Hello everyone,
This week, some people will be celebrating Columbus Day. But there is nothing to celebrate! Since the genocide by the Spanish occupation of Abya Yala, official history from 1492 until today is written with the blood of Native peoples all over the world. Colonialism never ended – it continues to generate death and exploitation, imposing a falsely „civilising“ model of economic and cultural „development“, embodied in the extractivist structure of global racial capitalism. For this reason, Initiative 1210 Anti-Colonial and El Sur Resiste are organising a Global Day of Action against Neocolonialism. The demonstration takes place today (Thursday) at 4pm at the Auswärtiges Amt and will be going to the Humboldt Forum. El Sur Resiste (The South Resists) are our Campaign of the Week.
For more on the subject, La Jaima de Tiris and the Sahrawi Diaspora in Germany are organising a Protest Rally to show their rejection of Spanish colonialism (whose last territory not being decolonized is #WesternSahara) and in favour of the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people. The rally organisers also support all the actions called within the framework of the #worlddayofactionagainstneocolonialism #globaleraktiontaggegenneokolonialismus organized in Berlin by @blackearthkollektiv Join up! The rally will take place on Thursday in front of the Spanish Embassy, Lichtensteinallee 1 from 5pm.
Also this evening, Bernie Sanders will be promoting his new book It’s ok to be mad at capitalism. The book is an impressive witness to his political life’s work and a fighting appeal to the next generation to question the hyper-capitalist system. Sanders’ vision goes way beyond the demand of his electoral campaign. He shows that economic rights must be recognised as human rights, so we can fight growing inequality. He encourages his readers to fight for a society which offers a reasonable standard of living for all. The meeting, in the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, has been long sold out, but you can watch via live stream on Thursday evening here.
On Friday and Saturday, in the main ver.di building, the Berlin Tech Workers Coalition will host Tech Conference 2023 – the largest English speaking and tech worker-led conference in Germany. Friday, 13 October is open for all Works Council members. As a Works Council training, you can do this training during working hours, and conference fee is paid by your employer. Registration is mandatory. Find further instructions here. Email us conference@techworkersberlin.com if you have questions! Saturday, 14 October is free of cost and open for all tech workers. It will have both a broader focus on social movements, trade union organising and political education.
On Saturday, the LINKE Berlin Internationals and Right2TheCity, the English-language section of Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen (DWE), are combining to offer Eine Küche für alle – a fundraising event for the new DWE referendum to expropriate the big landlords. With spoken word performances, music, screen printing and food, there will be activities throughout the day. Let’s hang out, eat yummy food and trash on corporate landlords. Join us in Bilgisaray, Oranienstraße 45, from 4pm!
The programme looks like this:
16:00: Dumpling making workshop / Screen printing
18:00: Dinner!
19:00 Spoken word and comedy with:
- Jacinta Nandi
- Trevor
20:00: Short campaign announcement/break from activities/more room to socialise
20:30 Music with:
- Nicolás Miquea
- Nümmes
- Franca
All money raised will go to the @dw_enteignen crowdfunding campaign to take back Berlin through a legally binding referendum ✊🏼
And on Sunday, it’s the latest LINKE Internationals walking tour – 1968 in West Berlin. As the year 1968 began, young people in West Berlin went wild. They began demonstrating against the imperialist war in Vietnam, against authoritarian structures at the universities, and against a “Federal Republic” run by former Nazis. All of West Berlin society opposed these “long-haired hooligans.” But this only radicalized them further. 1968 changed Berlin, Germany, and the world. The tour starts at 2pm in front of the Amerika-Haus, Hardenbergstraße 22-24. Follow the link to register, and receive more information on Saturday.
There are many more activities this week in Berlin, which are listed on our Events page. You can also see a shorter, but more detailed list of events which we are directly involved in here.
In News from Berlin, 5,000 right wingers demonstrate on Reunification Day, and teaching union plans strikes for smaller classes.
In News from Germany, no evidence to back up AfD leader’s claim that he was attacked, Bavarian politicians try to prevent the legalisation of cannabis, AfD makes big gains in elections in the West while die LINKE suffers significant losses, the CSU win in Bavaria but with their worst ever result, and 60 LINKE members call for the expulsion of Sahra Wagenknecht.
Read all about it in this week’s News from Berlin and Germany.
New this week on theleftberlin, Nathaniel Flakin looks at the chances of Berlin’s new housing referendum, As we will be working with Nathaniel and neues Deutschland to republish his Red Flag column, we talked to him about the column. There are responses to the latest events in Gaza by the Feminist Bloc | Palestine Speaks and the marx21 editorial board, and we interview Julia Schreiber about her work talking to Palestine activists in Germany.
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If you would like to contribute any articles or have any questions or criticisms about our work, please contact us at team@theleftberlin.com. And please do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.
Keep on fighting,
The Left Berlin Editorial Board