Tag: Wahlheymatpost
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Berlin Wiki: How Berlin’s Government Works
What Makes Berlin’s Governing Mayor Special? Whoever holds the office of Governing Mayor is both the head of government and the ceremonial head of the city of Berlin. The House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus) votes on who will hold the position. There has even been a case in which someone won the election without being their party’s lead candidate. Since Berlin is…
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Berlin Wiki: How Do the First and Second Vote Work?
What Does the First Vote Decide? The article looks at how voters elect candidates and parties in Bundestag elections and elections to the Berlin House of Representatives, and how seats in parliament are distributed through proportional representation. In Bundestag elections or elections to the House of Representatives, voters cast both a first vote and a second vote. With the first vote,…
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Tempelhofer Feld: Berlin’s Most Emotional Urban Conflict Is Back
We are approaching an election in September. Hopefully, you’re reading along in the Berlin Wiki to bone up on how stuff works in German elections, the lexicon, and the issues. Well, one of the issues we’re going to see debated concerns the Tempelhofer Feld. So let’s talk about that for a bit. The other night, I was at 20% Berlin’s live…
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Berlin Wiki: Parties, Direct Mandates and the Five-Percent Threshold
What Is a Political Party? A political party is an association of citizens regulated by the German Federal Party Law. Political parties aim to influence political decision-making at federal or state level over a longer period of time and may represent voters in state parliaments or in the Bundestag. First of all, a party needs members. In addition, the party itself…
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Good Intentions Are Not Democratic Enough
“What you do for me, but without me, you do against me” — the exact origin of this quote is unclear. Nevertheless, it captures something that frequently happens in Germany when it comes to the political participation of historically excluded groups. Policies are supposedly made for migrants, yet not with them. Gender equality is debated while no women are involved in…
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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…
WahlheYmat Writes Newsletter
Our association’s own updates, including news about upcoming events, new initiatives, organizational news, and project developments from WahlheYmat e.V.
Address
Am Hamburger Bahnhof 3
10557 Berlin
Germany
hey@wahlheymat.de