Rhenish journalists office

Rhenish journalists office
legal form	collective
founding	April 1982
Seat	Cologne
people	Collective of the authors 2011: ; Albrecht Kieser ; Gerhard Klas ; Birgit Morgenrath ; Karl Rössel
Website	www.rjb-koeln.de

The Rheinische Journalistinnen Büro is a collective of journalists and specialist authors .

History and profile of the collective

The office initially consisted of two people in April 1982: Werner Balsen and Hans Nakielski. They mainly produced contributions for the radio . In 1983 Karl Rössel and Rolf Winkel joined them. The four members agreed to continue the office as a collective. This included, among other things, a jointly managed account for all author's income as well as social security contributions and other expenses. The members agreed a standard wage, which was paid from the pot of joint income. In addition, the collective edited the individual contributions and articles of the members.

In 1983 the journalistic work resulted in the commercially unsuccessful book “Ohne Arbeit geht'ste kaputt. Reports from the inner workings of the crisis. ”In 1989, several publications followed, which were supported by the union -affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation . In 1991, the work for public broadcasters increased, including for the WDR series "Third World".

The line-up changed several times. In 1995 the collective consisted of five authors, the majority of whom were women. They changed the name to "Rheinisches Journalistinnen Büro". At the end of 1996 it was decided to increase the standard wage. From 1996/1997 the topic “Africa” was increasingly addressed. In 1999 members of the office founded the association "recherche international eV"

Works of the collective

Without work you break. Reports from the inner workings of the crisis. , 1983
New poverty - no turnaround: towards (non-) security d. Unemployed after 3 years of reunification / a study by the Rheinisches Journalistenbüro , 1986
High international solidarity: to the story d. Third World Movement in d. Federal Republic , 1986
Entrepreneurial methods against works council elections : Reports from gray areas in the world of work / Rheinisches Journalistenbüro , 1987

Wind, sand and (Mercedes) stars: Western Sahara: the forgotten fight for freedom , 1995

Operation Bondoc: German development aid for counterinsurgency; Germans no , 1995 (English edition 1996)

Experienced history. Co-determination of coal and steel in Rheinhausen and elsewhere , 1995

"Our victims don't count": The Third World in World War II , 2005

Traveling exhibition: The Third World in World War II , 2009 to 2011

Political activities

Participation of the authors in political activities has been supported and promoted by consensus since the collective was founded. This includes temporary release of authors for projects or campaigns as well as the use of the office infrastructure. Since it was founded, the office has initiated or actively supported a number of political events. This regularly dealt with explosive topics such as "Atomic madness and censorship" (1983) and socio-political topics as well as topics on human rights. Gerhard Klas (collective member since 2002) and a press photographer were arrested as part of protests against the G8 summit in Cologne in 1999 and the occupation of rooms in a temporary employment agency. In August 2002, these police arrests were judged to be illegal. Engagement in 2010 in the Doğan Akhanlı case , organized by Albrecht Kieser.

Media reception

Dirk Eckert, Volksstimme , July 10, 2003, collective journalism
Wilfried Dubois, SoZ - Sozialistische Zeitung , August 2003, page 19, contradictions in the collective
For the 20th anniversary of the rjb, there were numerous responses to the collective

Awards

The collective's book “Our victims don't count - The Third World in World War II (Hamburg / Berlin 2005)” received the “Book of the Month July” award in 2005 and was presented at a number of exhibitions.