Tag: Kiez
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Strangers by the Spree: Inside Berlin’s Outdoor Latin Dance Community
Feierabend! A busy weekday is coming to an end, and Hauptbahnhof is becoming crowded with tired Berliners: businessmen with briefcases heading home after a long day at work, groups of schoolgirls huddled up on benches apathetically scrolling on TikTok, and exhausted travelers searching for the S-Bahn that will finally take them to their accommodation. The night is just about to begin…
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“Berlin taught me to dislike the word integration”
WHP: You worked in humanitarian aid around the world for many years. What ultimately motivated you to found Just-Go-For-It? Marilena Chatziantoniou: I started working in the field of humanitarian aid in 1998. My first assignment was in Albania, where I worked for a small German NGO, just months before the Kosovo crisis. I remember falling in love with the job and…
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What Happened When I Tried to Organize My Neighbors
There’s a lot of talk today about building community. At our March WahlheYmat Talk, the crowd brought up the subject, specifically that we should be creating more of it. Ideas flew around the room. We are living in an era of schism, where the people pulling the levers of power are trying to create an “us and them” narrative, defining who…
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Multilingualism, Participation, and Power: A Berlin Case Study
Local migrant organizations often play a crucial yet underrecognized role in shaping participation, representation, and social cohesion within urban districts. Based on my experience directing the migraUp! Pankow project in Berlin between 2015 and 2025, this reflection highlights how community-based initiatives can strengthen migrant organizations while simultaneously contributing to local governance and democratic participation. migraUp! was conceived as a capacity-building initiative…
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‘Migrants’ Are The Greatest Opportunity For Germany
“Change begins with a conversation.” That’s why I was glad to be invited to the SharedTableDinner by the Oneliness Project. How do we find a sense of home in each other? How are loneliness and democracy connected? These were the questions that shaped the evening. Amazing people shared deeply personal thoughts about how they connect — or don’t connect — with…
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“Democracy Is More Than Voting”: Sami Atris on Organising Communities in Berlin
WHP: Can you briefly introduce the Berliner Bürgerplattformen? What is its main purpose in Berlin? Sami Atris: Who actually decides what happens in our lives? How much influence do we have over how high our rent is — or whether we can even afford to stay in our neighbourhood? Who decides whether our children go to a good school? What the…
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