Berlin: Reflection text for the “United We Fight” Discussion and Actions days

We publish this text from the Interkiezionale-Bündnis as an evaluation of the international discussion & action days that took place from Friday the 30th of October to Sunday the 1st of November in Berlin. We chose to write a text for both the demo and the discussions, as we consider it important to be transparent on the thought processes, ideas and motives of the Bündnis. We believe that transparency is an inherent element of our politics, as the sharing of information breaks down unwanted hierarchies of “insiders” and “outsiders”, and gives space for discussion, (self-)critique and (self-)reflection to take place in the broader scene.

THE GOALS OF THE CALL

Intekiezionale is a coordination of threatened projects, groups and individuals in solidarity, that attempts to fight back against the eviction of our spaces. One of the main means of achieving this for us is through providing the space for the movement to experience collective moments. As we consider the stuggle of the projekts, a struggle of the whole movement in Berlin, we consider it important to organize events open for people to take part in and fight together with the projekts. This can be through mass demonstrations, in which the scene can express itself collectively in the streets before or after evictions, but also through general assemblies or info-events, which give the space for an exchange of views and sharing of experiences. [Read More]

Berlin: Update on the International Call for Action and Discussion Days

International Call for Action and Discussion Days in Berlin 30.10.-01.11.2020
United We Fight! Connect Urban Struggles – Defend Autonomous Spaces

As Interkiezionale we keep up our 9 September call to the international action and discussion days of 30.10.-01.11.2020! We would like to inform you briefly about the current status of the preparations.

The spread of the Corona Pandemic, especially in a cold autumn like this one, and the governmental measures and regulations that accompany it, present us with new challenges. Clearly, we must and want to take care of each other and not endanger our health. At the same time, we see it as a necessity and not an arbitrary voluntary decision to continue our struggles in urban areas and, accordingly, to discuss and come together. [Read More]

Berlin: Liebig34 is evicted. Call for day X demo 09.10.20

It feels incredible to type these words into the keys: The Liebig34 is cleared.
At 7:00 a.m. Robocops started sawing and flexing fences, doors, windows and barricades and at 11:00 a.m. the last inhabitants* of the Liebig34 were dragged out of the rooms.
We are sad. We are crying. We are exhausted. WE ARE ANGRY.
They can‘t imagine the determination they have awakened in us. This act of violence will explode in an act of counter-violence and self-defense. Already so much solidarity has happened in the last nights, months, years and has shown what we are capable of doing. This eviction is a moment of radicalization. We can use it and together we can express our hatred for this shit. [Read More]

Berlin: Interview with Liebig34 as it resists eviction

The anticapitalist struggle is an intersectional one. Liebig34 provides a perfect example. In their fight against housing being a commodity, capitalism and patriarchy, they have been a symbol for radical queer feminism for 30 years. Now, the project is faced with the threat of eviction. Being the valuable and inspiring project that Liebig34 has been, it cannot be taken away. Liebig34 stays! This interview serves to provide an insight into the immense value of Liebig34 and hopes to encourage action and solidarity.

What is the origin story of Liebig34, what is it, and what are it’s main principles, values, and goals? What have been some of the biggest changes in the last 30 years? And what has kept Liebig alive and active for all this time?

Liebig was originally squatted on June 30th, 1990, the summer after the fall of the Berlin wall, where many buildings were left empty. The house sits on the corner of Rigaer Straße, a place particularly known for its squatting history. [Read More]

Berlin: Call for demo against eviction of Liebig34 on October 3rd. Chaos instead of eviction

Demo October 3rd – Friedrichshain – 9pm

We are angry! Angry that Liebig34 is about to be taken away from us. Angry that every attempt at a self-determined life is being tried to be crushed. We are fed up with all the harassment by cops in the neighborhood and everywhere else. We are fed up with their repression, the state and its servants, who make it impossible for people to shape the city they live in. We shit on investors for whom Berlin is nothing more than a Monopoly board on which they can move their houses around. We don’t give a shit about the yuppies who, with their new buildings and condominiums, are displacing the people who spend their lives here, for whom the street and the Dorfplatz is more than just the way to the co-working space.
We demand a city from below. We want to occupy houses. We want to decide for ourselves how we want to live. [Read More]

Berlin: Don’t touch Liebig 34! Eviction date on 9 october 2020

Today, on September 15, we received mail from the bailiff T. Knop. They threatened to evict Liebig34 on Friday, October 9 at 7 am!

We will not let that happen! How is it possible that an attempt to evict is being planned even though it is publicly known that a different association than the defendant is present in the rooms?
How is it possible that in times when a second wave of Corona and #StayHome is expected, a home is to be evicted by so many people?
How is it possible that especially now, in times of fascist marches and a shift to the right, a feminist, leftist and queer house project is being attacked so massively?

We are angry but determined. We will not easily give up the Liebig 34.
Support us in our struggle.
Come to the general assemblies, annoy politicians and homeowners.
Be creative! Let’s make the eviction attempt a disaster! [Read More]

Berlin: International Call for Action and Discussion Days

International Call for Action and Discussion Days in Berlin 30.10.-01.11.2020
International Demo in Berlin 31.10.2020

UNITED WE FIGHT!
Connect Urban Struggles – Defend Autonomous Spaces

Over the last years we experience a global resurgence of reactionary politics. State and capital, in a constant process of intensifying exploitation and expanding repression, used the global capitalist crisis, which started a decade ago, as a chance to further restructure relations of power in their advantage. Their political answer is materialized in a shift to the right, with a political alliance of neoliberal economic policies coupled with strong nationalistic narratives and repressive policies against resistance and progressive movements. The new face of authoritarianism has unleashed an all out attack against individuals it considers unnecessary or those that choose to resist and collectivize against the ruin of their lives. In our current period, states the world over used measures against Covid-19 to extend repression, policing and surveillance against societies. At the same time, the failings of neoliberal healthcare systems have led to masses of deaths and increasing inequality due to access to healthcare. [Read More]

Berlin: Demo KØPI & Wagenplatz bleibt

Whoever buys Køpi, buys troubles!

