Dear all,

Since feddit.de has fallen into disrepair by its administrations, some of the fine folks over here have started feddit.org as a second home.

Like most (all?) feddit.de communities, we have now launched !germany@feddit.org (or alternatively https://feddit.org/c/germany, if your instance hasn't federated the community yet) to continue talking about all things Germany, in English.

Welcome to join us over there!

Hey guys, the new instance feddit.org is online, actually still in the test phase, but everything is running smoothly, while we at feddit.de do not know how things will continue because the admin is not available and the website is down. The future of feddit.de is uncertain. Feddit.org is managed democratically by the non-profit organization fediverse.foundation in Vienna, where the servers are also located. The administration consists of 3 feddit.de people and one from the foundation. You can decide for yourself whether you want to move the community to feddit.org or stay here, but the option is there. Wanna move?

I am Germany originated as a Twitter account in 2012, and has been going for 12 years. I am the latest curator and we're trying to see if we can revitalise the concept on Bluesky as well!

By now you should know the drill: Most will have an extra day off. Regular shops will be closed, but gas stations, restaurants and so on should be open. Expect more people travelling around and on the long weekend. Cars, trains and of course if the weather is fine people will be outside doing fun stuff (or at least something they consider fun).

The festival is an international event held in Berlin that was set up to encourage change from within the government. It showcases good practice examples.

The wheels of German bureaucracy may move slowly, but the pop-up museum will not be around for long. It will be consigned to history on June 25 and hopes to take a large chunk of red tape with it. Only time will tell if that €500,000 investment was well spent.

A higher regional court in western Germany rejected on Monday an appeal by the  Alternative for Germany (AfD) party against its classification as a "suspected" far-right extremist organization.

The judges at the court in Münster said the designation was appropriate and did not violate the constitution or European law.

"The court finds there is sufficient evidence that the AfD pursues goals that run against the human dignity of certain groups and against democracy," they wrote.

"There are grounds to suspect at least part of the party wants to accord second-rank status to German citizens with a migration background."

The party criticized the decision, claiming that the proceedings lacked "sufficient clarification of the facts." It said it would "of course" lodge another appeal.

What does the decision mean?

The status makes it easier for the domestic intelligence agency BfV to investigate and surveil AfD members or recruit informants from within the organization.

DW correspondent S

Ich besuche meine Familie nächste Woche, und ich will kleine Geschenke mitbringen.

I know American chocolate is inferior, but I assume it's still a novelty. Some kind of candies probably, too. What else? Many years ago they loved to get boxed breakfast cereal and paper napkins, which seems quaint now.

It's been years since I've seen them, and I'm sure everyone there can buy whatever they want on the Internet, but it will still be fun to bring something.

Any suggestions for an Ausländer?

Baraa Odeh, 34, works for the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and was detained by Israeli border guards on March 5 while returning to her home in Ramallah from a work trip to Germany.

She has since been sentenced to three months of administrative detention without charge. Neither her husband, who is a German national, nor her family have had direct contact with Odeh since her arrest. “Our life is upside down,” her sister Shireen Odeh told Al Jazeera, adding that her family is extremely concerned for her wellbeing.

“When she arrived [at Hasharon] prison, she was strip-searched while the policewoman was shouting at her. She was kept in a cell and later, a policeman that also shouted at her beat her on her leg,” said Hassan, who works with Addameer Prisoner Support, an NGO that supports Palestinian prisoners.

Tomorrow is Labour Day and next week on Thursday is Ascension Day. