Radio Spaetkauf Berlin Radio Spaetkauf Berlin

Recorded March 24, 2024
On this episode of Radio Spätkauf, Izzy, Dan and Matilde take on the month's news from Berlin in English. We touch on the recent UNESCO recognition of Berlin's techno scene, the legalization of weed, controversies surrounding stone statues at the Humboldt Forum, and the pressing issue of affordable housing. Joeran Mandik turns up to tell us about his quest to find Berlin's own Tree of Enlightenment. Izzy dissects Berlin's governing coalition's policies on housing, transportation, bikes and a Maglev train proposal. We consider the three duos vying to lead the SPD.
Juliana Pranke the head of public services for the ZLB tells us about the Amerika Gedenkbibliothek's PopUp, plus other updates on the libraries in Berlin. Philipp Kreicarek, the creator of the app KnowDrugs tells us about his project helps people to be safe while using psychoactive substances.

Please support the show: https://www.radiospaetkauf.com/donate/

Links:
ZLB Petition: https://www.zlb.de/unterschreiben/
KnowDrugs: https://knowdrugs.app/
Dan's show: Info + Tickets
Matilde's insta: @matikeizer
Arab Film Festival Berlin: https://alfilm.berlin/
Radio Spaetkauf Website
 
 

This episode of Radio Spätkauf was recorded live February 25th 2024 in Berlin at Noisy Rooms. Hosts Mathilde, Dan and Izzy joined by guest host Pip Roper.
Headlines: BVG’s brand new CEO Henrik Falk’plan to clean U8 UBahn stations.
Berlinale got off to a contentious start but ended with satisfying wins.
Tegel is now welcoming school students to its halls.
Tesla faces a setbackin Grunheide.
More public transportation strikes are on the way.
A leaked government housing report undermines CDU and SPD plans to open up tempelhof to developers.


•Michael Efler from Bürgerbergheren Klimaschutz explains the importance of Berlin’s deal to buy back its district heating system.

 
•Hanf Museum co-director and cannabis advocate Steffen Geyer guides us through Germany's new marijuana laws.

• Drag artist and returning guest Pansy on “Chez Pansy”, a new Queer Cabaret and supper club currently in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign. Learn more and support Pansy’s project at tinyurl.com/chezpansy
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Writing production and hosting by: Izzy Choksey, Daniel Stern (www.sterndaniel.com/) and Matilde Keizer
With support from Sebastian Filip and Radio Spaetkauf Host Emeritus Joel Dullroy
Pip is at: https://linktr.ee/turtle.logic
This Episode Edited by Alex Griffiths www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
Technical Support: www.podfestberlin.com
Theme Music by Ducks! https://linktr.ee/ducksmakemusic
Find more Radio Spaetkauf and contact us at www.radiospaetkauf.com

28th January 2024 recorded live at Zimmer48, with Izzy and Dan plus two guest hosts: Maria Debinska, a research fellow at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry in Berlin and Megan Whittington of German news in English podcast Megan’s Megacan.
 
Support Radio Spaetkauf: https://www.radiospaetkauf.com/donate/
 
A bahn-strike started last Wednesday, running six days until the morning of January 29th included the S-Bahn. The rail worker’s union, the GDL, is advocating for a shorter 35-hour work week with full pay,  a wage increase of €555 per month immediately as well as a €3,000 one off inflation compensation. Deutsche Bahn has offered only a 4.8% raise for 2024, 5% in 2025 and 2.7% in 2026. 
 
Berlin’s mayor Kai Wegner and education secretary Katharina Günther-Wünsch revealed they were in a romantic relationship. An anti-semitism clause proposed by CDU politician Joe Chialo was deemed a violation of artists’ constitutional rights. Agricultural sector protestors brought the city centre of Berlin to a standstill. Emergency vehicles were blocked and streets took hours to clear. The protests were organised in opposition to the proposed end of tax exemptions for diesel used in agricultural vehicles.


A meteorite listed as 2024 BX1 crashed near Berlin last Sunday night and has not yet been found. According to Thomas Becker of Westhavelland Star Park, it may have crashed in an area east of Nennhausen. If you come across a suspicious looking rock, don't touch it.


