrant communities. This is how we connect the fights in the 20th Century which colonial migrants and anti-fascists fought against exploitation, discrimination and persecution. In this sense, the ISD shows solidarity with displayed people, in order to make it clear hear that flight and migration are an immediate consequence of European colonialism.

The ISD recognises and points out the different experiences and background of Black people, at the same time as making clear the possibilities of acting in solidarity and collaboratively. The initiative offers individual and collective experiences as a resource to use for political reflection and social engagement. We organise meetings like the yearly national and regular networking meetings and organise events like Black History Month, the Homestory Deutschland exhibition or the European networking meeting for People of African Descent & Black Europeans.

The ISD does not understand itself as the only representative of Black people in German, much more as part of the Black community with all its NGOs, initiatives, organisations and projects.