The Walls of Berin - A Message for the Right to a Place to Live [CCC's Street Art Contest #141]
ALL OF US ARE STAYING This is the clear and unmistakable writing on the wall on a house in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, if I remember right in the Waldemar Straße. As much as the neighborhood is supposedly becoming gentrified, it's great to see that certain pockets are making a stance and refusing to bow down to the pressures that be, as this building apparently is. The squatting scene of the German capital is legendary, as I discussed a bit in this post, especially in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Since then it may have been gradually bought out, but apparently not completely destroyed, as we can see here. A bit of the Old Berlin that just refuses to leave.
The front facade of the building is covered with the mural of a large tree, which the place apparently identifies itself with. On its branches you can see its many residents, in form of various kinds of critters, such as birds, rabbits, insects, squirrels, worms, frogs, slugs, and snails. Clearly, this raises the notion of nature with its huge diversity of species, and that no matter whether they are a mammal or a mollusk, none of them pays any rent to anyone, or have a home ownership deed, or any such thing. They just move in and live in an available niche on the tree, interacting and cooperating according to their given characteristics.
So why is this such an outlandish idea when applied to our species? To further emphasize their point, the artist(s) - who I presume are folks living in this house - added messages in various languages. There may be slight variations, but the idea is always the same: Houses should belong to those who live in them. After all, having a home is a basic human right, while speculation, that is investing in the same property with the objective of monetary gain, is not.
Though I don't know the exact story of this specific building, I like the fact that it resembles a piece of what Kreuzberg stood for traditionally. The fact that the animals are drawn a bit wonky, sometimes strangely anthropomorphic, and may in fact not even inhabit a tree, is completely besides the point. If anything, it just adds to this creative chaos I remember thriving seemingly everywhere back when I was a kid, and today... well, it has been reduced to a few places like this. And all that makes it worth sharing it.
As always, this post is my entry for this week's CCC's Street Art Contest, and to see more Berlin murals, visit my Walls of Berlin collection.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
This is awesome. I wholly agree, homes should be for living in, not investment. It infuriates me when rich people give zero care to people's ability to survive and have an ounce of dignity.
A-men! Thank you @phoenixwren . Besides, I'm convinced that those rich people could be generating way more wealth by letting people live in their homes, rather than extorting them for pennies. But that just shows how they are more stupid than greedy. Thanks for stopping by!
Every statistic says that it's cheaper for governments to just house people than all the costs that come with ER visits, cops constantly being called on them or "sweeping" encampments, etc., and people just don't care. They want to be cruel on purpose. It makes them feel superior, when all it's doing is showing that they are garbage.
I don't think there is any bad intention going on, it's just simply a lack of care and understanding. Investors simply like to lay back, and push a few buttons, and not really get their minds wrapped around the structures of all. Kinda like how I do with all these second tier tokens on hive engine... (Honestly, I barely have an idea of what I'm really doing with my investments, but it all seems to work out somehow...) The difference is, that these real estate investors and investments really make a huge difference in the everyday lives of peoples, which the investors don't grasp in their day-to-day activities. But that's where this blockchain comes in to change things around... I think ... in the near future!
Very cool work with a strong message. It's great to see a social mix in a neighborhood. But it's a shame to see neighborhoods become "gentrified" especially when it comes to real estate speculation. We have the same phenomenon in Montreal. It's sad to see that money is infiltrating everywhere, housing, schools, hospitals... Thanks for sharing these pics on The StreetArt Community. Have a great week.
It's sad, really, but then again it's obvious where it's coming from: in our society you are trained to be greedy, not so much due to prospective wealth, but out of fear that you may be left with nothing. A very justifiable fear, given a monetary system based on debt and interest. But that's where as Hive come in! So especially in this regard I think these messages need to be shared.
Exactly another society is possible 🤞