If you live in Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain or
Neukölln, you might have played table-football with anarchists.
You’ll have seen this lively demographic at
demonstrations, in dimly lit bars and in dark shadows, but suddenly
you’ll be not only playing table football with them but singing their hymns, deploring
Facebook and fascists and pledging your blood to the revolution. Alcohol will
help the whole seduction.
The ANTIFA, Berlin’s most prominent
anarchist association, is militantly active against Germany’s far right. ANTIFA
members live a varied life: from planting trees at traffic lights and fixing strangers’ bikes for free, to cooking vegan dinners at VOKÜS or beating up Nazis on tube
stops. No other German group is so gentle yet purposefully extreme.
ANTIFA members live in occupied houses that
are usually named after the street they live on. Peace flags and black circled
As hang from the windows. The residents will support St Pauli, Hamburg’s
left-leaning asylum for outsiders, and will deplore Hansa Rostok, the pride of
the NDP. ANTIFA music draws on SKA, punk and Hip Hop and song themes range from
never surrendering to fascists to turning the city green.
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House of slogans, not slaves. |
If you meet one, chances are you will meet
25. This progression to Post-Sallowism will occur in a caliginous basement that Osama Bin Laden couldn’t have conjured in his wildest dreams.
There will be a table-football, AKA biliardino,
fiercely competed over to a soundtrack of clattering plastic. Black hoods,
black circled ‘A’ motifs and Berliner beer will be the orders of the day.
You’ll recognize an ANTIFA bar because
written prominently on the door or window will be the establishment’s distinct non-appreciation of Nazis. The windows will be pasted with stickers
re-advertising everything from anti-nuclear campaigns to pro-asylum initiatives
and the lighting will barely shine through the cracks of window that escaped
the mass-pasting.
NB: Do not arrive wearing Lonsdale, Fred
Perry, Hackett or New Balance. These are no-go brands in Germany that carry
extreme political connotations.
Once you’ve discussed street fighting and
planting marijuana in grounds of the town hall, move on to singing. If you
can’t grasp any of the lyrics, just remember to sing "ANTIFA!" at the top of your
lungs as required. All songs have an 'ANTIFA' moment.
If you challenge at table football, by
knocking unnecessarily loudly on the edge of the table-top, make sure
you’re in a condition to actually stand. While the grips you hold onto can act as
crutches, they’re slippery. Besides, you’ll be thrown all over the place trying
to catch sight of the small white ball while singing about reclaiming nurseries and the minds of children.
Some corrections:
ReplyDelete-Not all Antifas are Anarchists (at least 50% communists)
-NB, Londsdale, Fred Perry are very popular in the antifa scene (especially NB)
-Not all Antifas live in squats (there aren't that much squats today in Berlin)
-Antifa is not one big organisation. There are dozens of Antifa groups in Berlin. They are very different.
-Antifas listen to all different kinds of music
90% of the text is not true. I'm not sure if it's ironic or something?
However, greetings and Rotfront! ;)
Just one more correction:
ReplyDeleteAntifa groups don't plant trees. Of course there's nothing wrong about planting trees, but thats not an activity of an AFA group. What do you think we are? Hippies?
If you want to get an impression of the Antifa movement in Berlin you can check out antifa.de. It's the site of the Antifascist Left Berlin(ALB), a quiet important group.
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ReplyDeleteWow, cool post. I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real hard work to make a great article... but I put things off too much and never seem to get started. Thanks though. Truc Tiep Bong Da
ReplyDelete