{"id":6099,"date":"2022-04-22T22:53:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T20:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=6099"},"modified":"2022-04-25T20:03:19","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T18:03:19","slug":"gimme-shelter-laws-the-economy-and-the-strive-for-self-determination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/6099\/gimme-shelter-laws-the-economy-and-the-strive-for-self-determination\/","title":{"rendered":"Gimme Shelter: Laws, the Economy, and the Strive for Self-Determination"},"content":{"rendered":"
Housing supply in Berlin h<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>as for a long time been unable to keep up with the growing demand<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. Rents and the cost of living are on the rise. What some brush aside as the law of the market poses an existential threat to lots of others. While most of these others can do nothing but hope for the government or at least said market to find a solution Berlin also has a strong tradition of squatting. I<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>n reaction to<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> the recent housing crisis the occupation of empty houses or land without permission of the owner has had a bit of a comeback in the Netherlands, facilitated by the refugee crisis in 2015. In Germany s<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>quatters seem to have lost the momentum they had during the movement\u2018s peak in the l<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>ate 8<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>0s and never regained it. Still, in times of crisis like this it might be worthwhile to shed light on a scene that propagates solutions outside of the capitalist repertoire and has done so for more than 30 years. Who are those people? What motivates them? Is there truth to their point of view? To do so I\u2018ve interviewed city-sociologist <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>and gentrification-expert<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> Dr. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Andrej Holm and paid a visit to Germany\u2018s most famous squatter neighborhood.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Houses in the Rigaer Stra\u00dfe are often embellished through other means than renovation.<\/p><\/div>\n The facade is covered in Graffiti and anti-authoritarian slogans, on the sidewalk there\u2018s an aged punk sitting in a chair, rolling a joint, blasting german rap through cheap speakers. None of this is an uncommon sight in the Rigaer Stra\u00dfe. The street located in the district of Friedrichshain is a known hotspot of the autonomous left. There\u2018s house number 94, aka the Riga 94, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>which nowadays hold\u2018s a symbolic value in the scene<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Occupied in 1990 it has often been at centre of clashes between squatters and the governing institutions, whether they had been legal battles, full blown street riots, or somewhere inbetween. As I walk down the street there\u2018s further houses, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>including two bars,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> boasting the graffiti and slogan look<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. The e-mail I sent to the official address of the Riga 94 hasn\u2018t been answered so I hope to find interviewees in the lose groups scattered on the sidewalk.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The infamous Riga 94.<\/p><\/div>\n Before I continue with the story I want to provide some background information and talk about my interview with Dr. Andrej Holmes. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Technically speaking t<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>he Riga 94 is<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> not an <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>occupied house<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> anymore, as are almost none of the other s<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>quats<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> in B<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>erlin<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> for that matter. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cPractically speaking there haven\u2018t been any really occupied houses in Berlin for about 30 years now. In the early 90s the housing conditions were legalized through contract negotiations\u201c, Dr. Holmes says, \u201cA lot of the disputes that still exist, for example about the Rigaer Stra\u00dfe 94, are rooted in these contracts.\u201c The problem with these contracts, he continues to explain, is that they didn\u2018t include anything about what would happen if the affected real estated changed ownership. Friedrichshain for example was part of east Berlin before the reunification. The legal owner of the squats was the state. Since they have been privatized the new owners have been questioning the contracts. Especially in areas where high rents could be demanded, they are very motivated to drive out the squatters. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201eThis story of selling [the squatted real estate] in the Rigaer Stra\u00dfe is typical for the area. There were multiple changes of ownership to ever increasing prices over the previous years. You can only assume that the current owner has paid a relatively high price and wants to make up for that by collecting higher rents. It\u2018s the logic of speculating for profit. The investors will go along with every confrontation, as long as they can force a change of ownership.\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A satiric graffiti about how cleaning facades is not system-relevant<\/p><\/div>\n And a serious one calling to defend the Riga 94.