Loud at the Library

Recorded live at the Amerika Gedenkbibliothek with hosts Dan, Izzy and Matilde, covering Berlin news for the month of March. NESCO recognizing the techno scene, controversy over stone statues at the Humboldt Forum, and the renaming of the “O2 Arena”. Weed is legal as of April 1st – but where and when can and can’t it be consumed? An update, or non-update on the proposed fence around Görlitzer Park, and a new court ruling that might have an effect on the housing market.
Juliana Pranke, ZLB’s Head of Public Services, joins Radio Spaetkauf to discuss the Pop-Up library extension of the Amerika Gedenkbibliothek and a petition looking to make use of the empty Kaufhauses Galeries Lafayette for a new central library. Sign it here:https://www.zlb.de/unterschreiben/.

Former co-host Joeran shares a captivating narrative of seeking a sacred tree in Berlin, a journey that takes him from one end of the city to the other and back again.

Izzy analyzes and critiques the policies of Berlin’s current ruling coalition. political landscape, and critiques including the CDU and SPD’s positions on housing and transportation. We delve into the three duos vying for leadership of Berlin’s SPD party.

The final guest of the show Philipp Kreicarek is the creator of the app KnowDrugs: https://knowdrugs.app/ tells us about his project which aims to help people who using psychoactive substances by providing information, promoting harm reduction and encouraging user education. The app provides access to testing results for club drugs collected in Berlin and across Europe.

And we wrap up with Dan’s recommendation of the upcoming Arab Film Festival Berlin: https://alfilm.berlin/ as well as his show at the Wall Comedy Club April 5th: Info + Tickets, Matilde’s show dates can be found via her insta: Matilde’s insta: @matikeizer
Show Written, produced, edited by Daniel Stern and Izzy Choksey With support from PodFestBerlin
Please support the show: https://www.radiospaetkauf.com/donate/

Berlin Heat: Gas, Grass or Pansy’s…

This episode of Radio Spätkauf was recorded live February 25th, 2024 at Noisy Rooms with hosts Mathilde, Dan and Izzy plus new guest host, the fantastic Pip Roper.
The BVG’s brand new CEO Henrik Falk’s announced a €700,000 scheme to clean UBahn stations along the U8 between Jannowitzbrucke and Hermannstraße. Berlin’s annual film festival Berlinale got off to a contentious start by extending invitations to members of the far right AFD party. The festival ended with a win for “Dahomey” by French Senegalese director Mati Diop, the first woman of color to receive a golden bear, which was presented to her by Lupita Nyong’o, herself the first black person and African to Chair a Berlinale jury. Tegel is now welcoming school students to its halls. The refugee welcome center in the former airport has now been tasked with teaching up to 300 students in need of education. Tesla faced a setback when the people of Grunheide voted against the company’s plans to expand operations. More public transportation strikes are on the way… A leaked government housing report shows that Berlin has space to create 249,000 apartments without having to intrude on Tempelhofer Feld, undermining CDU and SPD calls for another referendum on opening up the former airport to developers.

Radio Spaetkauf is joined once again by Michael Efler from Bürgerbergheren Klimaschutz  to explain the importance of Berlin’s deal to buy back its district heating system and what it could mean for other public goods in the city. He also points to more sustainable resources for heat, such as drawing warmth from the ciy’s waters.


Germany is moving to a legalization of marijuana. Hanf Museum co-director and cannabis advocate Steffen Geyer helps us understand the new legislation. We find out the details of how much you can carry, grow, and where you can (and can’t) consume cannabis. 


Our third interview of the evening: drag artist, event organiser, and returning guest Pansy told us about “Chez Pansy”, a new Queer Cabaret and supper club currently in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign. The venue, with a dance floor and restaurant is set to provide a new home  for drag and queer culture in Berlin. Learn more and support Pansy’s project at tinyurl.com/chezpansy

Thank you for listening. If you want to contribute on a monthly basis please subscribe to our Steady.
One time donations may be made via our website: Support Radio Spaetkauf
Writing production and hosting by: Izzy Choksey, Daniel Stern (www.sterndaniel.com/) and Matilde Keizer
With support from Sebastian Filip and Radio Spaetkauf Host Emeritus Joel Dullroy
This Episode Edited by Alex Griffiths www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/

Technical Support: www.podfestberlin.com
Theme Music by Ducks! https://linktr.ee/ducksmakemusic

Find more Radio Spaetkauf and contact us at www.radiospaetkauf.com

Sticking Point: Too Radical or Right On? – Part 3

“I don’t think fear is the right word. I am afraid of the future,” Tim Wechselmann-Cassim of Letzte Generation told us about what he feels when drivers try to run their cars into activists during a street-takeover action. “The worst thing that can happen is that they are going to run me over […] I wouldn’t be there if I wasn’t already committed to that.” 

