Construction machine set on fire

Berlin 11.04.08

Declaration:

"Last night a construction machine went up in flames in the Dresdenerstrasse, Berlin-Kreuzberg.
It was inolved within the construction of luxurious apartments. "The action stop-the-building" claims responsability for this act of sabotage and hope that many other will follow!
Since years, in Berlin as in the rest of Germany, the process of unequality is growing within society, more and more people live under poverty. At the same time, rent goes up: in general, but especially within the inner-city, which now became interesting for the ones who own more as working as mauch as living place. In some districts such process - rising rents where loans go down, conversion of properties, high unemployment and sinking social help - brought to the displacement of a big part of its inhabitants, above all in Prenzlauerberg and Mitte.
The landlords are the big winners of valorization and rising rents, as much as the people who earn a lot of mones, who therefore can afford to rent a nice, renovated apartement for example at Kollwitz Platz. People without work or who do not earn much, are the losers of such process and will be push away towards the border of the city.

The dominant Politic let such a process taking place and evenmore is asking for reinforcing it.
In times of the ideology of "empty pockets" - followed to higher socialcosts, taxes-cuts for the riches, stupid contruction projects and corruption´s scandals - the citry development will be left mainly to private investors.
As much as Germany in concurring internationally within the "bet for the best place for investement" and therefore decent loans cannot be payed any longer, also single cities take part in this competition towards the big company´s settlement. This did not change until now - even though the Berlin´s dream, to become a global dienstleistung metropole, leaded to a cathastrophe after the huge bank-scandal. The city should become nice and attractive for companies who "strive for the future", such as the Media-industry.
For this, one will decide about the rent´s arise and displacement of poor people, a development called also "gentrication". The city will more and more become one for the companies, who decide the interest´s priority, what-where-when will be build, which place is going to be used.
But the ones who take action against such a process, are fastly a target for police corpses or persecuted as "terrorist".
With the try to get certain companies of the media-industry on board, there is a rising demand by good-earning people towards modernised and chich apartments in the "scene" districts of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg. Now it comes to a massive rent rise within the areas around "MediaSpree", for shops as much as for apartments. Such development will just get worse, as soon the ideas of MediaSpree strategists will become reality. Already nowadays, the results produced by the massive privatizations of living places are clearly recognizable.
Hundreds of house belonging the GSW, which beforehand where city´s property, has been sold to to get the ones for creative academics?
For all the ones who get a poo loan, who will be payed for working in the new hotels of concert places, in the callcenters of in doing security for the new O2 electronical publicity board, such rents are since longer no more affordable.

Action Stop-the-buildingthe investor companny "Cerberus" - with drastic rent-up for the inhabitants and small shops - and culture-oriented building as result. It must be only a question of time until all the inhabitants of the districts aorund "MediaSpree" will have to move following the rent-up. Apartments which will get free, will be affordable merely for the ones who erans more, not to even mention the luxurious-apartments. The politicians in the Senate and in the Municipalities are refusing to take a stand on this process. In fact, until nowadays there is almost no form of measures against rents-up, as example in form of a rents-up´s stop.
The strategists of "MediaSpree" say that their projects create many work-places and through this, all the inhabitants are taking profit. But which work-places are there for the ones who do get any good one because they are not entitled to get the ones for creative academics?
For all the ones who get a poo loan, who will be payed for working in the new hotels of concert places, in the callcenters of in doing security for the new O2 electronical publicity board, such rents are since longer no more affordable.

We do not want "MediaSpree" and luxurious apartments for fews.
We want playgrounds, parks, gardens and a nice life for everybody.
We want alternative projects and a non-commercial culture.
We want to have the possibility to decide what will happen with all the empty spaces in Berlin rather than living them for investor´s plans.
We want cheap rents, we are not interested in landlord´s profits.
We want a cheap and good public transport, less cars in the city, not at all a new bridge for cars on the Spree.

And we surely do not need new bad payed work-places in callcenters from BASF and Quelle, or as ticket-man/woman at the O2.

We will never give a positive answer on the privatization of public spaces and buildings - privatization means more profts for one and more poverty on the other side, more luxus for one side and poorloan for the other.

Sink "MediaSpree"! Luxurious buildings to become social centers!

Action Stop-the-building"

Source: Interim