The Left Berlin News & Comment

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Berliner Friedenskoordination (FRIKO)

Berlin’s largest anti-war alliance

The Left Berlin
15/04/2022

In the Berliner Friedenskoordination (Peace coordination – FRIKO), representatives of ideologically varied groups have met since Autumn 1980, to inform about their activities for peace, to link their work and to plan common projects: of peace groups, trade unions, churches and organisations of belief, women’s and youth groups, parties, anti-fascist groups, people working in migration and refugee work and also inddividuals.

The protest against the NATO’s called “rearmament decision” – the stationing of US first strike weapons Pershing II and Cruise missiles was the act that cause FRIKO to be formed, to bring together the numerous activities and the many peace groups which were then in West Berlin, in order to carry out joint activity. Since then, this circle has started initiatives and carried on working in times of resignation.

What we want

FRIKO gets involved, and tries to mobilise quickly when peace actions are needed. It sees its current duties as follows:

to develop and carry out a relevant concept for the Ostermarsch (annual anti-war demonstration)
to recognise 8 May, the day of Liberation from Fascism, which makes us feel duty bound to anti-fascism and anti-rassism.
to organise a rally against war every 1 September (“anti war day” – the anniversary of the 1939 German invasion of Poland)

One much-loved form of action is the sporadic satirical victory parade AMOK (anti-militaristic over-celebrate committee) against the increasingly belligerent militarisation of society.

FRIKO stands vehemently for a 180° turn in German politics:

Revocation of the decision to spend an extra 100 billion Euros on the German army
No agreement to the yearly military budget of around 80 Billion Euros (at least 2% of the GNP)
Revocation of the agreement to purchase armed drones.
End the “nuclear participation” in NATO. No nuclear weapons in Büchel! No nuclear bombers for the German army! Sign the treaty banning nuclear weapons!
Cancel the contracts for stationing troops in Germany! Shut the US central command!
No tolerance for stationing of US hypersound weapons in Germany or commands to use them from here!
Reverse the militarisation of the EU! No FCAS and no nuclear power EU!
Against all forms of foreign deployment of the German army
For a stop to armaments rather than exporting weapons
Against the militarisation of society
For an end to the stationing and manoeuvers of NATO troops on Russian borders,
For a European safety architecture to include Russia
For an immediate end to the politics of sanctions
For an end to the Ukraine war, and to all theatres of war across the world
For dialogue, not confrontation
For disarmament, not armament – social security not billions for war.
For the recognition of the United Nations Charter
For peaceful cohabitation of all people worldwide, irrespective of their sex, the colour of their skin, their family background and their religious beliefs.

Extinction Rebellion Berlin

Acting against climate change – now in English as well

The Left Berlin
07/04/2022

Do you worry about the climate and ecological crisis? Do you sometimes get the feeling that just going to a demonstration every now and then is not enough to push government action on the issue? Then Extinction Rebellion might be the place for you. As part of an effort to include the many non-German speaking people living in Berlin, XR is organizing several events in English where you’ll get to know more about the movement and its demands. The next appointment is an introduction evening (Onboarding) on Thursday the 14th of April at 7 p.m., which will be held at Liebenwalder Straße 11 (Wedding). Besides, as many of our activists come from abroad, some neighbourhood-groups are 100% bilingual!

Being an activist with Extinction Rebellion means using the methods of civil disobedience to call for a radical change in our toxic socioeconomic system, which is pushing us towards climate catastrophe by prioritising profits over human lives. When doing civil disobedience, we cross the law and disturb the daily live e.g. by blocking streets or with disruptive performances. We do this non-violently and as inclusive as possible. But Extinction Rebellion is not only about civil disobedience. It is also about the way we live and care for each other. Behind everyone glued on the window of a government building or blocking the street, ten to twenty people are taking care of support and other things in the background.

We believe that ‘green capitalism’ is a lie: the planet cannot be saved by the same people and corporations that brought it to the brink of disaster, greedily appropriating natural resources and actively profiting from a racist and patriarchal system. Civil disobedience is the best way to hold them and the government accountable, while demanding the stop of greenhouse gas emissions and a more participatory democracy, with the establishment of citizens’ assemblies to take power away from the fossil fuel lobbies.

Interested? Then join the Onboarding event on Thursday! And if you can’t make it then, the English-speaking XR group in Neukölln meets every Monday at 7 p.m. at Wolf Café (Weserstraße 59). We’re waiting for you!

Rroma Informations Centrum

Berliner Rroma-Self-organisation and platform for cultural activities and political intervention.

The Left Berlin
31/03/2022

The Rroma Informations Centrum e.V. was formed in August 2011. Since then it offers a platform for cultural activities and political interventions for self-empowerment and against discrimination and marginalisation of Rroma in Berlin.

Our main projects are the Rroma-Info-Radio, and Gestern mit den Augen von Heute sehen (see yesterday through today’s eyes), in which young people develop and carry out guided tours about the persecution of Roma and Sinti in National Socialism.

Our membership consists of Rroma and non-Rroma and is a Rroma self-organisation. Until today, our concerns are predominantly addressed from the perspective of non-Rroma. Catchwords like “not integrable”, “uneducated” and “unprofessional” predominate, which become self-fulfilling prophesies.

We want to counterpose autonomous work of our group against this machinery and politics, which are decided from outside. For us, self organisation means that organisational positions like the executive board or the management as well as project management positions should be occupied by Rroma experts.

The Rroma members are composed of professions like education, social pedagogy, art and culture who deal with topics affecting Rroma. Our understanding of action includes quality and solidarity as basic values.

