Day of action on 18 May 2014 in Berlin as part of the Blockupy Action Week

Unfortunately, the sun of the previous day didn't want to come, so we set up the circus tent in the pouring rain, which offered us shelter despite the clearing sky later on. On Saturday, we were still out and about at the Blockupy demonstration with the Care Revolution high-transporter and flyers and today we wanted to use the day to learn new things, exchange ideas and explore feminist places in Kreuzberg on a city tour. The first part of the day was dedicated to the topic of health: Kirsten Schubert, board member of the Verein demokratischer Ärztinnen und Ärzte e.V. (Association of Democratic Doctors), reported on the changes in hospitals, how staff have been further reduced in recent years, how healthcare is suffering as a result and the reasons for this are to be found in the capitalisation of healthcare. This has been enforced through the introduction of the DRG system and the associated competition, in which every illness is given a price and health becomes a commodity. A care worker also spoke about gaps in healthcare provision for the homeless. The city of Berlin is systematically practising institutional exclusion in this field. For example, all care centres have been asked to stop treating people from Eastern Europe. This is a human scandal! The outpatient clinic for homeless people at Bahnhof Zoo alone had its funding cancelled because it refused and wanted to continue treating all people in need. Respect and solidarity for this form of resistance! Activists from the ver.di works group at the Berlin assistance companies and the Independent Employee Representation in Personal Assistance spoke about the situation of care workers in personal assistance for people with disabilities. Assistance is still a physically demanding, time-consuming and poorly paid job in which people sometimes work in isolation, which makes it difficult to organise. It is also an area in which it is not so easy to go on strike and where employees join forces with assistance workers in the search for forms of resistance for improvements. How do we live and live? And how do we live together with children? Gisela Notz, historian, feminist and author, spoke on this topic, talking about the development of collective forms of housing (e.g. beguinages) and gender roles in care and nursing. Other organisers of the camp "Who lives with whom? Why? And how? - the self-organised summer camp for children, young people, their main caregivers, parents, co-parents, (elective) relatives, flatmates, friends, people with and without responsibility for children and anyone else who is interested!" (www.wer-lebt-mit-wem.de, camp from 15-20 August 2014 in Escherode near Kassel). And a self-organised parent-child group: "Leave children alone". How can living together with children counteract power imbalances between old and young (adultism) and how do we deal with gender role assignments and create spaces for queer lifestyles? There was a stimulating exchange on these topics in large and small groups. The "Women in Exile and Friends" group organised an information table about the situation of women in camps. Women in the asylum process are forced to live in camps with their children, sometimes for years, in cramped and depressing conditions with no prospects. They are demanding housing, access to healthcare and freedom of movement! There was also a workshop entitled "Die Freiheit nehm' ich mir ... Sexualität leben - wider die Moral" organised by move e.V. Berlin. "Self-determined sexuality is a human right and harbours resources for everyday life. At the same time, social morals standardise the way we deal with our bodies and sexuality. People who demand their sexual rights and people who defend themselves against discrimination as well as sex workers who fight for rights and freedoms for their work are fighting back against this." The concentrated exchange broke with stereotypes and prejudices. Andrea Heubach from FRAUENTOUREN led a city walk through Kreuzberg and visited various places where interesting facts about courageous women, feminist struggles and Berlin's history could be learnt. The day ended with a report by Stephan Gummert on the current situation in the struggle of the Charité nurses and the alliance for more staff in the hospital. If the negotiations with the hospital management are successful, this would be a very important step towards pushing back market competition and profit-orientation in hospitals and creating opportunities for better healthcare.