Germany

Anti Facism Demonstration by Communists?

Where to start… to try and make this clear – now that I understand what was going on and why I got strange looks – let me see ….
Teltow. It’s a small town – 1 street maybe 1000 people – if that. It’s tiny – and located between Berlin and Potsdam. It’s a bedroom community – where nothing really happens – even on the weekend – past 10 pm. Everything is closed after 6pm on most nights, and it’s just dead – you rarely see anyone on the streets.
That being said, May 17, as I rode my bike home from work, I saw this huge massive police force out – blocking the one main street. We’re talking completely closed off to vehicles – with police police police – in green vests, and a few in riot gear.
Line of Police
I thought there must have been a huge bad accident or something – because people go racing up and down the street all the time. Thing is that they were letting pedestrians and bikers through – so as I rode up the street (thinking to rubberneck and maybe snap a few pictures) I discovered the street was just closed – for seemingly no reason – and there was just a huge police force, and really no people. I was like what the heck? Weird.
Line of Police 2
Anyhow, I went home, sat out a 20 minute rain shower and started walking the dog, smartly taking the camera with me. As I rounded the corner, I start hearing people shouting chants and angry things in German – and realize it must be some kind of a protest march that these guys were covering for. So, I head up to the main street to see what’s going on. (After all, March 17 – to me – is any one of a possible 3 holidays – it is the Norwegian Independence day, Equality for gays/lesbians and against homophobia, and the global freedom of information day.)
So, I get down there and start taking pictures of the protest – as follows:
Anti-Facism March
Day 69: Anti-Facism March (1)
Anti-Facism March (2)
Anti-Facism March (3)
Now here’s the thing – the whole time I’m taking pictures, I’m reading the signs and they read “anti-facism” and stuff. (Oh – and I’m getting funny looks – really funny looks from the police who are appearing ready to come at me at any second – to which I keep saying “tourist tourist”) Anyhow, the protest signs – they appear to be being put on by the communist party of Potsdam, Babelsburg and Brandenburg.
To say the least – I’m puzzled. Really Puzzled.
Why are the communist party protesting against facism in tiny Teltow? What am I missing here? Shouldn’t they be in Berlin or Potsdam or something?
Well, after I get to work and start asking questions of the Germans I work with, here’s the explanation.
Apparently, there’s a facist /nazi clothing shop in Teltow (No, really – I didn’t know this either) under the name of something or other nordic blah blah. And these folks were protesting it.
As if that weren’t odd enough – the people protesting are not only communist – but are part of a movement of “anti germans” which have a history of riots and mob violence. You can read more about it here:

Anti-German (Modern communist)

So, this would explain the police being out en masse.

Also from Michael – the translation of that banner in the last picture is “do you know your neighobor? They could be a nazi!”

I’m feeling a little dumb now – a) because I didn’t understand there was a Nazi shop in town, b) because I stood at the protest (ok me and about 2 other people) going what the heck? while taking pictures and c) I’m sure to someone, it looked like I supported the anti-facism (which I do) AND the communists with a history of riots and violence (which I don’t).
Amusingly – they are pro-USA and anti Germans… go figure.
Live, Learn, and well, I guess this is one experience that now that I understand how much I’ve been missing – and be amused.
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Happy May Day!

Here in Germany, Mayday is a big deal. Most people have the day off, and it’s celebrated not only as a Pagan holiday – but also as Men’s Day.
I believe that last year I mentioned the Men’s Day tradition – so this year, I’ll go into the April 30/May 1st Pagan tradition, and the local Berliner traditions for May Day.
First off – the Pagan – Traditionally, April 30 is called Walpurgis Night.. According to local legend, on April 30 (or May 1), all of the witches from around the world come to gather at a place called Hexentanzplatz to perform the Spring Rights. These rituals are held in a huge flat topped area of the Harz mountains, known as Brocken (the highest peak in central germany) and they light a huge bonfire to dance around it. It’s traditionally a time of celebration, dancing, drinking (what else is there to do in Germany) and nekkid drunkenness.
Also, as a part of this, there are often jokes and pranks played on people on Walpurgis night. These can be anything from tampering with neighbor’s gardens, posessions, or graffiting. Normally, no one is hurt, but it usually does result in someone getting a bit miffed.
While I haven’t participated in the April 30 Walpurgis Nacht celebrations, I have been to the place called the HexenTanzPlatz. Now, it’s very very touristy and really doesn’t impress me so much. I did, however, take some video while I was there last year. I hope you enjoy.


Now, here in Berlin, the people celebrate May Day. They have a festival in Kreuzberg – and it’s got music, dancing and so on. Kreuzberg is a section of Berlin, and it’s known to have a huge turkish immigrant community. During the day, the festival is relatively calm, packed with people drinking, shopping, and just doing what people do at a festival. At night however, this is known as a dangerous area to be.

The Reason? Traditionally, the anarchists show up and start riots. Yep, Riots. They tip cars over, set them on fire, throw molitov coctails, rocks, spray paint buildings…. shoot off fireworks at each other and have a general rowdy good time. Now, I will admit I’ve never been a part of a riot, (probabally not a good idea) but I am kind of interested in trying to go down there and get some film footage and/or photos (you know— as safely as possible) . Thing is that I do have to work today – so it probabally wont happen (that I get down there). I will note that I’ve seen advertisments on youtube promoting the riots for this year (and even saying where they will be) and providing old footage of others – apparently it’s at 18:00 PM tonight – at some point during a protest march…


Humm… on second thought, maybe I’ll stay home and order a pizza in, and listen some 3 Days Grace while enjoying the film footage on the news and listening to the following (no video – just music):
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Watching Paint Dry

I’m sitting here, at home, watching paint dry on my windows. Typical Germany, I had to take an entire day off to let the guys caulk and paint the inside and outside of 2 windows. (Ok he IS working the entire building – but.. it shouldn’t take 2 hours for 2 windows, then 3 hours to dry and 2 more hours to come back and do a second coat…)

On the bright side, it’s gorgeous weather outside (I’m trying to keep the dog from dashing out there and running away…) with sun and no breeze. It’s even warm enough where you’re comfortable in a t-shirt.

So, picture me sitting outside, on the patio sofa cross legged with my laptop strung out the door. The pup is sitting in the grass sunning himself, and I’m editing photos from Ireland among other places.

In the background, I have the TV turned on – and they’ve started with the hour of country music on viva. Not a bad thing… until this:

It made me pause, set down the laptop, walk in the house and look at the TV. I was laughing so hard that I almost had to go pee before the end of the video. Seriously, there is nothing quite like country music sung in that soft harmonic suthern accent… with German pronounciation and cheezy lyrics.
Hope you got as much of a kick out of it as I did.
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