Vegetable Battle (Berlin)
The vegetable battle registered as a demonstration (also known as the bridge battle or water battle ) is a parodic examination of the diffuse animosities of the residents of the Berlin districts of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain , which were merged into the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district as part of an administrative reform in 2001 .
There are similar actions at the vegetable battle in Hanover , where residents of the Linden and Nordstadt districts meet, and in Leipzig , where sympathizers from the Connewitz and Plagwitz districts meet on the dead bridge of the Schleußiger Weg.
history
The vegetable battle has taken place every summer since 1998, most recently on September 22, 2013, on the Oberbaum Bridge . The bridge crosses the Spree and is a historical connection between the two districts of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, which were then divided by the border between East and West Berlin . After a two-year break due to ongoing court hearings, there was another battle on July 3, 2009, this time with the support of Alba AG . A week earlier there was an unannounced water fight on the Thielenbrücke between Kreuzberg and Neukölln .
Each of the battles from 1998 to the last victory of the Kreuzbergers in 2011 were won by the Friedrichshain side. For 2009, the long-time organizer and registrant Hauke Stiewe and his mountain party challenged the Berlin Pirate Party to compete against them on the Kreuzberg side. However, the spectacle scheduled for September 6th was canceled for "organizational reasons".
In 2011, the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg pirate party also resigned as the notifier of the water battle that was to take place on August 28th. The conflict was nevertheless carried out without registering with the police and was decided for the first time by the Kreuzberg side.
In 2012, the called Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany , the fraction of the Pirate Party in the Berlin House of Representatives on in an open letter to take over the cleaning costs. After a public negotiation meeting, individual parliamentary group members of the Pirate Party in the Berlin House of Representatives agreed to take on the cost issue, and Volker Stoi , Emperor and Federal Chairman of the Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany , officially registered the event. The main financiers were Mareike Peter, Alexander Morlang and Oliver Höfinghoff .
In the 2013 election year , the battle was again organized by the Mountain Party alone and won for the 13th time by Friedrichshain. Applicant Benjamin Richter (Bergpartei) was able to advance cleaning costs to Alba through crowdfunding from over 90 individuals and win René Marik as patron .
procedure
The participants in the water battle try to push back the residents of the opposite district by shelling them with partially rotten fruit and vegetables and thus "conquer" it. The weapons of the basically peaceful event exist u. a. also from egg catapults, self-made water cannons, flour bombs or foam batons. Anything that is mushy, slippery, wobbles and smells is allowed. Apples and potatoes may only be used very rotten or overcooked. Although controls were not carried out, there have been no notable injuries so far, which can probably be attributed to the limited mobilization potential. Whoever crosses the bridgehead on the opposing side wins.
target
Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg see the respective other district as apostate and accuse each other of having been split off from the other district or occupied in violation of international law . Friedrichshain calls Kreuzberg "Unterfriedrichshain", Kreuzberg calls Friedrichshain "Ostkreuzberg". The declared goal is therefore always to restore the unity of the two districts - of course under our own management. Additional goals can be added arbitrarily, sometimes spontaneously. For example, the Friedrichshain side also calls for independence from Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the exit of Greater Friedrichshain from NATO .
Combat units
On the Friedrichshain side, the fighting groups of the left-wing fun guerrillas have names like “Water Army Friedrichshain” (WAF), “Totally Krasse Kreuzberg Opponents (TKKG)”, “Friedrichshain Feminist Women Front” (FFFF) or “Anarcho-Cynist Offensive” -Berlin-Fraktion Friedrichshain “(AZOB-FF). For Kreuzberg, among others, the "Kreuzberger Landwehr", which sees itself as the military arm of the " Kreuzberg Patriotic Democrats / Realistic Center " (KPD / RZ). In 2008, the Berlin section of the “ Hedonist International ” called for participation on all sides and with changing fronts to create confusion. Representatives from the surrounding districts also appeared again and again as supporters of the respective sides. Here may be mentioned especially the "Proletarian Army Plansch northern Neukölln-Ählitetrupp" (panna), which regularly for the liberation of the occupied Kreuzberg Neukölln Maybach bank fights. The common tactic is to take up positions on the Kreuzberg side and then turn around before the actual battle begins and thus form the Friedrichshain vanguard.
Thanks to the superior " artillery " (water cannons and vegetable spinners) and the higher degree of mobilization, Friedrichshain has regularly emerged victorious from the water battle in recent years, according to reports from independent observers, which is denied by the Kreuzberg side (" Parthian retreat ").
The water fight in the film
The directors Katarzyna "Kasia" Klimkiewicz ( Poland ) and Andrew Friedman ( USA ) produced a short documentary film about the Berlin water battle for the Berlin Today Award 2007, which was presented as part of the Berlinale Talent Campus . The film won first prize in the competition and provides “an entertaining insight into German customs and political customs and at the same time portrays what is probably the most unusual demonstration on the former east-west border of Berlin. […] Wasserschlacht - The Great Border Battle is a short film that reports on an event that could only take place in Berlin. Ingenious and not just gag-oriented, realistic and not a bit pretentious. "
See also
Web links
- Friedrichshain Water Army
- Kreuzberg Patriotic Democrats / Realistic Center
- The water battle on Xhain.info
- Pictures of the 2005 water battle
- Documentary about the water battle
- Articles and photos of the 2008 Water Battle
- The story of the vegetable battle on Berlin's Oberbaum Bridge (as of October 2004)
Individual evidence
- ↑ District merger: The wedding date is fixed, but the party is probably canceled . In: Der Tagesspiegel , August 14, 2000
- ↑ [1]
- ^ Water battle: Neuköllner versus Kreuzberger . In: Der Tagesspiegel , July 21, 2008
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ Berlin Pirate Party Congress. In: Spiegel Online , July 2, 2009
- ^ Pirate Party Berlin
- ↑ Info Water Battle 2009 ; Retrieved October 7, 2009
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ Info “Open Letter from the APPD to the Pirate Party”; Retrieved September 6, 2012
- ↑ Info "Negotiating meeting between APPD and Pirate Party;" accessed on September 6, 2012
- ↑ Info "Water battle 2012 officially registered by APPD"; Retrieved September 6, 2012
- ↑ Info "Wasserschlacht 2012"; Retrieved September 6, 2012
- ↑ crowdfunding page inkubato.com
- ↑ http://www.xhain.net/news/2013/friedrichshainer-gewinnen-wasserschlacht-auf-der-oberbaumbruecke
- ↑ Call of the Hedonist International for a water battle
- ↑ Berlinale Talent Campus press release # 5 from February 10, 2007