23. August 2020
Big action day of the alliance Decolonize Berlin e.V.
Am 23.8.2020, dem Internationalen Tag zur Erinnerung an den Versklavungshandel und seine Abschaffung, haben die zehn afrodiasporischen und solidarischen Initiativen, Vereine und Verbände des Bündnisses DECOLONIZE Berlin eine Protestkundgebung vor dem vor dem Humboldt Forum und ein Fest zur Umbenennung der Berliner Mohrenstraße in Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße organisiert.
At 1 pm, more than 300 demonstrators gathered at the Lustgarten in front of the newly built Hohenzollern Palace. In art performances and speeches, the activists expressed massive criticism of the overall concept of the Humboldt Forum. Vincent B. Bababoutilabo from the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD-Bund) recalled that underage enslaved people of African origin had to serve in the castle and were forcibly baptized in the castle chapel.
Mnyaka Sururu Mboro of the campaign alliance "No Humboldt 21!" criticized the planned exhibition of looted cultural treasures in the castle. In addition, he demanded that the federal government ban any research on the bones of colonized people that does not serve their immediate retransfer.
Der Herero-Aktivist Israel Kaunatjike vom Bündnis „Völkermord verjährt nicht!“ protestierte dagegen, dass die Bundesregierung den Palast Kaiser Wilhelms II., der für den Genozid an den Herero und Nama 1904-08 verantwortlich war, für fast 600 Millionen Euro rekonstruieren lässt. Er verwies darauf, dass Deutschland zur selben Zeit noch immer nicht zu einer Bitte um Entschuldigung, zu direkten Verhandlungen mit den betroffenen Gemeinschaften und zu Wiedergutmachungszahlungen für die Nachfahren der Ermordeten und Enteigneten bereit sei.
At 2 p.m., the participants marched to Hausvogteiplatz, where the stage for the seventh and possibly last renaming festival was located. Here, the participants were informed in detail about the slavery and racism context of the name Mohrenstraße and repeatedly referred to the current decision of the district of Berlin-Mitte to rename the street in honor of Anton Wilhelm Amos. The panelists and representatives of various initiatives discussed how the Black Lives Matter movement could be translated into a sustainable decolonization of public space and German society. There was also a debate about how different communities that are negatively affected by the racism of the majority society could show even more solidarity than before.
The artistic highlight of the renaming festival was the performance SEK (SORRYFORNOTHING EINSATZ KOMMANDO) by artist Philip Kojo Metz, broadcast on a large screen via live stream from the German Museum of Technology. In this collaborative project between the museum and DEKOLONIALE Erinnerungskultur in der Stadt, celebrants watched as a museum installation on the enslavement trade, which had been criticized for years, was demonstratively dismantled, creating an open discussion space on the decolonization of the building.
The highlight of the renaming festival was the handover of more than 14,000 signatures in favor of renaming M-Strasse to Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Strasse in Berlin to the district mayor Stephan von Dassel (B90/Die Grünen).
„Der Beschluss zur Umbenennung ist nur der Anfang. Auch die Anbetung kolonialer Götzen auf Deutschlands Straßen und Plätzen wird bald ihr Ende haben! Die Dekolonisierung muss weit über den öffentlichen Raum hinausgehen: Sie betrifft alle Bereiche unserer Gesellschaft, denn das koloniale Unrechtssystem ist bis heute als Anti-Schwarzer Rassismus überall wirkmächtig.“
Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard, Leiterin des EOTO »Kompetenzzentrums Anti-Schwarzer Rassismus«, Co-Geschäftsführerin von Each One Teach One (EOTO) e.V. und Vorstandsmitglied von Decolonize Berlin e.V..
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