The last weekend was full of queer joy for us with several pride parades and queer parties going on. It felt a bit like Christmas for the LGBTQIA+ community and there was something going on for every sub-group. This year, we not only visited the main pride on Saturday but also the Dyke* March on Friday and the Internationalist Pride that happened on Saturday evening at Hermannplatz. Both of these were pretty much in contrast to the main Pride parade, but nonetheless what stood out was the smiling faces and happiness of all the queer people who joined. And that makes us very happy. Because queer joy matters so much – it’s the rebellion, the antidote, the protest against discrimination, hate, prejudice, prosecution, and inequality.
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by Frank | Events, Party, Photos
After a few years of preparation, and another year of delay due to covid, the first edition of the Rave the Planet parade finally took place last Saturday bringing back the magic of the iconic Love Parade to the streets of Berlin. Around 200.000 ravers from young to old came together along the track of the parade that lead from Ku’damm over Nollendorfplatz, Potsdamer Straße, Brandenburger Gate all the way over to the Siegessäule in Tiergarten. A caravan of 18 trucks filled with DJs, performers, and ravers made its way through town filling the air with the finest techno the city has to offer.
It was pretty incredible to witness this first edition, especially since I never went to the original Love Parade that took place in Berlin from 1989 to 2006. The energy in the city was incredible, the people were so ecstatic and it felt like seeing Berlin back to its old strength that we almost thought lost due to the last years.
For the first time, we also had the privilege to experience a parade from the perspective of a truck as our friends from Das Techno Team invited us onto their float. It was a really special pleasure to celebrate this event with their crew and performers. It also gave me the opportunity to capture the event in ways I never could before during big street parades. Check out our Instagram and Tiktok for our video recap. And below you’ll find out photo impressions.
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by Frank | Events, Party, Photos
photo: Jens Schwan.
The summer has us in a daze of joy with the weather being so amazing and one event happening after the next. We find ourselves almost every day with a glass of Aperol Spritz in hand at some gathering enjoying the company of people and good music. July is brimming with opportunities to have fun and we are so here for it.
The summer is also the time for the big street parades and there are really countless ones happening is the next weeks, especially in relation to Pride. We selected some of the most important ones for you.
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by Frank | Events
Berlin protests against Ukraine War, by Lewin Bormann, CC BY-SA.
While probably many of us are still struggling with the effects of the ongoing pandemic, the world has been thrown another shocker of a curveball just a week ago: A violent war that is closer in front of our own doorstep than many of us ever expected to witness. The people from Ukraine had to deal with the aggression of the unpleasant neighboring autocrat for such a long time now that we in the West of Europe have already pushed this ongoing conflict into our subconscious. But now it can hardly be ignored and is a brutal wake-up call for the rest of Europe about how fickle the world we believe to live in actually is.
The response from the people of the other European countries has been overwhelmingly positive towards the people of Ukraine. It is touching to see how people have not only massively expressed solidarity and sympathy in countless freedom and peace marches across the continent (also from within Russia), but also how many organized help and support in terms of transport, supply, and accommodation for refugees from Ukraine. It might be a biased impression, but I can only hope the determination and efficiency of the PEOPLE, will also inspire more CORPORATIONS and GOVERNMENTS to follow suit.
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by Frank | Stories
For almost a decade now, the Love Parade has been seen as a relict of the past. But with the recent news about its comeback in an improved format, it seems like the reactivation of an iconic open-air is in our hands. Find out more about Dr. Motte’s fresh concept of the Love Parade and what you can do to support it.
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by Michalina | Party
The Global Climate Strike took place earlier today in Berlin, as well as in many other cities across the globe. Fridays for Future, the movement started by young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, announced that around 270.000 people went to the streets in Berlin, which is a number much higher than anticipated. It was for sure the biggest demonstration I have ever been to, even bigger than the Europe demo in the Spring and the #unteilbar demo last Autumn (not counting Christopher Street Day).
This turnup and the engagement of the people in the fight for climate justice was really impressive to see, but who impressed me the most were the young people and kids that came, screaming and chanting at the top of their lungs with such a level of seriousness that went into my bones. I think their cry for justice was the most powerful element of the entire parade. I cannot imagine how it must feel for kids growing up with the understanding that previous generations (including ourselves) have majorly fucked up the future of their planet.
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by Frank | Photos, Stories
Thanks to FridaysForFuture initiated by the young Greta Thunberg, the climate crisis has entered the common consciousness as an issue that concerns everyone. The Berlin edition of the upcoming Global Climate Strike is a chance for all of us to show our resistance against the fossil fuel industry.
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by Michalina | Events, Stories
Last Saturday around 1 Million people came to the streets in Berlin to participate in the 40th Berlin Pride Parade. It was a big anniversary for Berlin and possibly also the biggest turnout in terms of people who came to walk or watch. But it was also a meaningful anniversary for the entire Pride movement worldwide. Exactly 50 years ago the Stonewall Riots took place in New York which started the entire LGBTQI movements and all the Pride Parades in the rest of the world in the years and decades that followed.
Even though the parade might seem like a big colorful and joyful street party that celebrated sexual liberty and hedonism there are still important messages sent out into the world with such events. We don’t even have to look very far: Hate crimes against LGBTQI people have gone up in Berlin in recent years. In many countries in the world, Pride Parades are suppressed by governments, such as in Russia, Turkey, and Poland. And most dramatically, many countries still criminalize homosexuality – in the worst cases even punish it by death.
So when we go to the streets in Berlin, we don’t just march for our own accomplishments in terms of LGBTQI rights, but also in solidarity for all those queer people in the world who are still fighting for acceptance and equality.
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by Frank | Events, Photos
At the last European Elections in 2014, only 46,7% of Berliners went to the voting booth. This number is fucking disturbing because this means that less than half of the population even cared to make Democracy work.
But in 2019 we can’t afford to be that careless anymore. In the last couple of years, the rise of populism and anti-Europeanism made it clear that we can’t go on with our lives and leave the boring government stuff to the politicians. They will fuck it up if we don’t initiate a movement and start a counter-revolution to these reactionary forces that are unchallenged.
Yesterday, we were again proud of Berlin for showing up and making noise for a progressive and positive European Democracy. One week before the elections for the European Parliament over 25 000 people walked through the city to demonstrate for a free, human and ecologically aware Europe.
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by Claudio | Stories
Our city is changing. As long as we’re loud enough, it can change for the better.
My body is still sobering up from excessive new years celebrations when I leave my apartment on Karl-Marx-Allee on this frosty Thursday morning. I might feel like trash, but stepping through the elegant row of columns guarding the gates to the monumental ‘Stalin-palaces’, I live in, just gives me something grand each time.
I’m on my – semi-thought-through – mission to keep it that way: I’m buying my apartment! – I’m 25, I just finished my studies, and my savings got me as far as a new MacBook… Turning around the corner to Ostbahnhof, nervously fiddling with the pile of signed documents in my right hand, I ask myself: Have I gone mad?
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by Andy | People, Stories
