Berlin Day One

Keeping track of where I was, is, and will be.  Yesterday I walked a loop from Greifswalder, right onto Danzinger, right onto Landsberger Allee, which turned into Platz de Vereinten Nationen, whch turned into Mollstrasse, which turned into Greifswalder again.  Lots of political stickers, mostly for antifa demonstrations, one for Warmlaufen fuer den Widerstand – Atomkraft Kaltstellen!  One for a demonstration on November 12 in Berlin that says “Freiheit statt Angst, stoppt den uberwachungswahn,” which translates into “Freedom not Fear, Stop the Surveillance.”

I found one sticker referring to a controversy regarding Thor Steiner clothing that you read about on Wikipedia.  The manufacturer’s label included two Norwegian runes, and various authorities have identified wearing Thor Steiner clothing as a sign of neo-Nazi membership.  The label is not allowed in certain government buildings or football stadiums.  The sticker shows a fist clenched in front of two clothing labels and reads “Stop Thor Steiner, gegen Nazi-mode!”

Research

I spent a good deal of time yesterday doing research on the Berlin stickers.  In so doing, I’ve come across a new topic regarding the politics of football in Germany and other European countries.  Some of the stickers I gathered refer to football teams that oppose the nationalist politics of the sport and to audiences that promote racist and fascist politics.  I think I’ve got that right.  There is quite a lot of information on the Web at anarchistsoccer.org and other sites.

Sticker archive

I’ve been archiving the stickers I liberated from my recent trip to Berlin, and I’m still not done yet.  I’ve pulled all of the political stickers, however, in order to scan them this week and prepare a proposal for a 2010 CAA session on the Berlin Wall pre- and post-1989.  The city was covered with antifa stickers, with one that says, “Does Germany Have a Right to Exist?”  Many other topics to explore….

Antifa stickers in Berlin

I saw a lot more antifa stickers on this trip than ever before, as well as stickers about capitalism, consumerism, GM, AIG, NATO, Afghanistan, and a sticker that said Stasi 2.0.  Plenty of research to do after this trip.