This Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, a demonstration will take place at 3 p.m. starting at Spreewaldplatz/Ohlauerstraße to bring together the demands of protesting refugees in Berlin and the protests against rent increases and evictions. More information can be found at the Bündnis Zwangsräumung Verhindern or on f-book. The magazine analyse & kritik also published a freely accessible article on the background of the demonstration.
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Film tip: Concerning Violence
Yesterday the German tour of the film“Concerning Violence – Nine Scenes from the Anti-Imperialistic Self Defense” by Göran Hugo Olsson started. The film is a visual underscore of Frantz Fanon’s 1961 anti-colonial manifesto “The Damned of the Earth.” Historical footage is combined with excerpts of Fanon’s text spoken by Lauryn Hill and embedded by a foreword by Gayatri C. Spivak.
The film has been awarded the film prize “cinema fairbinds“The film has been awarded the prize. On the page of the ministry it says: “With the award, the BMZ honors films that in an outstanding way invite current dialogue on particular aspects of the North-South relationship.” With this, the BMZ underlines the importance of colonialism, racism and capitalism criticism for current debates on development cooperation.
A list of all performances in Germany can be found here.
Refugee Policy in Germany: “First Trickery, Then Starvation”
For 11 days now, the Berlin Senate, with the help of a large police force, has been starving and thirsting refugee activists on the roof of a hostel for refugees in Gürtelstrasse. Doctors who warn of the serious consequences of dehydration and want to bring water are not allowed through. Press is not allowed to the protesters. The few people who show solidarity are harassed and their protest against the inhumane actions of politics and police is made impossible. Go here to the blog and Twitter for information including press reviews and ways to support.
Industrial action in the education sector: current & past events
After the [edmc id=”1727″]dismissal of a total of 17 seminar leaders at the Konradshöhe youth training center, which is affiliated with the trade unions[/edmc], those dismissed are fighting back. We would like to take the [edmc id=”1721″]call for solidarity[/edmc] as well as the online petition of the (former) seminar leaders as an opportunity to remind of other similar labor struggles, which often only find their space on mailing lists and thus reach a very limited public.
Firstly, an [edmc id=”1725″]e-mail[/edmc] sent by autsch3000 in January 2011, which referred to a [edmc id=”1733″]job advertisement from ASA[/edmc] and in which explicit [edmc id=”1732″]rejections[/edmc] were requested to be sent to ASA. Furthermore, an email sent in January 2012 from [edmc id=”1723″]abersonstgehtsnoch[/edmc], which referred to a [edmc id=”1726″]job advertisement from ICJA[/edmc].
In the meantime, resistance has been mounting, especially in academia. On the Facebook page of the Academic Spring Initiative, more and more examples are being collected around the topic of appropriate working conditions and living wages, especially in academia and the non-profit sector, and a networking of those affected is being promoted.
The daily newspaper die taz reported at the end of August on other incidents (e.g. at the DGB Bildungswerk) and on the contradiction between denouncing precarious working conditions and excluding oneself from them. Researcher, author and trainer Urmila Goel takes up the article and explains why higher daily rates are necessary. However, the power to decide about them is usually not in the hands of the precarious education workers.
Open letter “Decolonize orientation framework!” published
A joint working group of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK) published the Orientation Framework for Global Development Education in 2007. This has emerged in recent years as a frame of reference for (extra-) school activities of Global Learning and Education for Sustainable Development. In the last two years, the orientation framework has been revised and expanded by the working group, but without criticisms v.a. from postcolonial and migrant-diasporic perspectives, which have been repeatedly a.o. on joint panel participations, inquiries, publications on power- and racism-critical analyses to the current orientation framework were brought in. Now, since mid-July 2014, the revised version of the orientation framework has been available for public discussion on the Internet.
In memory of Aneck – Racism kills!
On 19.07. Aneck (35) drowned in the Plötzensee. Together we want to mourn him and express our shock that racism is killing people in Germany. The police have ended the investigation without really pursuing the question of whether there is a connection between the lifeguard’s inaction and his activities in the Berlin neo-Nazi scene.
New Millennium Development Goal: Combating Extreme Wealth
The Millienium Development Goals have been expanded to include another goal: combating extreme wealth.
Here is an overview, illustrated by Liv Strömquist, of the main steps that would need to be taken to achieve this.
Refugee women’s group on tour across Germany: interim results
Since 14.07.2014, the feminist group ‘Women in Exile & Friends’ has been traveling from Nuremberg to Berlin with Heinz Ratz’s escape ship project. With a journey on rafts, they draw attention to the situation of refugee women and children and, as part of an accompanying program in shelters for asylum seekers, talk to the residents about their concerns and problems. Now they are taking stock. Continue reading
Oranienplatz activist in deportation custody – Refugee Council demands release
On July 29, 2014, Badra Ali Diarra, an activist from Oranienplatz, was taken into custody pending deportation at the instigation of the Börde Aliens Office (Saxony-Anhalt). He is to be deported to Italy. The man from Mali is part of the so-called Oranienplatz agreement with the Senate. However, he did not receive the redistribution to Berlin and subsequent case-by-case examination promised by the Senate. The deportation stop promised in the settlement paper is also not granted. Continue reading
Trials against racism in Munich nightlife
Last year, in cooperation with the Munich Foreigners’ Advisory Council, Hamado Dipama conducted a test action in 25 Munich nightclubs and discos on April 19, 2013 and April 20, 2013 with six friends of different origins and with the journalist IsabelIe Hartmann from Bayerischer Rundfunk. The result was devastating. Of the total of 25 clubs and discos visited, the campaign participants of African and Turkish origin were granted admission to only 5 of the 25 venues, while the comparison persons were admitted to every club without exception. Now the Munich District Court has come to the astonishing conclusion that there is no evidence of discrimination against the plaintiff Hamado Dipama. The Munich Foreigners’ Advisory Council has issued the following press release on this scandalous court decision. Continue reading