The author witnesses the annual May Day riots in Berlin. As midnight approaches, riot police line up across from a large crowd of revelers. A trash bin is set on fire, attracting a group of people hypnotized by the flames. When some in the crowd begin throwing beer bottles at the police, the author's German friend notes they aren't rioting due to current injustice or oppression, but out of nostalgia for riots in the 1980s, inspired by past tales of social problems rather than real issues today. The riots continue as spectacle fueled by nostalgia, not by real grievances given Germany's high living standards and social supports.
GERMANY- Germany is a Western European country with a terrain of vast forests, rivers and mountain ranges, and 2 millennia of history. Berlin, its capital, is home to thriving art and nightlife scenes, iconic.
Government of Germany
Currency of Germany
Geography of Germany
Climate of Germany
Economy of Germany
and almost everything about germany
GERMANY- Germany is a Western European country with a terrain of vast forests, rivers and mountain ranges, and 2 millennia of history. Berlin, its capital, is home to thriving art and nightlife scenes, iconic.
Government of Germany
Currency of Germany
Geography of Germany
Climate of Germany
Economy of Germany
and almost everything about germany
A big, urban metropolis, yet cool, laid back and multicultural, Berlin has something to offer everyone with its mix of iconic sites, rich culture, amazing food, nightlife and outdoor fun.
1 Week 5 Nations and Nationalisms Giuseppe Mazzi.docxkarisariddell
1
Week 5: Nations and Nationalisms
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872)
The founder of Young Italy (1831) was perhaps the leading figure in liberal nationalism. He saw
the creation of a democratic Italian state as crucial to Italy's development.
Europe no longer possesses unity of faith, of mission, or of aim. Such unity is a necessity in the
world. Here, then, is the secret of the crisis. It is the duty of every one to examine and analyse
calmly and carefully the probable elements of this new unity. But those who persist in
perpetuating, by violence or by Jesuitical compromise, the external observance of the old unity,
only perpetuate the crisis, and render its issue more violent.
There are in Europe two great questions; or, rather, the question of the transformation of
authority, that is to say, of the Revolution, has assumed two forms; the question which all have
agreed to call social, and the question of nationalities. The first is more exclusively agitated in
France, the second in the heart of the other peoples of Europe. I say, which all have
agreed to call social, because, generally speaking, every great revolution is so far social, that it
cannot be accomplished either in the religious, political, or any other sphere, without affecting
social relations, the sources and the distribution of wealth; but that which is only a secondary
consequence in political revolutions is now the cause and the banner of the movement in France.
The question there is now, above all, to establish better relations between labour and capital,
between production and consumption, between the workman and the employer.
It is probable that the European initiative, that which will give a new impulse to intelligence and
to events, will spring from the question of nationalities. The social question may, in effect,
although with difficulty, be partly resolved by a single people; it is an internal question for each,
and the French Republicans of 1848 so understood it, when, determinately abandoning the
European initiative, they placed Lamartine's [Note: A French poet and politician] manifesto by
the side of their aspirations towards the organisation of labour. The question of nationality can
only be resolved by destroying the treaties of 1815, and changing the map of Europe and its
public Law. The question of Nationalities, rightly understood, is the Alliance of the Peoples; the
balance of powers based upon new foundations; the organisation of the work that Europe has to
accomplish.
. . .
It was not for a material interest that the people of Vienna fought in 1848; in weakening the
empire they could only lose power. It was not for an increase of wealth that the people of
Lombardy fought in the same year; the Austrian Government had endeavoured in the year
preceding to excite the peasants against the landed proprietors, as they had done in Gallicia; but
everywhere they had failed. They struggled, they stil.
A big, urban metropolis, yet cool, laid back and multicultural, Berlin has something to offer everyone with its mix of iconic sites, rich culture, amazing food, nightlife and outdoor fun.
1 Week 5 Nations and Nationalisms Giuseppe Mazzi.docxkarisariddell
1
Week 5: Nations and Nationalisms
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872)
The founder of Young Italy (1831) was perhaps the leading figure in liberal nationalism. He saw
the creation of a democratic Italian state as crucial to Italy's development.
