The local Pub collective ‘Syndikat’ at Weisestrase 56 has, after nearly 33 years, been told that it’s tenancy agreement will be terminated. At the end of December 2018, a long established, emancipating meeting place, deeply rooted in the community, will close its doors for the last time.
We are angry and sad.
The place is for many an extension of home, and a space to meet in solidarity. This threat will result in the loss of a cherished space – valued by many across all spectrums of sexuality, ancestry, class, status or personal history.
“Employed and self-employed, hipster and asylum seeker, student and benefit claimant – they all have come and gone through this pub.” states one review on the net which captures the spirit of the place. The Syndikat is a place where all sorts of opinions can surface, and where, at best you can find agreement, or at worst you can learn something new.
The Syndikat has always tried to be a space for everyone, a space where differing peoples can feel safe in a tolerant and relaxed atmosphere.
And we are not going to disappear
We should disappear, like so many other pubs, cafes and shop projects in Schillerkiez (and the rest of Berlin) –because we are not profitable enough for the shareholders of the GmbHs, conglomerates, and tax haven shell companies that own our buildings. We should disappear, not because our presence in our house and neighbourhood is disruptive, but because of the profiteering of our landlords, who probably only know of this building and neighbourhood from photographs.
This situation is just one of many proofs that the current ruling regime sees the needs of those who work and live in these investor targeted neighbourhoods as irrelevant. Not everybody in the neighbourhood needs to be a Syndikat fan, or a regular visitor – but there are enough who are. But it is not only our situation, but that of the neighbourhood in general that raises the question,
„Who decides who lives and works in our neighbourhood? Who decides what our neighbourhood looks like and what businesses should operate here?’ Do we decide according to our needs, or according to the cost – benefit calculations of hedge funds and property pimps? At the moment it looks like the latter but it doesn’t need to be, it’s neither a law of nature or one of the 10 commandments.
Let’ s go forward and resist this together, whether it’s for the Syndikat, your flat or your favorite café. We should be able decide for ourselves what our own needs are.
Support us, the Syndikat, and our fight against the expulsion from our neighbourhood.
But fight with us, all of us together and in solidarity, against every expulsion in your and our neighbourhood.