We want to tell and shape our stories ourselves. The Rroma Informations Centrum e.V. offers a platform for Rroma activists to make our voices audible and to demonstrate the diversity of Rroma perspectives on subjects like politics, education, art and culture, and to contribute towards macrosocial reflection.

Bizim Kiez

For lively neighbourhoods and a city of solidarity

The Left Berlin
24/03/2022

Bizim means “Our” in Turkish”. So “Bizim Kiez” means “Our Kiez”. Bizim Kiez was formed in 2015 by disgusted neighbours as a protest against the termination of the family fruit and vegetable shop “Bizim Bakkal” in Wrangelkiez in Kreuzberg. Since then, we campaign as a neighbourhood action group against evictions and for the preservation of living Kiezes.

We experience it everyday: rent rises, terminations, conversions of rentals into private property, evictions, luxury modernisations, psycho terror – our neighbourhoods are nothing else but objects of profit for those people who may be called “investors”, but only want to cash up.

We are making pressure against this sell off of the city: with research and public outreach, with practical help and self-help in conflicts with politics, in cooperation with other initiatives, and of course with diverse political activities on the street.

Strengthen neighbourhoods: we support neighbours who have been threatened with eviction, make joint pressure on owners, bring their machinations and methods into the open, support housing communities, for example with questions about pre-purchase rights, share knowledge and experiences with each other. We don’t just discuss, we also design joint materials for actions, cook for our rallies, text songs, or develop ideas with artists. This is how quite different people come together, get to know each other, and see how they can rely on each other.

Make housing politics for renters: We work on the political level, bring in expertise and have already caused public officials and parties to take measures against the speculative real estate industry and the devastation that it causes. Among other things, we demand a ban on converting rented into private property, real higher limits for rent, the removal of the modernisation allocation according to law §559 BGB, measures against speculation in land and property, remunicipalising homes into “new apartments”, and the promotion of management concepts based on the common good.

We therefore also support initiatives to expropriate the big players, such as Deutsche Wohnen AG and others. To solve the housing crisis we need vehement protection of tenants, sustainably financed building of new properties based on need and public welfare, and a radical social reorientation of communal housing companies.

Defend small shops and social institutions: Whether bakers, tailors or Spätis – small shops do not just guarantee the livelihood of many families and thus provide for the neighbourhood. They also give the Kiez its look and give us all meeting places. Tradespeople, and in particular social institutions with commercial leases, like Kitas or clubs for seniors, have been surrendered to the profit-driven arbitrariness of the real industry without protection. This is why, together with others, we are building networks of solidarity for support. We are fighting together for more tenants’ rights, also for small businesses, trades, social and culture.

But we fundamentally reject corporations and chains (Google, Zalando, Factory, wework or Hotels), which just see our Kiezes as a colourful background for their businesses and want to heat up the dynamic of rising prices. This also means the rising commercialisation and touristification with gastro-monoinfrastructure and holiday homes.

Shape the city with solidarity: The city of solidarity of the many is the social alternative to neoliberal madness, which only understands the city as an area for profit. We want more togetherness and more collective decisions. We stand for social justice for all and against racism. We are part of alliances, networks and projects for a democratic development of the city based on human need.

Join us! We are an open initiative with the character of a platform, and working groups based on subjects and projects, in which everyone can get involved in a variety of ways. If your are interested, you are warmly invited to meet us at our monthly meetings.

Meetings: bizim-kiez.de/events
Newsletter: bizim-kiez.de/newsletter
E-Mail: internet@bizim-kiez.de
Facebook: facebook.com/bizimkiez
Twitter: @bizimkiez
Telephone: 030 61789066

Fridays for Future Berlin

25th March Global Climate Strike #PeopleNotProfit

The Left Berlin
17/03/2022

For the tenth time, Fridays for Future Berlin is calling for a global strike. This is while war has broken out in Ukraine. Once more, the situation in Europe shows us that wars and conflicts are financed and fuelled by the use of coal, oil and gas.

As well as an end to the war and taking in refugees, we need an immediate exit from fossil energy sources, along with am exit from energy dependency! Instead of oil and coal from Russia, we must not import the fossil equivalent from other regions of the world. When it comes to human rights abuse, land grabbing and environmental destruction, it doesn’t matter whether gas comes from a Russian pipeline or is fracked in other countries and transported over the ocean. Anywhere where coal, oil and gas is demanded, it ruins livelihoods and doesn’t just plunge our climate into crises!

The new IPPC report once more clearly shows that we need an end to all fossil energies! Our earth is at its limit, the residual budget of CO2 for a maximal global warming of 1.5°C in 7 years has been used up, and the political ambition does not adequately meet what is required. If we carry on like this, the earth will have heated up by 3°-5°C by 2100 and that has terrible consequences. Social crises will be accompanied by further natural catastrophes and regions of the earth will be uninhabitable.

If we want peace and climate justice, our system must therefore change: away from the illusions of permanent green growth and towards a democratic production method which is orientated on planetary limits and human needs. To do this, we must start with ourselves.

We need systemic solutions and this means not just saving energy on our own heating but at Rheinmetall, Heckler&Koch and Vokswagen. We must make socially burdensome, exploitative corporations accountable, as they must respect democracy, justice and planetary limits. The needs of individual profit-orientated corporations must no longer take priority, but the welfare of all people of the world!

For this reason, climate justice activists throughout the world are calling for a global climate strike on 25th March. In Berlin, we are marching from Invalidenpark to the Brandenburger Tor with the demand #PeoplenotProfit! Come along!