Unscene Berlin

Note: This is a postscript to my recent diary entry. You'll find it here ! In this new video interview with  Noam Chomsky  by DiEM25 TV , the American philosopher, linguist, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist talks about neoliberalism's role in creating the coronavirus pandemic. I thought I'd give my readers a partial transcript of the interview, too, so they can think for themselves. The audio was pretty poor due to Chomsky's weak voice.... I don't even want to think about how old he is, now... and how little has changed for the better since he first started speaking. In this section, he touches on neoliberalism's ineptitude in a crisis. Any crisis, really, but especially this one. Time stamp 17:11: "It was known for a long time that pandemics were very likely, and it was understood, very well understood, that they were likely to be a coronavirus -- modification to the SARS epidemic of 15 years ago. ...

Berlin's authorities expect the public to be mere bystanders in the refugee crisis. "We stand for [support in the civil community] and I think that is why the whole raid happened that night." - Nele, a party organiser at Mensch Meier club.   It's nearing dusk on an unseasonably warm, late March day. The sun is slowly setting over the Neptune Fountain by the TV Tower in Alexanderplatz. A number of trucks, pumping out all different shades of dance music - jungle, house, techno, punk - are pulling up at a courtyard behind Alexanderplatz. Many of them are already switching off their sound systems after a long haul through the streets of Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Mitte. Several of the trucks, and their fanatically dancing supporters, are already preparing to leave. One of the mobile sound systems is still going strong, pumping with hard house and trance. The Sea Watch van is being run in cooperation with Mensch Meier, a left-wing club based in East Ber...

While I was in the UK recently, I met my friend's new landlord, Malcolm. As a musician, instructor and volunteer in Oxford, Malcolm is apparently a person of many talents... including one that will come in handy if Brexit ever happens: he has a green thumb. He also has a spacious yard that's ripe for sewing all sorts of crops that won't be available so freely over the border, should the Tories go for a No Deal 'deal' with the EU. "England might be the most corrupt country in the world," Malcolm sighed, speaking with me as he and his friend Martin worked hard on their 'emergency' vegetable garden in the backyard. With benefits being cut and the UK next in line to become a 51st state, the country could indeed be in for some very lean times. Fresh vegetables could even become something of a luxury item - but at least one person has got that aspect covered. Now I only have to worry about everyone and everything else going to seed, if the Brexit...

Unscene Berlin recently met with artist Penny Rafferty to talk about her new collective, Punk Is Dada.  What is Punk Is Dada, though?  Is it art, movement, festival or anti-fashion statement?  As it turns out, Rafferty’s not too sure herself.  That’s part of what makes it so exciting... Still from Punk Is Dada's new video 'Just F*ck It' Unscene Berlin first encountered Penny Rafferty, artist and co-founder of Berlin's Punk Is Dada collective, in December 2012.  She had organised an anti-consumerism Christmas spectacle at Mitte's ZMF club entitled Cult of the Personality .   Every product that was on offer at the event - from the clothing to the zines to the music by the drag dance band that played at the end - was created to articulate a clear viewpoint on a social or political issue that its creators believed in.  And not one of the artists involved in the event resorted to the textbook tedium of politic...