Hello everyone,
Our Palestine Reading Group continues tomorrow (Friday). This week, we’ll be trying to answer the question: Who are the Agents who can bring about change? So far, our discussions have been focused on what changes we would like to see in Israel/Palestine, and our vision of what the region could look like at the future. This week we want to be more concrete and ask how we can enforce change. With Palestinians excluded from the Israeli economy and the rulers of the Global North (and elsewhere) actively or passively supporting Israel, how can people who want justice become strong enough to liberate Palestine? As usual, it’s at 7pm in Nansenstraße 2. Follow the link above to find the recommended reading and to register (which helps us know how many people we should expect).
oyoun lives (for now). Tomorrow morning (Friday) at 10pm, there will be a live broadcast in Lucy-Lameck-Str. 32 of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. At 2pm, Israelis for Peace have called a demonstration Stop the War at the German foreign ministry, Werdescher Markt 1. At 3pm, students at the FU are live screening a Conversation with Ilan Pappe, at Mosaic Center, Grünewaldstraße 87. And at 7pm there’ll be an mass sit-in for Gaza in Berlin Hauptbahnhof. On Saturday, at 2pm, there’s a demonstration Solidarity with Palestine. Join us and stand up for Palestine! The demo starts at Neptunenbrunnen by Alexanderplatz. On Monday there’s another demonstration Strike is Resistance! Stop the Genocide in Gaza!Join us at the events to help give out leaflets for our coming meeting on Apartheid Israel (see below).
On Saturday, it’s the Rosa Luxemburg Conference, which is held under the motto “Who owns the World?”. This question will reflect the fundamental change in the global balance of power, the upheaval in international relations caused by the rise of the global South – above all the People’s Republic of China as the second largest economic power. It is a shift of hegemony that the previous masters of the world, the US-led NATO states, are trying to counter with increased militarism, the drumming up of war and the instrumentalization of fascism Speakers include Jeremy Corbyn, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Julia Wright. This year’s conference will be in the larger venue of Berlin’s Tempodrom.
On Sunday morning, it’s the annual Luxemburg.Liebknecht Demo against war and crisis, and for peace and solidarity! Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered in Berlin on 15th January 1919 by right-wing Freikorps with the approval of the Noskes and Scheidemanns. This is the 105th anniversary of their death. Their fight obliges us to stand up against war and rearmament, against exploitation and social impoverishment. Upholding the legacy of Rosa and Karl – standing up for peace, social justice, the protection of the environment, for internationalism and solidarity – we, leftists of different currents, will jointly and peacefully express our positions and demands on 14th January 2024. The demo starts at 10am at Frankfurter Tor.
We are pleased to announce a third speaker for our meeting on Apartheid Israel. Barbara Schreiner, Executive Director of the Water Integrity Network. Barbara recently reported on visiting Occupied Palestine. Barbara will be joined by South African activist and academic Patrick Bond, and Palestinian lawyer Nadija Samour. South Africa’s current case against Israel in the International Court of Justice makes the meeting all the more relevant. The meeting is at Café MadaMe, on Mehringplatz 10, just next to U-Bahn Hallesches Tor. It is on Wednesday, 17th January at 7pm. After Barbara, Patrick and Nadija speak, there will be plenty of time for debate. For those of you who can’t make it to the meeting, we will be livestreaming the event at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGFvXUUuaY.
There is much more going on in Berlin. To find out what’s happening, go to our Events page. You can also see a shorter, but more detailed list of events in which we are directly involved in here.
This week’s Campaign Of The Week, Arts and Culture Alliance Berlin (ACAB) organised a demonstration this week outside the Berlin Abgeordnetehaus protesting against the Berliner Senat’s decision to refuse funding to any artist who does not support the problematic AHRA definition of antisemitism. This effectively means that any artist in Berlin who criticises Israel risks losing all state funding. ACAB unites artists and their supporters against the recent escalations in the censoring, silencing, defaming, and deplatforming in Germany of those standing up for Palestinian liberation and human rights
In News from Berlin, Berliner Senat denies funding to artists which it accuses of “extremism”, subsidies for Berlin transport are cut because of inadequate service, the state of Berlin uses celebrities to call on people to vote … for a third time, and Berlin teacher fined for comparing COVID shots to the Holocaust.
In News from Germany, Germany’s carbon emissions drop, but experts are cautious, the union for train drivers announces further strikes, large farmers’ demonstration expected in Berlin next Monday, and farmers say that right wingers are not welcome on their demos,
Read all about it in this week’s News from Berlin and Germany.
New on theleftberlin, an interview with former MP Christine Buchholz about the current state of Die LINKE, Phil Butland reports a row of cases of racism in the German Art Scene, we look at the most viewed articles on theleftberlin last year, retired doctor John Puntis defends the NHS, we talk to Majed Abusalama from Palästina Spricht about strategies to build the Palestine solidarity movement in Germany, and we publish a speech by Maria Cofalka from Right2TheCity / Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen from the recent Anmledung für Alle conference.
Last Saturday, the Palestine Museum in the USA had a first screening of the film Germany’s Palestine Problem. Our Video of the Week is the post-screening discussion withe film director Jad Salfiti and a panel of Anna Younes, Sami Khatib, and Maria Fatafta.
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Keep on fighting,
The Left Berlin Editorial Board