Sticking Point: Onto The Streets – Part 2

“He saw the remains of his father dug up again.” That was the traumatic experience of one man in a village which was forcibly relocated due to coal mining. It was told to us by Christopher Laumanns, who helped found the group Alle Dörfer Bleiben to fight on behalf of villages threatened by fossil fuel extraction. In Episode 2 of Sticking Point, Izzy and Anne-Marie hear the stories of pain and anger that inspire Germany’s climate movement activists.

Tadzio Müller discusses how place-based movements can break through ideology and make things more real, something that Ende Gelände was very effective in doing. While a lot of this work took place on the interpersonal level, activists like Annemarie Botzky from Extinction Rebellion and Clara Duvigneau from Fridays for Future were able to raise public consciousness and force politicians to agree to goals.

But then, the corona pandemic hit. What do climate activists do when they’re not allowed to bring people together on the streets? Botzky and Duvigneau describe how their respective groups have handled the change in momentum. Journalist Paul Hockenos and Jérémie Gagné from the More in Common thinktank help to contextualize their impact.

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: 

Editing: Anne-Marie Harrison
Producing: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Script: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Technical Support: Daniel Stern
Art Work: Daniel Stern
Additional Support: Joel Dullroy
Music: Tom Evans

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Maisie Hitchcock

It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of Maisie Hitchcock. Maisie died peacefully on August 9 2023 in the company of her family members. She died as she wished, in a hospice with views of her beloved English countryside.

Maisie died from the effects of ovarian cancer. She was diagnosed in 2020. Her only symptoms were slight stomach bloating. Maisie wished she and other women knew that this is a sign of ovarian cancer, for which there is almost no screening and little research.

In the three years after her diagnosis, Maisie was able to travel to many of the places that made her happiest – the mountains of Switzerland, the lakes of Italy, and of course the parks, canals and lakes of Berlin. Her favourite place in Berlin was Schlachtensee, where she would often walk, swim and paddleboard.

Maisie’s voice has brought cheer and comfort to the ears of Radio Spaetkauf listeners since 2011. Hers was the first voice ever heard on the podcast, announcing it into existence, and she was a regular co-host right up until illness forced her to return to England for treatment. We all miss her insights, interjections, laughs and sighs that characterised so many episodes.

Radio Spaetkauf was only one of her projects. She was also a writer and radio producer, and worked for a time on the BBC’s flagship Today programme. She studied for a masters in art history, and gave classes on architecture and design.

Maisie moved to Berlin in the early 2000s, drawn by an appreciation for the overlooked art and architecture of the GDR. She photographed many East German buildings and murals, and published a blog to share them with the world, at a time when they were being ignored or demolished. She found wonder and beauty everywhere, even in the style of an era that others wished to erase. Her appreciation for DDR design was captured in a documentary filmed by RBB, which you can see here (use a VPN if watching from inside Germany): https://youtu.be/WZbWkVdkiSs

Maisie’s main job and passion was tour guiding. She worked for many years in Berlin and across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Her favourite years guiding were spent with Rick Steves’ Europe. She described her career in an interview archived here.

Many listeners remember Maisie’s passion for music, spanning genres such as Ostrock, Deutsch Rap and new wave. For a few years she kept a blog detailing underrated East European music. Her writing was sometimes hilarious, as this post about Karel Gott ‘the Slavic Sinatra’ demonstrates.

Early episodes were music-heavy, and Maisie always picked the songs. Go back through our archive to hear some of those first shows, which feature her musical selections. Episodes from Radio Spaetkauf’s first years from 2011 to 2012 are archived here. Later years from 2013 to today are here.

Maisie spoke often about wanting more people to know about ovarian cancer, and asked people to donate to charities funding research and awareness, including Ovarian Cancer Research (UK), Eierstockktrebs Stiftung (Germany), and Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (US).

We are all deeply saddened by Maisie’s death. Her final weeks were spent sharing stories and memories with friends and family in which she expressed her deep gratitude at being able to enjoy more than four decades of a wonderful life, loved by her family, cherished by her friends, full of travel and discovery of beautiful places. We miss her profoundly, and are consoled that we have so many hours of audio in which we can always hear her beautiful voice.

