Synopsis: A weekend of escapism turns into a confrontation with reality for a group of Berliners, who leave the city to find the countryside is a scary place.
Location: A camp ground in the forest next to a lake.
It’s pride month in Berlin but a virus outbreak is highlighting how policy makers keep failing the LGBTQi community and shows we learnt nothing from the last pandemic. People are being stigmatized and shamed, the vaccine program is slow – sound familiar? This time it’s monkeypox. We talked to queer activist Pansy about how it is affecting the gay community.
Pansy is hosting an actual DRAG RACE on Tuesday, July 26th in Hasenheide. Find more infos via Pansy’s Instagram.
Meanwhile a new database has been launched to make it easier for all queer people to find the sexual health services right for them. Our new editor Anne-Marie Harrison went out to interview founder Anna Wim about her platform Fluide BLN.
Correction: In the recording, Anna Wim is incorrectly referred to as “she.” Anna identifies as nonbinary and uses “they/them” pronouns. We apologize for the error, and many thanks to Anna for speaking to us about their important work.
Also: You might not know it if you don’t drive a car, but the past few weeks Berlin’s roads have become the site of an incredible youth-led protest movement. Hundreds of young people of the Letzte Generation movement have been putting their bodies and clean criminal records on the line by blocking traffic, in some cases glueing their hands to the road, to draw attention to the dire threats of climate change. This has enraged drivers, who have physically attacked the protesters, with police often standing by and doing nothing to stop the assaults. We’ve met one of these incredible activists. Next meetings in Berlin: Do 21.7. + 28.7. (7pm) at Regenbogenfabrik, Lausitzer Str. 22a Do 2.8. + 9.8. (7pm) Baiz, Schönhauser Allee 26a
And: Berlin schools are in bad shape, there aren’t enough teachers and the ones we do have are overworked. Now international teachers in Berlin are being left out of a scheme to offer better pay and pensions. We talked to Ryan Plocher, a US teacher and active GEW union member, who is helping to plan strikes to try to get better conditions in Berlin schools.
We’ve recorded this episode live at the wonderful Podfest Berlin, organized by our very own Dan Stern. It was a blast! If you missed it – all recorded podcasts will be published before long. To find out more, head over to https://www.podfestberlin.com/
The episode was hosted by: Joel Dullroy, Izzy Choksey, Matilde Keizer and Jöran Mandik
Jöran has just started looking for a therapist and can’t believe how impossible it seems. Matilde is in therapy and still gets anxiety recalling her search.
On this episode they swap stories and explain the basics about Germany’s mental health system. They talk to several people who’ve done it all before. And they explain the first steps to take.
Gesetzliche Krankenkassen: Statutory health insurance funds, Germany’s publicly-mandated privately-run insurers, covering around 90% of residents. They fund some mental healthcare costs for members.
Kassensitze: An insurance-funded therapy license for therapists.
Sprechstunden: Trial sessions.
Akuttherapie: Crisis session.
Therapieplatz: Ongoing sessions paid for by health insurance.
Types of Therapy:
Psychoanalysis: The original Freudian analysis.
Tiefenpsychologische fundierte Psychotherapie: Classic talk therapy, finding out where patterns and issues come from.
Verhaltenstherapie: Cognitive behavioural therapy, working on changing your behaviour.
Systemische Therapie: A combination of talk therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.
EMDR: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, especially for PTSD.
Show Notes:
Georg switched health insurers to get timely access to care (he’s now with BKK-VBU). He also frequently called the Berliner Krisendienst: http://www.berliner-krisendienst.de
Jöran tried Berlin Institute for Psychotherapie and Psychoanalyse (BIPP): https://bipp-berlin.de/
Others went straight to a Hausarzt (a general doctor). But you can get an initial assessment appointment by calling: 116 117.
Credits:
Get Help Berlin is created, written, produced and presented by Matilde Keizer and Jöran Mandik. Additional production and writing by Joel Dullroy and Anne-Marie Harrison. Music is by Ducks! and Tom Evans. Artwork is by Molly Rose Dyson. This is a production of Radio Spaetkauf, Berlin’s news podcast.
This episode was recorded in the dying summer light of the Floating University in Berlin; a location that is neither a university nor floating. Luckily, we had Jöran on site to explain the history of this fascinating location.
As everything gets more expensive, could Berlin make life more affordable by offering a basic income of over €1000 a month? This episode features the organisers of an attempt to start an experiment to do just that. Also, you’ve heard of community gardens. What about a community food forest? We meet a group trying to plant an edible biosphere on Tempelhofer Feld.
Energy prices are starting to bite and inflation is starting to eat into everyone’s weekly budgets. To combat this the federal government brought in the 9 euro monthly public transport ticket at the beginning of the month. It will run till the end of August. Who’s against it and who’s for it? And why should we all be getting on regional trains to an island in the north of Germany called Sylt. Also on the topic of shortages and price hikes, Matilde reveals her deep knowledge of beer glass in a welcomed presentation on the current bottle crisis faced by Berlin’s breweries.
We welcome Laura Brämswig from the Volksentscheid Grundeinkommen campaign to come and talk to us about why we should all sign the petition for another Volksentschiedung giving Berlin the chance to test out a Grundeinkommen.
Fenja Grote and Liz Eve from the Feld Food Forest collective joined us to explain more about their project to create a food forest on the Tempelhof Airfield.
What’s left of revolutionary Berlin? On our outdoor May Day special, we ask author Nathaniel Flakin whether there’s still enough activists to keep Berlin interesting. On a weekend when Berlin’s mayor Franziska Giffey gott egged, activists squatted an empty hostel and thousands of people joined big marches, Nathaniel says May Day isn’t dead yet. Ask your bookshop to stock his new book Revolutionary Berlin – A Walking Guide.
As Russia’s war rages in Ukraine, Berlin’s Green Party wants the city to prepare our U-Bahn stations to use as bomb shelters. But some tunnel experts say the stations aren’t deep enough, while old WWII bunkers are now art galleries.
Get ready for a summer of train travel with the €9 nationwide monatskarte, valid on all local and regional trains. Izzy says the three summer months are usually known as ‘car season’. She hopes the experimental period will deliver data to convince politicians to permanently reduce public transport ticket prices.
This episode was recorded outdoors in the Tempelhof community garden in the afternoon of May 1, 2022. Hosts: Izzy Choksey, Matilde Keizer, Jöran Mandik and Joel Dullroy.