Køpi and Wagenplatz have been under threat on numerous occasions and recently the Wagenplatz received some news that has reminded us just how at risk we are. We are also aware that we are not the only place currently endangered.

The list of evicted projects will continue to grow if we don’t continue to fight back. With the very recent eviction of Syndikat, a space not only vital for our community but a beloved neighborhood fixture for 35 years, the threat looms larger. None of us are safe from the ugly profiteering of landlords backed up by cops and officials as vicious enforcers of their well-oiled machine. These bullies have and will use any means necessary to silence us. We have been witnesses to and victims of robocops beating down and pepper-spraying unarmed protesters with increasing violence.

In the last year alone, these are the projects that have either already been evicted or are still fighting against it:
[Read More]

Berlin: Liebig34, another trial against our house!

On August 26, the default decree of June 3 was again confirmed in the Berlin Regional Court against the association Raduga e.V., which has left the house beginning of this year. The new verdict does not come as a surprise; here, once again, the court is acting in the interests of the owner and his capital interests, negotiating a living space as an object of speculation. In Padovicz’s sense, the Liebig is to be evicted as soon as possible. In addition, the property shark is to get 20,000 euros stuck in his throat. It took only half an hour for the Berlin judiciary to once again judge the fate of the people in the Liebig. Half an hour to decide whether people should be put on the street or not.

The association will appeal and bring the case to the court of appeal. We can still be evicted at any time, but Padovicz would have to raise a substantial „security deposit“ of 60,000 €. Not unlikely given his assets. [Read More]

Berlin: Syndikat evicted, Day X demonstration

So sorry for our abrupt exit earlier. But the eviction, as foreseeable as it might have been, has taken us all mega hard at the moment of the execution. Hopefully some of you are at Herrfurthplatz right now, for the neighbourhood demonstration after our eviction.

Regardless of that, today is Day X, which means that the angry Sponti of the Interkiezionale will take place at 9pm at Richardplatz. We will evaluate the last few days and get back to you as soon as we have coped with the efforts of the last time.

But tomorrow we will publish all information about our anti-repression structure, because unfortunately the escalation strategy of the cops has led to many arrests and charges. But we deal with it the same way we deal with our fight: together, in solidarity & we don’t leave anybody alone! Independent of us, EA and Gesa support will continue to work until everyone is out. Deep thanks from us to all who do this.

We just want to say thank you after these incredibly intense days & weeks! Thanks to all of you who have supported us in so many ways until this day and made sure that we could experience this day at all. Thanks to all the encouragement, the time, the nerves, the know-how, the capacities and our own integrity. [Read More]

Berlin: Action Week for Liebig34, 07-13.09.20

International Call for the defence of Liebig34 (updated call out, 2020/08/15)

Liebig 34 is being threatend by eviction. When state, cops and the owner want to evict, they will only have a desaster on their hands. As an anarcha-queer-feminist selforganized house-project without cis-men, directly at the square „Dorfplatz“ in Friedrichshain, Liebig 34 is a place where resistive actions and collective moments are decided and organized. A place where self-organization becomes a dangerous word, where a project is becoming a starting point of struggles and not just a space of self-reference and alternative entertainment. The project itself has taken part in the planning of many of demonstrations, published numerous calls and texts and carried out various radical actions. But it is also a symbol of radicalization and empowerment for the antagonistic scene in Berlin and in Germany, as it shows how to fight various forms of resistance.

Liebig34 consists of a collective which is working with a focus to overcome more and more internalized structures of capitalism and patriarchy. In a world where patriarchy makes up one of the main pillars of the capitalist system, militant feminist groups and collectives, which make clear that the resistance and the fighting back is not a cis-men privilege, are more than necessary. In a patriarchal world, in which patriarchy and capitalism are intervoven, it is more than necessary to actually fight patrairchy and not have it be a sidenote in a text. Let us not be divided by oppression and let’s fight together in this for a liberated society. [Read More]

Berlin: Successful demo despite police violence

Press release of the Interkiezionale
Berlin, August 3, 2020

On Saturday august 1st, an angry and powerful demonstration took place under the motto “Get out of the defensive”. The demonstration was directed against the announced evictions of left-wing projects, such as Syndikat, Meuterei, Potse and Liebig34. It also wanted to send a signal against the shift to the right and the increasingly authoritarian state [1]. The demonstration of 3,000 people (count from 20:18) was attacked and dissolved by the police after a quarter of the demonstration route. Later, an angry spontaneous demonstration moved through Prenzlauer Berg, showing that the police could not stop the protests.

The Interkiezionale coalition of threatened projects and supporters considers the demonstration a success. True to the motto “Get out of the defensive”, the active participation of many soldiers made it possible to give the demonstration a resistant expression and not to let the police attacks take away the street. Instead, the demonstration drew attention to places of repression and brought their anger against the everyday structural violence by police and capital to the streets. Places such as the job centre, the SPD office or the luxury new building on Flughafenstraße were targeted. [Read More]