It has been a long tradition in Berlin that the 1st of May celebration in the borough of Kreuzberg
-specifically the area between Moritzplatz and Kottbusertor- gets really crazy rather violent, with casualties and some times even a couple of deaths. Due to the increasing presence of the extreme right groups in some areas around the city that also organise marches in the city on the 1st of May, the situation has developed quite unpleasent in areas like Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain and some streets of Prenzlauerberg. But the heart of the barricades has always been the "Moritz-Kotty belt" along the Oranienstrasse or little Istanbul.
Extreme right groups and left oriented groups crash every year with increasing violence, not to mention the ones that only want to enjoy raising hell around the city during that date taking advantage of the confusion. All this mess is what the berliner proudly call "die Krawallen" and they consider them the "quintessence" of the city. I really don't agree with the whole thing but I don't want to begin a debate about the real sense of the 1st of May quite more serious and meaningfull than die Krawallen, I simply can't see what the old '68 berliner left finds so great about destroying every 12 months a whole area of the city just for the fun of it causing damages not to the capitalist or the facist -as they pretend- but to the small people who live and work in the Oraninestrasse and every year lose a bunch of money reparing their little stores and coffee shops to maintain their families.
Any way that's not my issue in this blog. The thing is that exactly on this 1st of May I will be in the Oraninestrasse Nr. 162 in the "Max und Moritz" beer house celebrating my friend's 50th birthday, only a few meters away from Moritzplatz direction to Kottbusertor. I only have 48 hours before the end of the world!
It seems pretty stupid to celebrate a birthday party on the 1st of May in the Oranienstrasse but fact is that there was no alternative since Leopold (the birthday's boy) was born exactly on the 1st of May, it was not possible to celebrate one day earlier or later, or one week earlier or later, because most of the guests are coming from Austria (why Leopold is austrian!) they have the 1st of May free and they have to drive back home no later than Sunnday the 2nd of May.
But let's try to keep some optimism and say that I will manage to shaw Leopold his birthday's present before we all pass away in the middle of the Krawallen this very Saturday. The present is a short video with an animation about his life (not a biography or something like that). I hope he will enjoy it and, who knows, may be you enjoy it too if you click the link:
I must warn you that if you are living in Germany you won't be able to see it because it is banned due to some copy rights stuff, but if you are aborad probably you will see it. And if you don't hear any more about me...you know where I have spent the last minutes of my life...
I love your post this week, Eduardo. The other Eduardo (Eduardo Galeano) reminds us "...no one or almost no one remembers that the rights of the working class did not spring whole from the ear of a goat, or from the hand of God or the boss." His context for writing this was radically different than yours. He was criticizing my country, the United States, because we are the only country (the home of the Haymarket Hangings of 1886 that sparked the May 1st commemoration) that does nothing for the International Workers Day. However, I think the Galeano quote (though heavily appropriated nearly to the point of being mangled by me) applies to this Berliner scene that you describe in the Platz. If the working class suffers from the demonstrations that are saluting them... well, then what have we lost?
ReplyDeleteEduardo, I really enjoyed your video, I'm sure your friend will too.
ReplyDeleteMy friend lives in Prenzlauerberg and I got really worried about the situation you described..I hope nothing happens this year. It's really sad when things like these are happening..
Have a nice weekend and a great birthday party!! :-)
Hello Astral! No reason to freak out, nothing will happen to your friend. The casualties are always among the members of the groups that organises the riots as well as the policemen.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have seen and liked the video, it was fun editing it!
Enjoy your 1st of May too!
And thank you for reading my blog, that keeps me in the good mood.
Cheers
Eduardo