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News :: struggles |
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FAU: Latest news on the repression against Berlin FAU |
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by Syndicalist
Posted by: soli-faub (nospam) fau.org. (unverified!)
Previously published: F.A.U.
Keywords: FAU, Germany, Babaylon Cinema |
07 Feb 2010
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Detailed information by the FAU on on-going struggle aginst imminent jail time or fine for Berlin FAU members. Additional solidarity requested. |
Table of content:
1. Dear comrades, friends and supporters
2. Information: Fine or jail imminent for FAU Berlin
3. Mobilization during the BERLINALE festival
4. More ways to support us during the BERLINALE festival
5. More information / How to contact us
(February 6, 2010)
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1. -- DEAR COMRADES, FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS,
we'd like to thank you for your support during the global action days.
The impressive international solidarity you have shown us has
invigorated us in our struggle with German class justice and the
bossholes at the Babylon Mitte Cinema. We were moved to see support pour
in from around the world for the FAU Berlin's fight for recognition as a
union.
Thanks to your participation, the action days were a complete success
and have sent a signal that the de-facto ban of the FAU Berlin won't be
accepted. The courts must now recognize that any attempt to silence
grassroots workers' organizations will not remain unanswered.
The fight for union freedoms in Germany has only now begun; we will have
to organize further days of actions and direct actions and attend more
court hearings before we win this. Even before the global action days, a
lot of you already held protests and sent protest letter. Some of you
have already signalled that you have planned more actions for the near
future. We will have to continue to keep up the pressure to get through
this and are thankful for any contribution you may make.
In the next weeks we will be turning up the heat on the Babylon by
involving the BERLINALE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - which has the
Babylon as one of its venues - in our protests. We have planned a
protest in front of the Babylon on February 14th and a demonstration
through Berlin on the February 20th, both during the festival.
An injury to one is an attack to all!
Prohibition committee of the FAU Berlin
Information about the ban and events: http://www.fau.org/verbot/en
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2. -- INFORMATION: FINE OR JAIL IMMINENT FOR FAU BERLIN
Any day now, the Berlin Regional Court can fine FAU Berlin (FAU-B)
members or send them to jail. This is because the bosses at the Babylon
Mitte Cinema want the FAU-B (a workers' association in which Babylon
+employees are organized) charged for calling itself a "union" in
disregard of a court order preventing it from doing so.
The Babylon bosses have lodged a corresponding complaint with the courts
and the FAU Berlin has filed a rejoinder. The court must now decide
whether to charge the FAU-B. No hearing is required for the court to
make its decision, thus the FAU-B no longer has any legal influence on
the decision.
We do not know when the court will reach its decision - it could be
today, it could be in two weeks. How the court will decide is also
impossible to predict. Basic common sense dictates that the Babylon's
motion is absurd. However, Berlin's judiciary has already shown that it
will not tolerate the FAU-B calling itself a union. Anything is possible.
The amount of the impending fine is also unknown. It could be up to
250,000 euros. If the FAU-B cannot pay the fine, then jail time of up to
six months is inevitable.
FAU-B members are thus being threatened with jail time just for saying
the word "union". This makes every move we make a dangerous one. This is
obviously part of a strategy to incapacitate and shut up the FAU-B; we
won't be silenced, though.
Stay tuned for the latest information; we may need your solidarity shortly.
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3. -- MOBILIZATION DURING THE BERLINALE FESTIVAL
We will be organzing protests during the 60. international Berlinale
film festival (february 14 to 20, 2010) and around the next court
trials. There will be a protest meeting on february 14, a mobilization
for the trial at february 16 and a larger demonstration on february 20,
starting at the location where the Berlinale closing event is taking
place. Apart from this we are trying to organize a variety of protests.
Of mayor imporance for us is the demonstration for union freedom on
february 20 for which we are mobilizing as good as we can, not only at
Berlin but at a federal level.
Comrades, friends and supportes from outside Berlin or Germany are
cordially invited to join in for the demonstration. We will organize a
place to stay. You may contact faub11 (at) fau.org if you need one.
The demonstration starts on 18.00 at Potsdamer Platz, close to the
Berlinale palace.
We will try to translate the call to protest for the demonstration of
february 20 into English within the next few days. Please check
http://www.fau.org/verbot/en for it.
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4. -- MORE WAYS TO SUPPORT US DURING THE BERLINALE FESTIVAL
Another possibility to support us might be to put pressure on the
Berlinale.Attached you will find a sample letter of protest you may send
in to the Berlinale.
Contact data are:
Fax: +49 30 25920299
E-Mail: info (at) berlinale.de
It is possible that in some cities abroad there will be events
concerning the Berlinale, possibly in cooperation with the
Goethe-Institut. Those events might as well be a possible occasion to
inform about the situation at Kino Babylon Mitte and of FAU Berlin.
The Berlinale festival is an international one. Many international
moviemakers are taking part in it (For a program see
http://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_programm/programmsuche.php).
May be you are in contact with one of them and can convince him or her
to show solidarity.
4B. -- SAMPLE LETTER OF PROTEST TO THE BERLINALE
¨
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
während der Berlinale arbeiten Sie mit mehreren Berliner Kinos zusammen.
Unter anderem mit dem Kino Babylon Mitte.
Die Geschäftsführung dieses Kinos geht zur Zeit aktiv gegen die
Koalitionsfreiheit der Beschäftigten vor und führt ständige Prozesse
gegen eine ihrer Interessenvertretungen, die FAU Berlin. Mittlerweile
hat die Geschäftsführung sogar ein Ordnungsgeld, ersatzweise
Ordnungshaft, gegen die FAU Berlin beantragt. Dies bedroht nicht nur die
Arbeitnehmervereinigung mit den meisten Mitgliedern im Kino Babylon,
sondern schränkt die Freiheit sich gewerkschaftlich zu organisieren ganz
allgemein ein.
Auch wenn die Berlinale nicht direkt für die Zustände im Kino Babylon
Mitte verantwortlich ist möchte ich sie dennoch auf ihre soziale
Verantwortung gegenüber den ArbeitnehmerInnen, die Ihre Festspiele
ermöglichen, hinweisen.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
[Your name]
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5. -- MORE INFORMATION / HOW TO CONTACT US
For more information about the background of the industrial conflict at
Kino Babylon Mitte in Berlin and the repression against the FAU Berlin
that is a consequence of that conflict, we set up special sections on
our website in different languages. Not all of them contain the same
information due to our limited translation capacities. Please check:
http://www.fau.org/verbot (for German)
http://www.fau.org/verbot/en (for English)
http://www.fau.org/verbot/es (for Spanish)
http://www.fau.org/verbot/fr (for French)
If you browse around the "How to support" article, you may find small
portions of the information available in many other languages too.
Additional sources of information are available only in German:
http://prekba.blogsport.de (blog of Babylon Mitte workers)
http://www.fau.org/soli/babylon (The conflict at Babylon Mitte)
We ask you to share the information we provide as widely as possible and
to add links to our special section(s). The more people know about what
is going on at Berlin, the more possibilities for solidarity and protest
are seeded. Any article on your websites, your blog, your local
Indymedia or other social media sites, your newspaper or fanzine is most
welcome. If someone does a feature for a community radio station, please
send it in so that we can share it with others. If you even have
contacts to mainstream media that might be interested in the subject,
don't hesitate to ask them to get in touch with us.
For any direct contact with FAU Berlin please get in touch with
soli-faub (at) fau.org. For media contacts please use faub5 (at) fau.org. |
See also:
http://www.fau.org/verbot/es (for Spanish)
http://www.fau.org/verbot/en (for English)
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