Hello everyone,
Tonight (Thursday) at 7pm in Schwarzkopfstraße 16, join Febrayer – The Network of Independent Arab Media Organizations and ALFILM – Arab Film Festival Berlin in the screening of the film Gaza Calling. While a genocide is unfolding in front of our eyes in Gaza, broadcasted to far away audiences live on their intimate screens, once and again people from the region are reminding the world that the term “context” is pivotal. Palestinians know all too well that the moment their remains will cease to be on display on national TVs, the interest in their daily pain, suffering and silent killing will disappear. The film will be followed by a discussion with the director Nahed Awwad. You can register here.
Also tonight, Berlin Migrant Strikers are organising a Free Palestine Free Gaza Küfa in Cafe Karanfil. After more than two weeks of conflict, we decided to organize this event to raise funds that will be sent to Gaza and Palestinian political prisoners. The number of Palestinian political prisoners in Israel has doubled since the beginning of the war. Absolutely nothing is known about them and no one talks about them. #standwithzaid #freepalestine #westandwithpalestine. There will also be a solidarity concert for Palestine in Karanfil at 4pm on Sunday.
Starting tomorrow, and going on all week-end, the Women Life Freedom Collective is organising the conference How to Revolution? One year has passed since the murder of Jina Amini and the uprising of people in Kurdistan, Iran, and the diaspora. During this time, numerous collectives, initiatives, and unions have organized themselves. Through general strikes, demonstrations, sit-ins, and daily practices of civil disobedience, people have resisted the system of oppression. A year later, we have reached a critical juncture where we need to reflect and ask ourselves: how do we wish to further organize? Register here to find the venue. The Women Life Freedom Collective is our Campaign of the Week.
On Saturday, at midday, Letzte Generation (LG) are organising a demonstration and blockade of the Straße der 17. Juni from Brandenburger Tor for a stop to the subvention of fossil fuels. We still have one to two years in which we can leave the fossil fuel led path to annihilation. Find your role. LG have said that they want to take to the streets with the whole of civil society. However, there are attempts to get LG to call off the demos to free police to attack people demonstrating against the slaughter of Palestinians.
Speaking of which, the Berlin police continue to ban demos for Palestine, but like mushrooms, they’re popping up everywhere. On Saturday, FRIKO (the Berlin peace coordination) has called a rally at 2pm at the Platz des 18. März. Then at 4pm, there will be a mass protest at Oranianplatz Global South United, after more than 100 years of anticolonial struggle and 75 years of expulsion and apartheid in Palestine, after more than 5 centuries of colonialism in the Global majority! Enough is enough! Please join all protests you can, but we reckon that the one on Oranienplatz will be bigger and more militant. If you do not have permanent residency status, take care.
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, thousands demonstrate for Palestine despite the police banning the loudspeaker van, firebomb attack on a Berlin synagogue, Muslims pray for peace in the Middle East, and a demonstration for Israel at Brandenburg Tor.
In News from Germany, tens of thousands of students have no long-term housing, Sahra Wagenknecht and 9 other MPs leave die LINKE, and SPD propose “social card” for refugees.
Read all about it in this week’s News from Berlin and Germany.
This week on theleftberlin, we once more have a lot of coverage of Palestine. Aisling Salim reflects on how to react to the Hamas attacks, Nathaniel Flakin gives an Ausländer’s perspective on the bans on demonstrations in Germany. Jewish and Palestinian groups respond to the ongoing repression, we publish an open letter in defence of Elisa Baş who has been suspended as Friday for Futures press spokesperson for supporting Palestine, and the interview with Jüdische Stimme board member Udi Raz which die Zeit refused to publish. We also interviewed Iris Hefets about her one-woman protest on Hermannplatz, and give analysis of police suppression of demonstrations by Luis Sanz Jordan and theleftberlin.
In other news, Shav McKay looks at Germany’s new self-determination law for Trans people, and Dimitra Kyrillou reports from Athens on SYRIZA’s shift to the right.
In this week’s Video of the Week, members of the Jewish Bund tell the German government “You do not protect us” and call for an end to the genocide in Gaza.
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Keep on fighting,
The Left Berlin Editorial Board