Members of the AfD and some CDU were present at a secret meeting last November in a villa outside Potsdam along with extreme right activists including Martin Sellner of the Identitarian Movement. Plans to ‘re-migrate’ both foreigners and Germans from a foreign country were discussed. In response over a million people across Germany took to the streets, demonstrating against right wing extremism.


Berlin politicians left in protest when AfD state Chair Kristin Brinker rose to speak at a recent Assembly session. Green party leader Bettina Jarasch commented that it would be wrong to ‘listen to AfD denials’, and Berlin CDU parliamentary group leader Dirk Strettner said “I don’t listen to right wing radical relativising and lying.”


January 27th was Holocaust Remembrance Day, and commemorations were held across the city, including in Reinickendorf where the BVV has five AfD members who were automatically invited to the ceremony, so a local alliance against the far right organised an alternative vigil on another memorial site.


Jonny Tiernan of Ex Berliner Magazine joins us to discuss changes in the print edition and invite us to take part in their research into the sex lives of Berliners. Survey LINK: https://form.typeform.com/to/WwKxHa02
 
Thanks to Yvonne at Zimmer48 and to Sebastian for the pic and Joel on his travels.
Next Live Show: Feb 25th

Radio Spaetkauf Presents: "Housing First and Fun With Social Workers" - RSxEAB #1
• This pilot episode examines homelessness, housing first, and sleeping rough. 
• Recorded Dec 6th 2023 in Berlin at Salon Am Moritzplatz, Released Dec 19th 2023
 
A Special Edition of Radio Spätkauf created through a partnership with Europäische Akademie Berlin. This episode is a pilot for the “RSx” series in which we seek presciptions for the problems of our city and the world which revolves around it. An attempt, in our way, to look forward to the future with hope. With hosts Matilda Kaiser and Daniel Stern, plus guests Debora Ruppert, Karen Holzinger of Berliner Stadtmission, and Kathrin Schultz of Queerhome*.
Dan and Matilde catch up and remind us of the Kältebus number: 030 690 333 690 and review some previous Radio Spaetkauf stories that overlap with today’s topic of homelessness; Zweckentfremdungsverbot, co-working spaces, commercial real estate regulations and the battles of the cities last remaining squats, with an update on Liebig14. How does the housing crisis affect the search for a home? The topic of Homelessness is introduced by Dan who struggles to find the right vocabulary and correct language with which to describe the issue.
The first guest, Debora Ruppert  is an artist who captures the lives of marginalized people, including the homeless, through photography. her most recent exhibition “Home Street Home” was on display in the Bundestag. She emphasizes the importance of speaking with people who are experiencing homelessness rather than merely speaking about them. That dialogue and relationships help individuals out of their situation. 


To learn more about “Housing First” we are joined by Karin Holzinger,  who in 1991 began her work with Berliner Stadtmission and later became their head of homelessness services. Karin also co-invented the Kältebus, and is a co-founder of Kumpfide, an organization twhich offers support to non-abstinent alcoholics. She clears up some common misconceptions about homelessness, “When you walk through the streets, you see people, and you think, oh, he or she might be homeless, because maybe the person is not dressed very well, he or she looks drunk or [seems to have] psychological problems, so you think, ah, this is homelessness. Some of these people are not homeless and on the other hand, about I would say about 90% of the people who are homeless you would never recognize as being homeless because they look like you and me…” Karin explains the vocabulary in German for homeless people: Obdachlos and Wohnungslos, plus attempts to teach Dan the meaning of “Bürgerlich” and tells us the value of a “Housing First” program, as well as some of the limitations. What does it mean to help people survive vs. changing their living situation?
Next, Radio Spaetkauf is joined by Katrin Schulz of Queerhome* Berlin to explain some of the challenges faced specifically by LQBTQI+ plus people in finding homes and shelter. She describes her work; “We say we are in the middle. We are not a government organization. We are not a church or Christian organization. We are not an only queer organization. We are in the middle because the organizations who work with homeless people have no knowledge about LGBTIQ and the queer organizations normally have no knowledge about homelessness…we are in the middle and try to give information to the one side and to the other side.” She affirms that helping people get off the streets is not just about bringing services to them but also about informing the general public about the reality of homelessness and dispelling misconceptions about who is homeless and why they have ended up without a home. She also underlines the importance of recognizing that many people who do find a place to live or a shelter are forced to put up with terrible conditions. Queerhome* is a relatively new organization and looking for growth in its network

