#260: Berlinale outrage, cannabis legalised, climate hunger strike
A new Berlin housing bot
Dear 20% Berlin,
The Berlinale film festival has always been a political festival that has been outspoken about various struggles, from the LGBTQ rights movement to issues of post-colonial justice, such as the return of treasures stolen from African nations by European colonial powers, as in this year’s Golden Bear winner, Dahomey.
But there’s one issue you’re not allowed to be too outspoken about at the Berlinale: Israel and Palestine. The documentary No Other Land, which depicts the displacement of Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, was made by an Israeli-Palestinian collective and won the Panorama audience prize for best documentary.
In his acceptance speech, Palestinian director Basel Adra said: “It is very hard for me to celebrate when there are tens of thousands of my people being slaughtered and massacred by Israel in Gaza.” His Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham described the situation in the West Bank as “apartheid”. During the ceremony other filmmakers on stage spoke of genocide, called for a ceasefire or demanded that Germany stop delivering weapons to Israel.
Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) became very flustered by all this. “Berlin has a clear stance when it comes to the defense of freedom,” he told RBB. “This means that Berlin is firmly on Israel's side. There is no doubt.” For Wegner and many other politicians and pundits, the statements made at the Berlinale were antisemitic, Germans’ go-to accusation whenever Israel is criticised.
Federal culture czar Claudia Roth (Greens), responsible for funding the Berlinale, chimed in: “The statements at the award ceremony were shockingly one-sided and characterized by a profound hatred of Israel.” She’s even demanding an investigation.
One-sided? Are they really surprised that people at the Berlinale are speaking on this? As the Palestinian death toll rises and rises, German leaders and media stubbornly cling to uncritical ”solidarity with Israel”, blind to the suffering in Gaza and deaf to dissenting Israeli voices.
Meron Mendel, the German-Israeli director of the Anne Frank foundation, reacted to the Berlinale more sensibly by stating the obvious: “It would be wrong to label all those who criticize Israel one-sidedly and sometimes with radical positions as antisemites.”
But maybe journalist Hanno Hauenstein summed it up succintly on X: “When it comes to Israel-Palestine Germany has become a bizarre parallel universe.”
More news below,
Maurice
Hunger strike for climate?
Last Generation climate activists are dialing things up a notch. A handful of protesters dressed in skeleton outfits blocked a street in Siemensstadt, Spandau on Monday — in the vicinity of the Reuter coal-powered cogeneration plant. Police removed the activists easily as they hadn’t glued themselves to the tarmac. One of the activists, Wolfgang Metzeler, a 49-year-old environmental engineer, says he will begin a hunger strike if Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government does not issue a statement by March 7 acknowledging the gravity of the climate situation, and that the “survival of mankind is extremely endangered.” Other activists are expected to join him.
Cannabis almost legal
On Friday, the Bundestag passed the traffic light coalition’s landmark cannabis law, which is pretty much the only thing the three governing parties (SPD, Greens, FDP) can agree on. From April 1, it will no longer be illegal to possess up to 25g of marijuana or hash for personal use. Individuals can grow up to three plants at home. Smoking will be allowed in public, but not within 100m of schools, kindergartens and sports facilities (to protect the kids). Commercial production and sale remains verboten but from July 1 people will be permitted to form non-profit clubs that cultivate and sell the psychotropic weed to members.
Housing bot
Berlin mortgage broker Hypofriend has released a nifty, free tool for people seeking housing in Germany: the Immofriend bot on Telegram. Enter your search parameters, such as whether you want to buy or rent, preferred area, max price and size — and the bot, which continuously trawls the main property listings sites, will notify you instantly when there’s a match, saving you loads of time and making it possible to contact landloards and sellers fast. For the more technically-inclined: our friends over at All About Berlin have published code for a flat-hunting bot on Git Hub. For those of you with less time and patience, try the humans over at Get the Flat.
The 20percent.berlin News Quiz is back March 6!
A comedy panel-show based on the past month’s news, local and otherwise. Four of Berlin’s best funny people battle it out at Comedy Cafe Berlin to see who has the wittiest and most knowledgeable take on the month’s events. Based on classic British panel shows with a very Berlin twist and hosted by 20 Percent’s Andrew Bulkeley. Tickets here.
They’re back!
Die Touris are returning en masse, following the corona slump: 29.6 million overnight stays were registered in the city in 2023, 12% more than in 2022, according to the Berlin-Brandenburg statistics office. That’s still fewer than record year 2019, which had 34.1m overnight stays. Foreign visitors accounted for 40% of stays, with Brits (1.3m) leading the pack. Travellers from the US were close at their heels (1.2 million overnights). Another bright spot for city marketers: we’re now the third best city in the world, according to TimeOut.
Some event recommendations from our friends over at The Next Day Berlin:
Concert: strongboi
Friday, 01.03, 7:30 pm. Lido, Cuvrystrasse 7, Kreuzberg. Tickets: €23.
Parallel synth-pop project by Alice Phoebe Lou with Ziv Yamin. 🎧 Strongboi blends lo-fi elements with diverse influences, ranging from disco dance tunes to jazzy ballads, creating a unique and eclectic sound.
Party: Klunkerkranich Opening 2024
Friday, 01.03, 4 pm-3 am. Karl-Marx-Straße 66, Neukölln. Ticket: €8.
Our favorite terrace in Berlin is reopening this weekend. Getting there early, catching the sunset (if it shows up), listening to good music, and having a drink before nightfall. 🎧 Janna
Exhibition: Echoes of the Brother Countries
Opening Friday, 01.03, 6 pm, Special program 02-03.03, 1 pm. HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, Tiergarten. Free admission on 01.03.
The exhibition critically examines the history of the German Democratic Republic and its relationships with 'brother countries,' highlighting the ongoing impact of the Bruderländer policy and associated amnesia on shaping Germany. It aims to create a shared space for recalling and recontextualizing histories of oppression, discrimination, solidarity, and joy.
More events on The Next Day Berlin.
Factoid
We really are going to have to change the name of this newsletter. According to the latest stats, 24.4% of Berliners (946,369 people) now have foreign citizenship. Last year, the population grew by 27,291, but 46,225 non-Germans moved here. The district with the highest share of foreign citizens is Mitte (37.4%) followed by Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (30.5%).
📯Postkutsche (mail coach) 📯
Reader Caroline Rice rightly responded to a piece about the trial for an alleged group rape in Görlitzer Park:
I was saddened to see the use of the word "failed" in the context of the alleged rape victim not showing up to court. While I know this is a common turn of phrase, it's unfortunate to use it in this context, when we know how extremely re-traumatising judicial procedures for sexual violence usually are. There would have been many other ways to say this that would not have carried the same victim-blaming connotation that the word "failed" does.
Sure, you don’t need to learn German to live in Berlin…
…but wouldn’t it feel damn good to master your der-die-das once and for all? Get serious about learning German at the Berlin-based online course, Smarter German. Sign up for a free trial today.
Great perspective re. the Berlinale fiasco. I feel like I'm going insane reading the reactions of German politicians and cultural institutions.
Even if you are an Israeli, you cannot criticize the Israeli government. The German political establishment is above average!