Month: March 2015

There are a lot of strikes here in Germany going on at the moment. Still the Deutsche Bahn Union is temporarily on strike, Lufthansa pilots … but now also the teachers are on strike in several Bundesländer. And here in Berlin the Union for Education and Sciences (GEW) and the Services Union Verdi initiated a strike on the 11th and 12th of march. Also the Industrial Union Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG BAU) and the Police Union (GdP) will join – in Berlin AND Brandenburg.

The Angestellte of the Kitas, universities, offices and authorities fight for „Das öffentliche Leben gibt es nicht zum Nulltarif.“ (Doreen Siebernick, Landesvorsitzende der GEW).

More money, for about 2,8 mil staff, officers and pensioners.

Strike as the last mean to push things forward – a simple demonstration seems to be not enough any more.

Hey, and have you ever been a teacher, policeman or farmer? Do you know about their hard work? (song hard work) „Come on, everybody is working hard for the money.“ Well OK, but some people work ‚harderer‘ as they have to do not well-balanced physical and brain work at the same time – and get exhausted …

Back in time, march, Märzrevolution … there are interesting parallels …

And I know there will be dog demonstrations as well: they do not want us runnning around the North Beach of the Schlachtensee anymore. One of our last hang outs …

another important historic landmark is entering the stage. 130 years ago – when Bismarck invited all the nations (of course only all the nations he was friends with) to the Kongo Conference to negotiate free trading at the banks of Kongo and Niger. Kind of a historic TTIP. BUT: even slaves were traded. And this was bad… Very bad for many countries – even continents (Africa!). And: the conference took place where? Berlin… eieiei. Ah, I love this historical place – even as a dog you cannot deny it.

Do not mix this conference up with the Berliner Kongress (Berlin again). 1887 a secret neutral treaty (auch Neutralitätsabkommen/ Rückversicherungsvertrag genannt) had been finalized between the German Empire and Russia to create a new European Peace Order in South East Europe. It took quite a time from 1883 on.

Don’t we have a kind of the same situation now, in a smaller version? With Greece emerging, carrying new political ideas along? But this time it is Europe negotiating. And they do not have as much time as in the 19th century.

Come on now,  let’s make it better this time. Better than Bismarck did.