Cultural cuts – Berlin: A strike for 60 seconds

The fact that the black-red cuts plans will almost certainly be decided on December 19th shows one thing above all: it is high time to organize Berlin from below, in solidarity and effectively, instead of continuing to rely on interest representation through lobby associations, expert committees and more to hope for fewer elected representatives. So far it has apparently been far less costly for the Berlin government to implement the planned cuts than to reverse them. Governing Mayor Wegener, Finance Senator Evers and Culture Senator Chialo managed to get out of the affair for weeks through ostentatious incompetence and a lack of transparency.

The leaks of the cuts lists did not lead to the city being paralyzed, costly highway construction projects being sabotaged or general meetings of the art scene being called in occupied cultural institutions. Rather, there were public discussions with the respective management staff about which cuts had to be withdrawn due to special initial conditions, i.e. shifted to others. Behind the scenes, there was apparently lobbying and tactics in expert committees until those interests that were able to attract the most attention were actually addressed – in a feature section that, as usual, collected outraged voices of “renown”.

As sure as the Amen in church, in almost every interview with “representatives” of the cultural scene, the half-sentence “We all know that savings have to be made, but…” or “We are willing to save, but…” listen. And instead of a strike, the representatives of the cultural scene – how could it be otherwise for us Ich-AGs trained for self-exploitation – organized an additional cultural event in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, where artists as a sign of solidarity performed free of charge (at least according to one statement). *r then not involved) could advertise their further use.

Long before the “#unshortenable demo” on December 15th, which was thankfully organized by an alliance of all areas affected by cuts, the #BerlinistKultur alliance called for a demo at the Brandenburg Gate on November 13th, where, to the astonishment of numerous participants In advance, only a few hundred demonstrators were expected, who were then able to listen to the declarations of solidarity from celebrities and were asked to please not them to enter the street. It should also not go unmentioned that none of the other areas affected by cuts joined the protest with the slogan “Berlin is education”, “Berlin is climate protection”, “Berlin is mobility”, or even “Berlin is social”.

However, the specter of the strike could not be completely silenced, even though it was significantly shortened in line with free art: all stage artists are called upon under “#minute strike” if they have the honor of performing on one of Berlin’s illustrious stages are allowed to let the work rest for a minute, a full 60 seconds.

The protest from the cultural scene sometimes caused irritation among outsiders. Apparently, there is no alternative to austerity policy in the Berlin art world, but they would like to have a say as experts and part of the elite, especially when it comes to their own pots.

Cultural creators living in Berlin also want to let the city know with “#BerlinistKultur” that they do not want or cannot look beyond their own horizons outside of their artistic involvement with “socially relevant topics”. They like to show protest on the stages and places assigned to them and in front of a symbolic backdrop with illustrious staff and a few supporting actors, but under no circumstances do they want to hinder traffic. Co-demonstrators are welcome as long as they do not exceed the estimated capacity; and when Lars Eidinger monologues Hamlet, please – shh! – don’t interrupt.

Faced with drastic cuts, they like to work overtime for free as a sign of protest to show once again that money doesn’t matter. And if all else fails, perhaps the heavyweight strike will be unpacked, but (wink smiley) only for show, only symbolically, because you don’t want to offend either the audience, the artistic geniuses who are staging or the politicians. However, what exactly the strike is for and against remains a mystery – because they “all know that savings have to be made”; Perhaps the consensus is limited to the “but”.

In fact, outside viewers of this educational piece had to get the impression that the Berlin cultural scene in the last few weeks wanted to perform above all their politeness, their willingness to sacrifice and perform, their obedience to authority as well as their harmlessness and toothlessness. Art modestly limits itself to playing with signs and refrains from disrupting the political and economic spheres. The spectacle can be interpreted as meaning autonomy of art or artistic freedom, above all, the guaranteed freedom of cultural and financial policy from interference on the part of art.

So that this rant is not misunderstood: the picture that it paints and that the Berlin cultural scene has conveyed in the last few weeks does not represent the majority of Berlin’s cultural workers. At all demonstrations and at many other protest actions there were combative speeches, sharp analyses, decisive criticism of austerity policies and, above all, repeated delicate attempts at real organizing from below. For example, there is the complaining choir, the “#unkuerzbar” alliance and artists who want to occupy and strike (not just symbolically). There are numerous artists who can understand very clearly why all the planned cuts in all affected areas are not just a threat to their existence.

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It remains to be hoped that we will all now become so painfully aware of the lack of organization that we will form structures that correspond to the tasks at hand. Because the cuts in the current budget are not enough – the black-red Berlin government coalition has announced further cuts for 2026/27, and all signals point to austerity and further shifts to the right in the other federal states and at the federal level.

Despite all the urgency and the ever-acute threat situation, it has to be about more than just showing outrage and protest, and more than just defending the status quo. Instead of entrusting our own interest representation to lobby and representation structures, we must begin to build a broad, participatory and transparent organization from below in the long term. The aim must be to really put pressure on politics collectively and in solidarity, i.e. effectively, and not only to react to acute cuts, but also to fight for egalitarian, emancipatory and livelihood-sustaining financing for all cultural workers.

Not only in the cultural scene, the development of co-determination and self-organization structures would bring to the table completely different questions that are currently being obscured by the acute threat to free people and institutions: Why are most cultural institutions still run like principalities in which large parts of the Workforce and urban society are excluded from co-determination and resources? Or to put it another way: What would a Berlin for everyone, a Berlin from below, really look like if we allowed ourselves to fight for more than just a return to the last or even the penultimate budget?