Europe no longer possesses unity of faith, of mission, or of aim. Such unity is a necessity in the
world. Here, then, is the secret of the crisis. It is the duty of every one to examine and analyse
calmly and carefully the probable elements of this new unity. But those who persist in
perpetuating, by violence or by Jesuitical compromise, the external observance of the old unity,
only perpetuate the crisis, and render its issue more violent.
There are in Europe two great questions; or, rather, the question of the transformation of
authority, that is to say, of the Revolution, has assumed two forms; the question which all have
agreed to call social, and the question of nationalities. The first is more exclusively agitated in
France, the second in the heart of the other peoples of Europe. I say, which all have
agreed to call social, because, generally speaking, every great revolution is so far social, that it
cannot be accomplished either in the religious, political, or any other sphere, without affecting
social relations, the sources and the distribution of wealth; but that which is only a secondary
consequence in political revolutions is now the cause and the banner of the movement in France.
The question there is now, above all, to establish better relations between labour and capital,
between production and consumption, between the workman and the employer.
It is probable that the European initiative, that which will give a new impulse to intelligence and
to events, will spring from the question of nationalities. The social question may, in effect,
although with difficulty, be partly resolved by a single people; it is an internal question for each,
and the French Republicans of 1848 so understood it, when, determinately abandoning the
European initiative, they placed Lamartine's [Note: A French poet and politician] manifesto by
the side of their aspirations towards the organisation of labour. The question of nationality can
only be resolved by destroying the treaties of 1815, and changing the map of Europe and its
public Law. The question of Nationalities, rightly understood, is the Alliance of the Peoples; the
balance of powers based upon new foundations; the organisation of the work that Europe has to
accomplish.
. . .
It was not for a material interest that the people of Vienna fought in 1848; in weakening the
empire they could only lose power. It was not for an increase of wealth that the people of
Lombardy fought in the same year; the Austrian Government had endeavoured in the year
preceding to excite the peasants against the landed proprietors, as they had done in Gallicia; but
everywhere they had failed. They struggled, they stil.
This book focuses mainly on the Thule Society before the Nazi rise to power and the Vril Society which came in to being as the National Socialist Party would build their Thousand Year Reich upon the times. H.P. Blavatsky's Theosophy laid much of the groundwork while the most notable occultists of our age no doubt had effect on the Nazi Regime. The Last Root Race, the Aryans, along with their ubermeinscht claims, with occult symbols everywhere, the Nazis were the only regime in counted history thta based their entire campaign off destorying historyand making an entirely new world which,according to some, would be the seconadry goal. The primary goal was to undo creation.
When travelling one can often feel more at home in a certain atmosphere provided by a specific place: the party animal in Zante; the fashionista in Paris; the shopaholic in New York…as a traveller in Berlin, you will discover that there is always a way to find a home away from home.
Oppose Nazis, Right-Wing Populism and FundamentalismStephen Cheng
This is an unofficial translation of a statement from Antifa AK Cologne, originally posted online in German in late 2010: https://antifa-ak.org/demo-turnleft-gegen-nazis-rechtspopulismus-fundamentalismus/. In light of the rise of the “alt right” in recent years, it may be of relevant interest for progressives outside of Germany. Furthermore, given that this piece came out almost ten years ago, conditions and prospects for the German far right have changed. For example, during the federal election in Germany on September 24, 2017, Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD)/Alternative for Germany won ninety-four seats in the Bundestag.
All errors are my own. Please leave a comment if you have corrections to suggest. If somebody with Antifa AK Cologne prefers that I take down this translation, then I will comply. Just let me know.
Stephen Cheng
July 22, 2019
Journal of Contemporary History2014, Vol. 49(4) 675–701.docxtawnyataylor528
Journal of Contemporary History
2014, Vol. 49(4) 675–701
! The Author(s) 2014
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0022009414538472
jch.sagepub.com
Article
The Fortress Shop:
Consumer Culture,
Violence, and Security
in Weimar Berlin
Molly Loberg
California Polytechnic State University, USA
Abstract
Antisemitic attacks on shops are a well-known facet of the history of National Socialism.
But patterns of violence against commercial targets during the Weimar Republic are less
familiar. Widespread theft and vandalism initially corresponded with periods of emer-
gency, such as the Spartacist Revolt or Hyperinflation. By the early 1930s, looting
became a regular rather than an exceptional part of urban commercial life.
