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: 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: 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]

Berlin: Syndikat call out. Get off the defensive!

Demo August 1st – 20 o’clock – Herrfurthplatz, Berlin-Neukölln

Times have been rough not only since the coronavirus. The fascisation of society is progressing. The danger of socialism and the hatred of everything left is evoked like a prayer wheel. The horseshoe theory enjoys great popularity. Under the cloak of totalitarian theories and far from any facts, a constant equation of two supposedly equal extremes against a hallucinated bourgeois “middle” is pursued. This liberal-bourgeois equation of socialism and fascism has a certain tradition in Germany, as does the collaboration of this bourgeois “middle” with fascism in order to take action against socialism, or against everything they perceive as a socialist danger. This is also the case with their anti-feminism, another interface between the “bourgeois-conservative middle” and fascists, which aims to maintain the conservative ideas of their system of rule by maintaining the binary gender order and, to this end, tries to turn back the achievements of feminist movements.

Fascist terror attacks in Hanau and Halle, right-wing networks that organize & arm themselves, armed fascists in the state apparatus that prepare for a civil war, secret service and state involvement in the NSU that are kept under lock and key. This list could easily be extended. The fascist danger is real. [Read More]

Berlin: Call for the demonstration on the 1st of August in Neukölln

The new phase of evictions has started. Not, as expected, with the announced eviction of the Kiezkneipe (neighbourhood bar) Syndikat, but with an attack from the cops.
An attack that was masked as a raid, with the plan for it to turn into an eviction of parts of our house. It was coordinated with some disgusting figures representing the so-called owner, in order to gain control of a space that is a thorn in the eye of a pacified european metropolis. On the 9th of July and the days that followed, we defended ourselves and reduced their filthy plans to ashes – taking back the evicted flat, pushing out the cops and bureaucrats and regaining control of our house.

This would not have been possible without the common fight and solidarity that goes far beyond our little rebellious neighborhood. Numerous people participated in the spontaneous gatherings in front of the house and nightly demonstrations in the richer neighborhoods of Berlin. While some people were cooking for everyone, others took part in the 24/7 shifts around the house. Many things destroyed by the cops were reconstructed almost immediately and different groups claimed actions in solidarity with Rigaer94. Showing once again, that solidarity in all its forms is our strongest weapon against the coordinated attacks from the state on the movement and its upcoming attempts to evict our spaces in Berlin. [Read More]

Berlin: Renewed alarm at Rigaer94

Today july 13th, there are strong police forces, construction workers and securities in the area. Alarm, now it’s getting exciting! Mouth-to-mouth info:

It is now being decided whether the police will take responsibility for the Rigaer94 conflict, and carry out the eviction which began Thursday 7 july and will continue today. At 8 o’clock the so-called Lusche, the new dubious alleged property manager, arrived first. He and his lawyer Bernau wanted to gain access to the house by force, which failed because of the human chain in front of it. His physical attack was answered accordingly. Then immediately masses of cops arrived, who had already been in stand by in the neighborhood but avoided the street in front of Rigaer94. There are at least a hundred of them, if not two riot squads again in action. At the same time, construction workers and the security company arrived. The construction workers called on residents “one to one”. It was reported that some of them wear Combat18 tattoos. They and the cops had to register that there was a new, massive entrance door. So for the moment, the intrusion into the house was stopped. According to information obtained, the police command at the highest level, i.e. the police chief, is currently advising. Nothing will happen until they take responsibility. What happens then will bring clarity about the operation since Thursday. Was it a coup attempt by the middle level police or a well planned action by the political leadership in an attempt to make everything look like a coincidence. The lies will stop.

On the other hand, the anger against the attackers on our living together in solidarity is endless!
Prepare yourself for everything, friends, it is serious! [Read More]

Berlin: Rigaer94, they tried to bury us but forgot that we are the seeds

From friday till saturday evening securities were in front of our house, that does not have any of its front doors anymore. Yesterday morning, around 6:30 am the cops attempted to enter again our front-house block. The so-called “Hausverwalter” Torsten Luschnat arrived at 7 am in order to enter the 4th floor flat in front house of 94. Of course, there is still no owner of the house known but the cops and their commanders in the senate decided to trust the new company, that pretends they are legally allowed to enter. Luschnat Immobilien did not even follow any legal frame and attacked the flat in order to evict it. The attack started from the construction team secured by the cops, by trying to smash through a bricked up door attempting to injure people who were behind it. The people behind the barricades showed an active defense and managed to ruin these plans. Therefore, it was impossible for the workers to enter. They and the cops went to the attic and smashed a hole into the ground ending up in the next door appartment. Unfortunately for them, also the tenant who lives there, managed to keep them out of the flat. Because of the escalation, the cops, afraid of leaving the legal frame, were not willed to continue and stopped the procedure. After those failed attempts of entering our flats, the cops stood in front of our door with the security team. At the same time, the construction team started throwing all the stuff from the ground floor flat, that had been evicted on friday, to the trash. The security team and the workers started to use the toilet and kitchen of the flat. Actually, as soon as they realized that there is a contract still existing, with a person present being able to show it, the doors of the apartment were closed. To demonstrate their power, the cops, from time to time, decided to prevent people who are not registered to come inside. In the afternoon the cops left their position in front of our house. Before the demo arrived, the securities also left being secure by cops. Hundreds of solidary people joined the demonstration and gathered in front of our house until late in the night. [Read More]

Berlin: Rigaer94 raided. Another eviction attempt

Today at 07:00 in the morning, a hundred riot cops walked over the bicycle rack in the yard of Riga 93 to climb over the fence into our yard one by one. At the same time they occupied the roofs of our block. The cops, along with LKA 5 and 6, then gained access to apartments on the 3rd floor of the front building under the pretext of a search for forgery of documents and others. According to the press, they also searched an apartment on Karl-Marx-Allee.

Contrary to their usual procedure, they refrained from using a helicopter and made no attempt to penetrate the rear building so far. In the meantime, they led the worst traffic lawyer in town, Markus Bernau, around the front building, presumably with the intention of supporting him in legal actions against the apartments occupied there. Torsten Luschnat, who thinks he is our new property manager, also gained access to these apartments. The so-called owner company has already proved several times in court that they can’t really prove anything, not even their legality to take legal action against us. The previous court rulings have dismissed all claims. [Read More]