Around the weekend of January 19 – 20th, over 20,000 people from Germany and beyond will descend upon Berlin to participate in several days of action against industrial farming. As Agricultural Ministers from across the EU gather for International Green Week (an annual event in the German capital), a series of civil society events and actions will be taking place to demand good food and good farming in Europe.
Under the slogan ‘WIR HABEN ES SATT’ (We’ve had enough), the main event is a demonstration taking place on January 19th, with people due to gather in front of Angela Merkel’s office to demand significant changes to Europe’s agricultural policy.
Either side of the demonstration, a number of related events are taking place, including at Markt Halle Neun, a restored market hall in Berlin’s fashionable Kreuzberg and a significant spot in the city for action on food and farming. From 17th to 19th January, a program known as Grüne Tage (Green Days) has been organized by the team at Markt Halle Neun, in cooperation with ARC2020, Meine Landwirtschaft and Slow Food Youth Network. Find an outline below! For more information please contact Kate or Steph at ARC2020.
Thursday 17th January
19:00 Stop Landgrabbing in Romania
Willy Schuster (organic farmer and co-president of ARC2020 member EcoRuralis) and Attila Szocs (ARC2020 web correspondent for Romania) will present and discuss the situation of landgrabbing in Romania. Carlo Horn an organic farmer from Brandenburg and consultant at Naturland will talk about his experiences with landgrabbing in Germany. As representatives from civil society and policy, we will welcome Stig Tanzmann from Brot für die Welt and Hannes Lorenzen, adviser for Agriculture and Rural Development in the EU Parliament.
Simon Wolk – co-founder of the agricultural investment company “Germanagrar” will provide information on the investment activities of his company in Romania…
The evening will be moderated by Kai Roeger – former chief editor of the Berlin city magazine, Zitty.
Friday 18th January
12:00 – 19:00 Market for Sustainable Food at Markt Halle Neun
18:00 Schnippel Disco
Members of the public are invited to an action against food waste, accompanied by DJs and live music! It is Berlin afterall!
The event will see vegetables that normally get thrown away due to their appearance (despite being completely edible) be made into a ‘protest soup’ which will then be served to all those taking place in the demonstration the following day.
Just bring your ears, a potato peeler, scrubbing brushes and a cutting board.
Ugly, unattractive and unwanted: all vegetables are welcome.
Saturday 19th January
08:00 – 10:00 Farmers’ Breakfast
A hearty breakfast will be served before the demonstration begins at 11:00
09:00 – 16:00 Market for Sustainable Food at Markt Halle Neun
After demo chill out…