<\/p><\/div>\n When asked, who he thinks is in the right here, Dr. Holmes says that it is not a black or white situation. \u201eWhat we have here is different logics colliding. Speaking simply in economics of course the owners want to demand higher rents. In the middle of Friedrichshain you need to pay a lot if you want to stay. On the other side it was politically decided to make those contracts 30 years ago. It is perfectly understandable that the squatters feel they have a right to the compromise [that has been arranged]. So we have owners wanting to make money, lawyers fighting over legal details, and the squatters insisting on promises made 30 years ago. The situation is so difficult because all of the parties are, on different levels, right in a way.\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n On the role played by the city\u2018s administration he doesn\u2018t have anything positive to add: \u201eAfter the initial contracts were sealed the city withdrew and didn\u2018t take any further responsibility. They should have bought the houses via a fond or something similar to keep up the contracts. With the prices nowadays they can\u2018t make up for that.\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n More gentrified buildings nearby<\/p><\/div>\n The neighborhood\u2018s opinion on the squatting scene is a mixed batch. Some complain about disturbance of the peace and acts of vandalism. Jonas, a resident of one of the newer buildings, is annoyed that someone wrote \u201cFUCK THE POLICE\u201c on it\u2018s otherwise clean facade. Then again many show solidarity with the squatters. There\u2018s banners hanging from some of the windows proclaiming \u201eRiga bleibt\u201c \u2013 \u201cRiga [94] stays\u201c. Judith is worried that the whole area will end up gentrified if the squatters are expelled \u201eLike it already is just a few blocks down the street.\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The banner calls for solidarity with the Riga 94<\/p><\/div>\n This restaurant’s owner could be among those less in favour of the squats staying<\/p><\/div>\n About the loose groups scattered on the sidewalk: They prove to be rather unkeen on being interviewed. I get suspicious looks, as if I might be a government agent, but no answers. The situation begins to look dire but as look has it I meet Paul. My viennese accent reminds the pink and green haired punk of his ex-girlfriend and he is willing to talk. Picking up a few beers on the way he takes me to a nearby playground to meet someone he describes as a squatting veteran. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Of course Paul, who used to be a squatter, has a story of his own. After his father died Germany nationalized his family\u2018s farm and they ended up on the street. He driftet into crime and after being sentenced in court enlistet in the \u201cArbeit statt Strafe\u201c \u2013 \u201cWork instead of Punishment\u201c program, where he got in contact with the scene. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n He prefers to let Kai do the talking though, of which\u2018s historical knowledge he has great respect. The nearly 60-year-old welcomes us at a table outside of a shack that is part of the \u201eAdventure Playground\u201c, a facility that offers swings, slides, climbing frames and the likes of those for kids aged 6 to 14. First of all he asks me to delete his number from my phone, with which Paul called him because he doesn\u2018t own one. Then, after asking a few questions to make sure about my intentions, we\u2018re ready to start the interview. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A place for kids to play before they are old enough for politics and poverty?<\/p><\/div>\n Kai likes to talk. He has a lot of interesting things to stay, most of which would be more suitable for a documentary type of thing than a journalistic article like this. He was in touch with the scene since the 80s and started squatting in the Kreutziger Stra\u00dfe in Friedrichshain shortly after the reunification. \u201eMany would say [the motivation was] political. Afterwards always a lot is gloryfied. You wanted to live with people. You wanted to live self-determined. In the end we were just looking for a place to live. [\u2026] So we moved into the Kreutziger Stra\u00dfe and hung up a banner outside.\u201c Even though he describes the milieu he was in as strongly influenced by the left and dedicately anti-fascist, he emphasizes that squatting in it\u2018s core wasn\u2018t political. Even the banner was actually about procovation. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201eOf course we had an ideological opinion and also proclaimed it. But first and foremost it was about living self-determined. You don\u2018t want to eternally stand in line for some shitty flat they\u2018re offering you. Then some guy drives up with a Porsche, tells them \u2018I\u2018ll give you 10.000 Euros\u2018 and he gets the flat.\u201c <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Now based on this quote some might assume the squatters to be pretty self-centered, not to say egoistical people. From what I\u2018ve seen I feel otherwise. Just the \u201eAdventure Playground\u201c for example is a social project initiated by Kai and his associates years ago. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Multiple times a week you can get vegan food and drinks in the Riga 94\u2018s own bar. Also it\u2018s the little things like Paul buying me a beer and checking whether there are children around before drinking near the playground. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n According to Paul the problem is money. Rich people speculate and want to make profits and therefore want to drive the squatters out. To illustrate that this is not a victimless endeavour he tells me of a homeless person who died in the neighborhood just a few days ago. The corpse was found by children on the playground.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Housing supply in Berlin has for a long time been unable to keep up with the growing demand. Rents and the cost of living are on the rise. What some brush aside as the law of the market poses an existential threat to lots of others. While most of these others can do nothing but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2134,"featured_media":6103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acls","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n<\/p>\n
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