#336: Budget cuts, Tschüss €29 ticket
Russian exiles protest war
Dear 20 Percent,
Not all the details are out yet, but we're getting a rough picture of the Berlin state government 2025 budget cuts agreed upon Monday by the CDU-SPD coalition — led by Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU).
€2 billion slashed from a total of €42 billion. About €1 billion in revenue is expected from higher taxes and fees.
At -18%, transport is being hit the hardest. No more €29 ticket from January — though economy minister Franziska Giffey (SPD) claims that one-year €29 contracts will be honoured into next year. Seems like the jury is still out on that. Watch this space for more details. Cuts in street and bike path construction are also part of the deal and the Sozialticket (for people receiving benefits) goes up from €9 to €19. However, resident parking fees not going up. 😑
The state culture budget is being trimmed by 12%. Arts institutions will have to stomach cuts worth €180 million next year. They’re pissed and are already planning protests.
Education to be slashed by 6.5%. Not good news for our already-overstretched teachers.
These cuts have the conservative CDU's fingerprints all over them. What did junior partners SPD get in return?
Daycare remains free-of-charge.
School lunches remain free-of-charge.
A glimmer of reasonableness in a wave of austerity hitting crucial areas of life in Berlin. Or maybe that’s just the selfish relief I’m feeling right now as a parent that our kids’ Kita isn’t suddenly going to cost and arm and a leg.
Still, some of these cuts will be brutal for those affected. It just started snowing outside. Feels like it's going to be a long winter.
More news below.
Maurice
Russians protest war
On Sunday, 1,000 days since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, exiled Russians marched from Potsdamer Platz to the Russian Embassy on Unter den Linden in protest of Putin’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Police counted 1,800 demonstrators; organisers spoke of 3,000. People chanted “Russia without Putin” and held banners reading “No Putin. No War.” Russian opposition figures attending included Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Yulia Navalnaya — Alex Navalny’s widow.
Trash summit
I thought this was satire but no: 300 concerned Berliners attended a “trash summit” at the Rubbish Museum in Wedding, in the hopes of getting a grip of the insane amounts of garbage in streets, parks and yards. Your average Berliner produces 400kg of waste every year. Apparently, we’re not separating properly, resulting in overflowing bins in backyards. In my building, people seem pretty good at separating, but the bins are overflowing anyway. 🤔 According to taz, Mitte district mayor Stefanie Remlinger (Greens) appealed to people’s sense of “personal responsibility” — there was no public money to tackle the plague of trash afflicting the city, anyway (see above). Remlinger said Mitte was thinking about setting up a “garbage squad” (Soko Müll), inspired by Neukölln. Neuköllners out there, we’d love to hear how that’s going for you?
Cash for niche AI
A locally-built ChatGPT is something we don’t have but Berlin is showing that we can do nice things with Gen-AI all the same: Mediaire, a health-tech start-up that uses artifical intelligence to turbocharge MRI diagnostics, just scored €12 million in European funding. The tech is already being used in 350 hospitals. Meanwhile, Berliners Juna.ai makes “AI agents to run your factory” (which it claims can thereby reduce your factory’s carbon footprint), raised €7.1 million in seed capital.
Events this week, selected by The Next Day Berlin:
19th Cinebrasil: Brazilian Film Festival
Thu-Wed, 21-27.11, various times. Babylon Berlin, Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30, Mitte. Tickets: €9.
This festival is focused on Brazil's cultural diversity—from North to South—and on Afro-Brazilian issues explored by prominent filmmakers. The festival also presents films on Brazilian inequality and racism, documentaries about significant historical figures, and a movie about the behind-the-scenes of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
Farewell Watergate with HVOB
Friday, 22.11, 11 pm - 11 am. Watergate, Falckensteinstrasse 49; Kreuzberg. Tickets: €23.15.
I’m dying for a ticket. HVOB is one of my favorite electronic music acts from the 2000s, and the lineup for the night includes Carista, of whom I’m also a big fan.
Nan Goldin. This will not end well
Opening: Friday, 22.11, 7 pm. Exhibition until 06.04.2025. Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Str. 50, Tiergarten. Tickets: €6/12
The Neue Nationalgalerie’s retrospective is the first in Germany to showcase Goldin’s work comprehensively. Installed in six structures designed by architect Hala Wardé, each responds to a specific piece, forming a village. “My slideshows are films made of stills,” says Goldin.
Nourished Collective Opening & Thanksgiving Fest
Friday, 22.11, 5:30 - 10:30 pm. Moosdorfstrasse 7-9, Treptow. Free with registration.
The Nourished Berlin Collective unites projects focused on sustainability, food culture, and community, hosting workshops and events on topics like zero waste, fermentation, and urban gardening to promote sustainable living. The grand opening is this Friday, showcasing the exciting projects under their umbrella.
🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨
🌊Undersea cable cut between Germany and Finland
🏭 German manufacturers warn of the sector's 'formidable crash'
🛂Germany approves more professional visas
💰German award withdrawn because of British artist’s stance on Israel
Factoid
140 years ago, on November 15, 1884, representatives of 13 European countries and the United States met for the “Berlin Conference” organised by Otto von Bismarck. Here, the large colonial powers essentially carved up the continent of Africa for themselves. This began the process of formalising the borders of Africa — with no input from Africans. By 1900, 90% of the continent had been claimed by European colonisers.
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Look on the bright side: Berlin can kaputtsparen itself into being cool again.
Why are we still so concerned about manual garbage sorting and bringing in "garbage squads" when there are companies that utilize technology for robotic sorting of trash. Much more efficient and imagine needing only one type of bin (okay two, one for bio)! It will only get more efficient with AI.