#286: AfD at school, Ubers axed, houseboat hassle
A tax haven at the edge of Berlin
Dear 20 Percent,
For the first time ever, 16-year-olds will be able to vote in the European elections on June 9 so it makes sense that politicians visit schools to chat with pupils, right? But what if those politicians belong to the far-right AfD — at a time when support for the AfD is rising among young Germans?
Parents at Heinrich-Schliemann-Gymnasium in Pankow complained that AfD candidate Alexander Sell had been invited to a class panel discussion with other politicians. Sell has previously spouted racist garbage about “mass immigration of babarians into Europe” and so on. But the kids in the class voted in favour of inviting him.
Sanem Kleff of the anti-racism non-profit Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage told taz, “The more important the role of the AfD becomes in society, the more often schools argue that the party can no longer be ‘marginalised’, but that it must be ‘normalised’.”
If the state considers teenagers mature enough to vote, then maybe it’s not necessarily a bad thing that they have a chance to talk to real politicians of every stripe up close. As a parent, I would flinch if I heard the AfD was being invited to my kid’s school, but maybe a democracy shouldn’t try to suppress such encounters? The AfD is killing it on Tik Tok and reaching young voters, anyway. To be honest, I'm not sure what the best approach would be.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
More news below.
Maurice
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Uber and out
The Berlin Senat has ordered ride plaforms Uber, Bolt, Freenow and Bliq to take 1,661 cars off of their apps, writes Tagesspiegel. According to the Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten (Labo) — the city’s über-Ordnungsamt — permits for the vehicles were missing, expired or fake. Labo checked the permits of 8,900 cars — i.e. did their job for a change — after criticism that loads of illegal cars were operating on the streets of Berlin.
Houseboat hassle
A major blow for Berlin’s river-folk: Under new national rules that kick in June 1, boats can no longer be anchored unmanned offshore in German waterways. Houseboat owners in Berlin could be in for a tough time, particularly those anchored out in the Rummelsburger Bucht, a section of the Spree just East of Treptower Park. A number of people live year-round on vessels anchored in the open water. From next month, they will have to moor at a paid spot.
Tree-ferendum
Ecosia, a Berlin search engine that funnels its profits into tree-planting around the world, has launched a campaign for a city referendum that would require more resources put into planting trees and prepping Berlin for a hotter climate. The BaumEntscheid (tree-ferendum) initiative wants to “make Berlin weatherproof by 2035”. Demands include more “sustainable urban greenery and cooling, more green roofs and façades, more rainwater recycling, proactive heat and health protection as well as the adequate dimensioning of disaster response teams.” Sixty volunteers are working on the project, which has launched a crowdfunding page to support the first phase: collecting the signatures of 20,000 Berliners.
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Factoid
The town of Schönefeld just outside Berlin’s city limits has morphed into a tax haven for businesses. Yes, that Schönefeld, site of both the former East German airport and the sprawling BER. In Germany, local governments are free to set the rate of their local business tax or Gewerbesteuer and they get to keep the proceeds. Schönefeld sank its rate to 8.4%, undercutting Berlin’s 14.35%. Some 3,500 mailbox companies are registered there, reports taz, earning the community of 20,000 inhabitants €90,000,000 in business tax revenue in 2022.
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I do not support AfD in any way. However, it‘s slightly undemocratic to want a party to get banned or sidelined. They didn‘t appear out of nowhere and hijacked the power. A quarter of population supports them. The more leftists try to supress AfD, the higher it will rise.
If I were a teenager, the idea of ruling elites trying to ban a party would make doubly want to vote for them, regardless of their policies.