Shopkeepers and police officials struggled to comprehend and categorize these
crimes and to implement effective responses. By 1931, in the context of a general
breakdown in public security, the police promoted a fortified shop as the best means
for crime prevention. In contrast to ‘invisible’ security measures invented by department
stores to deter crime without inhibiting consumption, these measures made explicit a
defensive posture of the shop toward the street. Violence against shops shaped com-
mercial practices and policing tactics not only during the Weimar Republic but also
during the National Socialist era. As evidenced by the April 1933 Boycott, Nazi officials
strategically unleashed and contained public violence. In response, shopkeepers
struggled to comprehend and adapt old protections to new threats. More broadly, I
argue that attacks on shops reveal the precariousness of modern consumer culture and
how easily domestic unrest can destabilize its fundamental assumptions and practices.
Keywords
Berlin, boycott, consumer culture, looting, National Socialism, Weimar Republic
Corresponding author:
Molly Loberg, Department of History, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-
0324, USA.
Email: [email protected]
at CEDAR CREST COLLEGE on March 21, 2016jch.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://jch.sagepub.com/
In his 1927 film, Berlin: Symphony of the Big City, director Walter Ruttmann
captured the transition of night to day with the lifting of protective iron shutters
that exposed shop windows to the morning light.
1
This gesture revealed many
assumptions about the daily patterns and practices of urban commerce. The
plate glass window was the shop owner’s single most expensive and most fragile
investment. During the day, light fell through the glass, illuminated the interior,
and reduced electricity costs. The transparency of the glass created a field of
visual communication between shop and street. Window dressers developed
elaborate schemes such as pyramids of abundant goods or dramatically
staged mannequin tableaux to elicit and hold pedestrians’ gazes. But the gaze
through the shop window went in the other direction as well. ...
1. Nostalgic Violence
I had never been in a riot before, but I had been hearing about the May Day
Kreuzberg riots ever since I first came to Berlin. I had witnessed a few demonstrations in
the past where sullen-faced crowds lurched down streets, chanting and thrusting their
posters with inane slogans in the air, but the hype surrounding May 1st had compelled me
to stake out a place on that day in front of SO36, an inconspicuous old punk club on
Oranienstraße and the apex of these legendary riots. I came prepared: beanie to cover the
head, a scarf for the face, comfortable running shoes, dark clothes and plenty of beer.
Throughout the afternoon and the early evening, the activity on the streets around
Kottbusser Tor resembled any other festival: the scent of sausage and weed in the air. The
city government has learned over the years to give the people plenty of festivals like this
that drain the desire to throw Molotov cocktails at storefronts. I saw batches of riot police
throughout the festival, frozen alongside the curbs, the only ones who looked liked they
weren’t having a good time. As midnight approached, they began lining up at the
intersection of Oranienstraße and Adalbertstraße, straight-backed with severe calmness as
hordes of giddy strangers strolled by. A quarter of a mile down Oranienstraße, smoke
began trickling up into the sky. A group of people gathered around a trash bin that had
been set aflame, all of them hypnotized by its light and the swirling ashen flakes like
attendants of Walpurgis Night, the pagan fertility ceremony that has occurred in Germany
on the night of May 1st for centuries and another ritual consecrated by fire.
More people collected around the flames as the police slowly drew closer. A
German friend said: “What do we have to riot about? My family, my friend, they’re all
leaching off the government in one way or another. We’re just waiting around to be
kicked in the teeth so that we finally have a reason to complain.”
I wondered what anyone here really had to complain about. One of the highest
standards of living in the world? Free education? A comprehensive public health care
system? Generous unemployment benefits? Besides, why are they rioting in one of the
historically poorest areas in Berlin and not in a wealthier part of the city where the ruling
elite live? Perhaps Germany’s economic growth in recent years has dried up the impulse
to revolt. The spectacle of the May Day riots continues, fueled not by injustice or
capitalist oppression, but by nostalgia for the riots of the 80’s and earlier, inspired by
twice-told tales and faint memories of wide-scale social problems.
When rioters, my German friend included, began to raise their beer bottles high
above their heads into the warm night air to loft them at the police, they weren’t fighting
for the impoverished, or wishing prosperity to all in the seasons to come, but honoring
the rioters who had stood there before them with their midnight toasting.