We are preparing a special episode featuring our favourite moments and memories of Maisie. Please send us yours: hallo@radiospaetkauf.com

Live at Lakeside Film Festival 2023 | Guest: Ben Knight



Will Berliners survive the apocalypse? Should we even try? Ben Knight filmed his quest to deal with climate crisis angst. His film “We’re All Going To Die” screened at Lakeside Film Festival. Ben joins us for a live recording in the rain. Find a screening here: https://wereallgoingtodiefilm.com/

Berlin’s new conservative government passed its first 100 days. They made lots of threats against bicycles, and cancelled 3 of 19 planned bike lanes. Budgets for local councils were cut, threatening services for schools, parks and Christmas markets. How much damage is the CDU-SPD doing, or is their bark worse than their bite?

Germany’s media have started calling Columbiabad a “problem pool” after a scuffle broke out between young men. The pool shut down for a week and the city started demanding visitors show their ID to get in. Was it a racist overreaction? Neo-nazis at other pools don’t get national media attention.

Want to install a solar panel on your balcony? The city is offering €500 funding for renters to generate their own power. You need permission from your Hausverwaltung, and can apply here: https://www.ibb-business-team.de/steckersolargeraete
And here’s where you can buy a Balkonkraftwerk once your funding is approved: www.sonnenrepublik.de

Want to join in NABU’s annual bug count? Sign up here: https://www.nabu.de/tiere-und-pflanzen/aktionen-und-projekte/insektensommer/index.html

This episode is presented by Dan Stern, Joel Dullroy and Ben Knight.

Sticking Point: Voices from Germany’s Climate Movement – Part 1

In this Radio Spaetkauf miniseries, presenters Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison take a journey through the main waves of Germany’s climate movement.

This podcast centers on the people behind the headlines: from the tactics of the anti nuclear movement and activists clambering onto coal excavators in the early 00s, to striking school children and folks gluing their hands onto roads. We find out what motivates activists and why they are willing to turn to increasingly radical means to force change.

Episode #1: From Nein Danke Nuclear to Coal Isn’t Sexy

Climate activists today are redefining civil disobedience, but how did we get to young Germans gluing their hands to busy autobahns and throwing soup at art? To understand that, Izzy and Anne-Marie take us back to Germany’s famously effective anti-nuclear movement. Regine Richter of Urgewald, a fossil fuel divestment organization, traces the anti-nuclear movement from the 1970s and climate journalist Paul Hockenos historicizes the climate movement’s modern-day tactics.

By 2014, climate activists took the fight directly to the coal mines. This is how the group Ende Gelände made the movement sexy, says German climate activist Tadzio Müller, by stopping “insane, apocalyptic machines” from pillaging the earth—even if only for a day. Being harassed and humiliated by cops during these occupations is what made Christopher Laumanns forge ahead, growing Ende Gelände and getting the attention of the German press. A new era of climate activism in Germany had dawned.

Credits: 

Editing: Anne-Marie Harrison
Producing: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Script: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Technical Support: Daniel Stern
Art Work: Daniel Stern
Additional Support: Joel Dullroy
Music: Tom Evans

Listen:

Listen and follow on Spotify
Listen and follow on Apple Podcasts

Support:

Help us keep making podcasts and min-series! Donate now.

The War on Bikes Begins

Cyclists, get ready to ring your bells. The new city government wants to shrink bike lanes, and is turning car-free zones into roads. We hear about the new war on bikes under the CDU transport senator Manja Schreiner.

What hope is there for the referendum that sought to expropriate apartments from big private landlords? We get an update about Deutsche Wohnen und Co Enteignen from our friend Wouter Bernhard.

Do you work for a tech company in Berlin? Do you sometimes wonder if your startup boss is giving you all your rights? Do you know what to do if you think you’re being screwed? To tell us how tech workers can fight for their rights is Yonatan Miller from Berlin Tech Workers Coalition.

Berlin’s former top football Hertha have officially failed and fallen out of the top league. Our sports expert Jöran Mandik tells us about this epic sporting tragedy, and the incredible rise of Berlin’s other team FC Union.

This episode is hosted by Matilde Kaiser, Izzy Choksey, Jöran Mandik, Joel Dullroy and Daniel Stern. Research by Sebastian Filip. Edited by Trevor Silverstein. Thanks to our listeners who support us with a monthly donation via Steady! Please consider contributing here.

Check out athleticgreens.com/spaetkauf now! Try AG1 completely risk-free with a 90-day money-back guarantee, and get a free year’s supply of Vitamin D3+K2 for immune support & 5 convenient travel packs with your first AG1 order! For health information about AG1 and what we have to offer visit: https://athleticgreens.com/spaetkauf

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