The Left Berlin News & Comment

This is the archive template

Category: Campaign of the week

Links*kanax

Organising socialists with “migration background”


03/07/2020

LINKS*KANAX is a national network of LINKE members with a refugee or migration history, and their friends, with the aim of making the migrant-progressive voice more visible and audible inside and outside the party DIE LINKE.

The network is open to all those with a refugee or migration background or are affected by racism, and understand themselves as part of the emancipatory left, wanting to fight capitalism, racism and post-colonial power relations and for the fundamental social alternative of democratic socialism and global freedom of movement.

We are a strong part of movements of solidarity and want to become stronger, with the aim of making the party a real part of the movement. This includes being an active part of the anti-racist, climate, tenants’ and workers’ movements, and helping to shape these movements. In times of a massive shift to the right, the social split and sealing off of Europe, DIE LINKE must be a decisive force which, together with mobilisations by civil society, provides hope from the left.

We want to intervene in political and social discourse, which is influenced by a dangerous shift to the right. We also want to intervene in discourse within the party, which has unfoftunately recently been influenced by ideas voiced by some comrades who are critical of migration and question long-standing positions like “open borders for all people”. But migration is neither an object nor a plaything of individual countries. Migration is us!

Palästina Spricht

Providing a voice to Palestinians in Germany


26/06/2020

Palästina Spricht (Palestine Speaks) is a political, democratic, feminist, non-religious and anti-racist grassroots movement, founded in Berlin in 2019 by German-Palestinians for Palestinians worldwide. We want to work for the rights of the Palestinians and against racism, among others we see our organization, as a mouthpiece to change the German discourse on Palestine and thus possibly provide support for Palestine.

Our most important goals are:

  • Providing a collective voice for Palestinians in Germany

  • Supporting the Palestinian people on their way towards their right for self-determination

  • Ending Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and their apartheid system

  • Finally validating all human rights for all Palestinians

We strive to make the Palestinian voice audible and discernible in German society and politics. Only so can we achieve an integrated recognition of the oppression and discrimination of the Palestinian people in Germany. With our joint platform, we want to promote civil action in order to visibly improve. the conditions of the Palestinian people.

Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen

Fair Rents for all – Expropriate the big landlords


19/06/2020

What do you do when corporate landlords are buying up your city? Expropriate them! That’s the purpose of our campaign, Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen. We are demanding a referendum on the expropriation of all profit-oriented landlords with more than 3,000 apartments and their socialization into a democratically-run, publicly-owned housing agency.

You know why: over the last 10 years, Berlin’s rents have doubled. The effects have been harrowing: massive displacement and gentrification throughout the city and the destruction of generations of communities and lifestyles in neighborhoods like Kreuzberg, Neukölln, and Friedrichshain. Over the same period, these megalandlords have more than doubled their size. What’s worse? Much of their stock used to be public, with landlords like Deutsche Wohnen getting their start from massive privatization firesales.

We want to turn the tide: through socialization, the city would massively increase its public housing stock, ensuring that these apartments remain affordable in perpetuity. And that all of Berlin remains liveable for everyone, rather than becoming a segregated city like Paris or London.

Want to help the campaign? The second phase of signature collection may start in the next months. You can get involved at mitmachen@dwenteignen.de.

Eine S-Bahn für Alle

Stop the Privatisation of the Berlin S-Bahn


12/06/2020

Almost unnoticed by a broader public, the red-red-green senate in Berlin – pushed forward by the Green’s Transport Senator Regine Günther – has decided to put the S-Bahn out to tender. If not stopped, two thirds of the operation will be awarded to private companies in a tendering process worth up to eight billion euros. This threatens to privatise and dismantle the unique S-Bahn network in Berlin at the expense of employees, passengers as well as the climate.

In December 2019, the „Eine S-Bahn für Alle“ alliance was formed by unionized train drivers, the climate justice movement, members of the parties Die LINKE and SPD as well as anti-privatisation organisations. Our goal is to inform the public about the on-going privatisation and build pressure to force senate to stop the tender process.

You can support us in many ways:

  • Follow us on Twitter and Facebook,
  • Help us collect signatures. Signature lists and information can be found on our homepage, Inform your friends and family about what is happening.
  • Join our next protest on June 19, 3pm at Annemirl-Bauer-Platz (S Ostkreuz).
  • If you or your organization want to join the alliance, please contact us at einesbahnfueralle@protonmail.com.

April 28 Coalition

For Migrants’ and Refugees’ Rights and Welfare


05/06/2020

The April 28 Coalition [for Migrants’ and Refugees’ Rights and Welfare] is a broad Europe-wide formation composed of grassroots organizations, together with religious and non-governmental organizations, civil society formations, institutions, political parties, influencers, academics and concerned individuals.

They are united by the common objective of advancing the rights and welfare of migrants (regular and irregular), immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced peoples, and the belief that all people on the continent have the right to equal protection. The concrete campaign demands of the coalition are for states/governments to:

  • Grant regularization and full citizenship rights to all, including irregular or undocumented migrants.

  • Provide health and other social services regardless of immigration status and address homelessness and food insecurity.

  • End immigration detention and deportation.

  • End global inequalities—within and among nations.

The Coalition is organising an online Forum Protest this afternoon at 3pm, featuring Berlin activist Majed Abusalama and other speakers. They will be discussing the situation facing refugees and the urgent demand for regularization and full citizenship rights. Live broadcast is here.