“I don’t think fear is the right word. I am afraid of the future,” Tim Wechselmann-Cassim of Letzte Generation told us about what he feels when drivers try to run their cars into activists during a street-takeover action. “The worst thing that can happen is that they are going to run me over [...] I wouldn’t be there if I wasn’t already committed to that.” 
Who defines what “radical” is? Who gets labeled “radical” and what implications does this have? In this episode of Sticking Point, Anne-Marie and Izzy dive into this question and share some of their personal viewpoints on the kinds of direct actions taken by Letzte Generation and why they think the media making comparisons to terrorist groups is pretty freakin dangerous. 
Journalist Paul Hockenos picks up with what happened in the climate movement after FFF and XR stopped attracting the numbers onto the streets that they had in 2018 and 2019. Wechselmann-Cassim takes us further into the motivations of Letzte Generation activists and Tadzio Müller of Ende Gelände argues that there are also specific reasons why the climate movement has not turned violent. Jérémie Gagné from the More in Common thinktank and Regine Richter of Urgewald join us again to help contextualize the impact of these activist groups on German society.
About Sticking Point:
Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison take a journey through Germany’s climate movement in this Radio Spaetkauf series. Sticking Point meets the people inside Germany’s climate movement: from the tactics of the anti-nuclear campaigns, to activists clambering onto coal excavators, striking students and people gluing their hands to roads. We find out what motivates activists and why they are willing  to use increasingly radical means to force change.
Credits: 
Producing: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Script: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Editing: Sebastian Filip
Technical Support: Daniel Stern
Art Work: Daniel Stern
Additional Support: Joel Dullroy
Music: Tom Evans
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Shownotes:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/29/could-covid-lockdown-have-helped-save-the-planet 
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/21/climate-diplomacy-is-hopeless-says-author-of-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-andreas-malm?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/german-police-call-for-tougher-response-to-growing-climate-protests-letzte-generation 
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/258757/umfrage/umfrage-zum-tempolimit-auf-autobahnen/ 
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/dobrindt-klima-raf-100.html 
https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Verfassungsschutz-haelt-Bezeichnung-Klima-RAF-fuer-falsch,pejril102.html 
https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2023-04/amtsgericht-berlin-tiergarten-haftstrafe-klimaaktivistin-letzte-generation 
https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2023-04/amtsgericht-berlin-tiergarten-haftstrafe-klimaaktivistin-letzte-generation
https://www.merkur.de/deutschland/haft-monatelang-rekordstrafe-klima-kleber-aktivisten-letzte-generation-gefaengnis-strafe-92217695.htmlv 
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/regional/berlin/rbb-demonstranten-blockieren-an-27-stellen-im-berliner-stadtgebiet-strassen-102.html 
https://www.mdr.de/brisant/radfahrerin-berlin-tot-102.html 
https://www.hdg.de/lemo/kapitel/geteiltes-deutschland-krisenmanagement/linksterrorismus-rote-armee-fraktion.html 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/24/german-police-stage-nationwide-raids-against-climate-activists 
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/weil-scholz-sie-vollig-bekloppt-nannte-letzte-generation-beschmiert-spd-parteizentrale-in-berlin-9865331.html 
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/letzte-generation-umfrage-kriminelle-vereinigung-100.html 
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The previously lost audio has been found - we apologize for the delay! Listen to our live show at Podfest Berlin, recorded on October 15th at Noisy Rooms. We cover invading hornets, sex scams while fishing, and threats to ice skating season. Plus, we talk to Tim Wechselmann-Cassim of Letzte Generation and Rachel Stewart from the new podcast Don’t Drink the Milk.