Who defines what “radical” is? Who gets labeled “radical” and what implications does this have? In this episode of Sticking Point, Anne-Marie and Izzy dive into this question and share some of their personal viewpoints on the kinds of direct actions taken by Letzte Generation and why they think the media making comparisons to terrorist groups is pretty freakin dangerous. 

Journalist Paul Hockenos picks up with what happened in the climate movement after FFF and XR stopped attracting the numbers onto the streets that they had in 2018 and 2019. Wechselmann-Cassim takes us further into the motivations of Letzte Generation activists and Tadzio Müller of Ende Gelände argues that there are also specific reasons why the climate movement has not turned violent. Jérémie Gagné from the More in Common thinktank and Regine Richter of Urgewald join us again to help contextualize the impact of these activist groups on German society.

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: 

Producing: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Script: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Editing: Sebastian Filip

Technical Support: Daniel Stern
Art Work: Daniel Stern
Additional Support: Joel Dullroy
Music: Tom Evans

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Shownotes:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/29/could-covid-lockdown-have-helped-save-the-planet

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/21/climate-diplomacy-is-hopeless-says-author-of-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-andreas-malm?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/german-police-call-for-tougher-response-to-growing-climate-protests-letzte-generation

https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/258757/umfrage/umfrage-zum-tempolimit-auf-autobahnen/

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/dobrindt-klima-raf-100.html

https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Verfassungsschutz-haelt-Bezeichnung-Klima-RAF-fuer-falsch,pejril102.html

https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2023-04/amtsgericht-berlin-tiergarten-haftstrafe-klimaaktivistin-letzte-generation

https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2023-04/amtsgericht-berlin-tiergarten-haftstrafe-klimaaktivistin-letzte-generation

https://www.merkur.de/deutschland/haft-monatelang-rekordstrafe-klima-kleber-aktivisten-letzte-generation-gefaengnis-strafe-92217695.htmlv

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/regional/berlin/rbb-demonstranten-blockieren-an-27-stellen-im-berliner-stadtgebiet-strassen-102.html

https://www.mdr.de/brisant/radfahrerin-berlin-tot-102.html

https://www.hdg.de/lemo/kapitel/geteiltes-deutschland-krisenmanagement/linksterrorismus-rote-armee-fraktion.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/24/german-police-stage-nationwide-raids-against-climate-activists

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/weil-scholz-sie-vollig-bekloppt-nannte-letzte-generation-beschmiert-spd-parteizentrale-in-berlin-9865331.html

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/letzte-generation-umfrage-kriminelle-vereinigung-100.html

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/klimaprotest-letztegeneration-straftaten-100.html

Live at Lakeside Film Festival 2022

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.

Cast: 500 film fans plus Joel, Dan and Michele Guido: https://www.training.comedycafeberlin.com/instructors/michele-guido/

Special Guest: Director Alexandra Semkina. Insta:  https://www.instagram.com/sashkasemkina/ / FB: https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.semkina.3 / Film school: https://www.metfilmschool.de

RS Live: Shared Spaces

On this month’s Radio Spätkauf: Segregation in Berlin’s public schools, an artist and curator reinvents the Berlin‘s S-Bahn‘s disused spaces. And what is the Night of Solidarity & why should we take part in it?

Courtney O’Connell has been working with children, youth, and their families in emergency shelters and temporary accommodations for people seeking asylum in Berlin since 2015. She talks to us about how Berlin‘s public school’s two-tier eduction system is proving a big stumbling block to integration.

In September, the Berlin Senate launched new guidelines for tackling the city’s increasing homelessness problem, which included plans to hold a census of the city‘s destitute. „Die Nacht der Solidarität“ will take place on 29th January 2020. Sophia Berndt, a student at Alice Salomon university and volunteer working with the homeless, told us more about it.

If you want to volunteer, register here: https://www.berlin.de/nacht-der-solidaritaet/

As Berlin’s urban fabric changes and affordable spaces for making and showing art in become ever rarer, artists are coming up with inventive solutions to the problem. One such artist (and curator) is Natalia Irina Roman, who has repurposed the buildings and spaces along Berlin’s S-Bahn lines for her project ‚Along the Lines.‘

You can find out more about Natalia‘s projects here https://m.facebook.com/SiteSpecificIdeas/

This episode was presented by Daniel Stern, Trevor Silverstein and Maisie Hitchcock.

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