NM's blog

Berlin has long been a hotbed for working-class organizing and radical left-wing politics .

By Jorge Martin Political earthquake in Germany. Or rather, two political earthquakes in one night, one in Berlin, the other in Mecklenburg - Western Pomerania. To which you have to add the other political earthquake two weeks ago in Saxony-Anhalt. Merz is in difficulties. Visibly shaken on election night, he vowed to continue with his government's program of "reforms" - read an all out assault on pensions, the health service and long-term care. Let's recap. On Sept 6, the ruling party CDU was decisively defeated in Saxony-Anhalt, losing 20 percentage points (from 37 to 17), with the reactionary right populist AfD winning a clear victory, with over 43% of the vote. Tonight, the CDU has received less than 5% of the vote in Mecklenburg West Pomerania, a crushing defeat, which will mean the party will not be represented in the state parliament for the first time in history! The AfD has come first, with over 38% of the vote, 21 points more than 5 years ago. In Berlin, the...

An exchange A study on why Tunisians were the biggest number to go to Syria and join ISIS. Multiple comprehensive studies, including those by the  National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ,  The Washington Institute , and  International Alert , reveal that between  6,000 and 7,000 Tunisians  traveled to join ISIS due to a unique intersection of  post-revolution state absence, severe youth marginalisation, structural economic failure, and easy regional logistics .  [1, 2, 3]  While Tunisia was celebrated as the sole democratic success story of the 2011 Arab Spring, this rapid political transition paradoxically created the perfect breeding ground for radical recruitment.  [3, 4]  1. Political Transition and "Security Vacuum" Amnesty for Radicals : Following the 2011 revolution, the transitional government issued a general amnesty, releasing hundreds of hardline Islamist political prisoners and violent jihadists who quickly formed recrui...

A British-Palestinian surgeon speaks after had refused entry to take part in a conference.

Karl Marx, Sergei Eisenstein and Bourgeois Vampires Unite in Bloodsuckers

For the first time in its history, the Austrian Communist Party has unexpectedly won a municipal election in the country’s second-largest city, Graz. According to preliminary results, the KPÖ came out on top on Sunday with 29% of the vote, ahead of the centre-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) on 25.7%. “Their success in Graz is down to their focus on local issues -- especially housing policy -- while scaling back any Marxist ideology.” In Berlin, however ,  Germany’s highest court ruled  in favour of capital in April saying  that a cap the local government imposed on rent prices last year was unconstitutional and void.   The rule froze rents for some 90% of Berlin apartments at June 2019 rates for five years. In many cases, existing rents needed to be reduced to conform to the new threshold. After the court ruling, many tenants faced hefty back payments.

 The Slippery Domain of Integration

“ Thomas Haldenwang, the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, who jointly presented the report with Seehofer, said the spectrum of cases was “large” and the accusations against the individuals “very heterogeneous”, but he said most of them broadly fell into categories with “typical rightwing extremist hallmarks”, such as racism, antisemitism and glorifying National Socialism.” Hundreds of right-wing extremist incidents by security forces revealed

The "#BloodSausageGate" A bit of sarcasm: Germany's Interior Ministry has apologised for serving pork sausage at an Islam conference in Berlin last week.  These intolerant Muslims, who keep pouring into our country,  cannot even tolerate a piece of pork! How are they supposed to integrate? As a tolerant white English woman said to a Muslim beggar on a London high street yesterday, "Go back home!"

Plan to publish full works of Marx A German academic is leading the project in Berlin (An FT article for subscribers)

Alienation [episode 1]