Author: cfrank

Berlin Pride was great, very different, and at the same time similar to Cologne Pride. I was very happy that we were able to participate!

While we were on the streets protesting for our rights, people in Gaza are dying of starvation or from bombing. Horrendous!

And our government is doing nothing. As a token gesture, they provided an airlift of less than a truckload of aid. And they friendly admonish the fellow right-wing government of Israel to let aid pass, while continuing to arm Israel and funding the genocide through heavy trade.

The Tsar is continuing to slaughter people in Ukraine.

Donald Trump is continuing to round up and incarcerate immigrants, and has just killed environmental protection for the people in the US.

All capitalist governments are happily embracing fossil fuels, pushing global heating even further into uncharted territory.

In what kind of world are we living?

(Pride at Siegessäule, Berlin, 7/26/25)

Ultra-conservative people on the right seem to live in an alternate reality:

People from our ruling party believe that smearing a future Supreme Court judge is the right thing to do.

The same people also believe that it is necessary to burn more fossil fuels to combat the ever-increasing heat.

Our chancellor believes that showing solidarity is a sign of weakness and will turn the government into a circus.

People like J. Spahn believe that they will not be affected when they push an agenda very hostile to queers (and thus to themselves).

EU politicians continue to believe that starving children in Gaza is self-defense.

Politicians worldwide on the right believe that immigration is the root cause of all problems.

It’s time to overcome the patriarchy and fully embrace human rights and solidarity!

(Heavy rain at the start of CSD parade, Cologne, 7/6/25)

The Freedom Flotilla did not reach Gaza, but it made sure that the world finally paid attention to the war crimes committed there.

To distract from the atrocities, Israel’s government decided to strike against Iran, with tacit approval from the US. As it looks now from the outside, they overextended their capabilities and had to be bailed out by the US with a hastily agreed-upon cease-fire.

It’s probably safe to assume that this distraction failed. The people of Europe are paying attention and are looking at the trade relations with Israel. There is now a big push to suspend the preferential trade agreement. If you haven’t signed the petition for My Voice My Choice, please do so now!

Also, the strikes against Iran did not achieve their purported goal to halt Iran’s nuclear research. It only gave the Iranian government a pretext to act against its political opponents.

In summary, many people are being murdered by a bunch of old White men who cling to power.

Governments and politicians are keen to focus on the known quantities of dealing with war, in order to save them from addressing the ongoing climate emergency.

We are burning the future of the coming generations.

(Resources, Terraform, 6/25/25)

“Whatever legitimacy Israel’s initial response had has been obliterated by the scale, duration, and deliberate brutality of its war on Gaza,” argues Shadi Hamid in his recent article “A genocide is happening in Gaza. We should say so,” in the Washington Post.

He is, unfortunately, entirely correct.

We, as the EU, should urgently consider imposing sanctions against the regime of Benjamin Netanyahu in the same way we sanction the Russian government and its leaders. We should also suspend the Association Agreement with Israel, as proposed by the ETUC. And, of course, stop sending weapons.

Like Netanyahu, the Tsar is still murdering the people of Ukraine.

Additionally, there is no news on the upcoming climate emergency. There are too many climate deniers in our current government, hellbent on burning our planet and our future.

(University Campus, Cologne, 5/26/25)

No change in the overall state of affairs: The Tsar is murdering people in Ukraine, Netanyahu is murdering people in Gaza.

There was some progress locally, though; we can now officially call the “noAfD” right-wing and fascist. Someone leaked the government dossier on them, and Correctiv published an analysis (in German) that’s well worth reading.

The documents do not contain any real surprises, but several hundred pages of insights into the enormous amount of hatred and the disturbing worldview of the far right are eye-opening and challenging to read.

Similar to MAGA, the people of our right dream of a world, where White males rule supreme and control everybody else; especially women, queers and foreigners.

Given our inept ultra-conservative government, the next four years will be challenging on all counts.

Oh, and did anyone mention that it’s getting hotter every year?

(Random street, near Cologne, 5/13/25)

During the night from Easter Saturday to Sunday, a young man was shot by the German police.

He was shot in the back four times.

Can we repeat this?

He was shot in the back four times.

He was not threatening the police officers; he was turning his back towards them, most likely running away. But he was a person of color.

So, he was shot in the back four times.

It’s time to defund the police.

(Justice for Lorenz, Cologne, 4/26/25)

Easter symbolizes renewal and rebirth, representing hope and new beginnings for members of the faith.

Julia Klöckner, a leading figure in the Christian Democrats and self-professed Christian, used Easter to scold the Church for being too political. And for voicing opinions on social and environmental justice. Come again?

If anything, the Churches are too complicit in social and ecological injustice.

But it is a clear indication of how far the Christian Democrats have moved to the nationalist right, abandoning any pretense of social responsibility in favor of self-righteous Germanness.

Our incoming government, under the leadership of the Christian Democrats, does not convey a message of hope and a new beginning; quite the contrary. It’s sending a message of despair and of a return to values of times long past.

It’s high time to dismantle the Patriarchy, isn’t it?

(Allerweltshaus, Cologne, 4/3/25)

It’s getting increasingly difficult to protest against governments, elected or not.

Across the Atlantic, you risk persecution and deportation if you are critical towards the Presidents Musk and Trump. If you rally at a Tesla showroom, you’ll be marked as a domestic terrorist.

Here, similar patterns emerge. If you disrupt traffic to support the climate, you’ll be persecuted for terrorism. You’ll be pampered as a concerned citizen if you do the same but target the Greens instead.

No need to mention all the other Autocrats; they’re equally allergic to criticism.

The current negotiations for our next coalition government do not bode well for minorities and migrants, which is utterly shameful and calls for more protests. Wait. Is there maybe a connection here? 🙂

(Crtitical Mass, Cologne, 3/28/25)