Tenants Strike Back!
Over the span of a few short years, the Deutsche Wohnen and Co. Enteignen campaign has fundamentally altered Berlin politics as it has been able to successfully mobilize tens of thousands of tenants around a very radical demand: it’s time to expropriate big landlords. To realize this they’ve been working tirelessly to get a referendum on this year's ballot to demand precisely this. The pressure put on by the campaign pushed the Berlin government to enforce a rent cap. But the comrades say that’s not enough and they’re in the process of pushing for 220,000 signatures within the next two months to get the referendum on the ballot. Meanwhile the comrades at CATU Ireland – a union that works as both a tenant union and community organizing project – started in November of 2019 with a scant 12 members only to then experience a bloom of growth as membership grew to 750 members by the end of last month. It marks an incredible growth in an incredibly short time, no doubt in relation to the added stress experienced by tenants and communities in the context of the coronavirus. Yet, despite the virus, the organization has been forced to pivot and adapt to a quickly shifting reality – one that they weren’t expecting or prepared for, but nonetheless seized. On behalf of CATU Ireland we have Séamus Ferrel, a researcher by trade and educator and organizer by choice, living currently in Dublin. He has a long history of political activity in both the US and Ireland, as he worked for the Chicago Teachers Union in 2012 and 13, to then return and fight against austerity and privatization in Dublin . In 2015, he helped form the Irish Housing Network and the Dublin Central eHousing Network and was involved there until 2020. He is a trade unionist and a shop steward, and is the outgoing National Chair of CATU Ireland. On behalf of Deutsche Wohnen and Co. Enteignen campaign we have MIra here with us today. Within the campaign, MIra works in the Starthilfe (or “Jumpstart,” in English) working group, a special organ within the campaign apparatus dedicated to organizing and base-building. She lives in Berlin Neukölln and has been involved in tenant struggles since 2019. She was previously involved in different struggles around solidarity, anti-racism, and no border-movements. She is also a member of Interventionist Left, a fusion organization composed of radical left wing and undogmatic groups and persons across German speaking countries. For those interested in Starthilfe’s organizing brochure (available only in German) please see this link. For additional materials about Deutsche Wohnen und Co. Enteignen, please see Daniel’s and MIchel Jungwirth’s interview of other Starthilfe comrades here and Daniel’s analysis here.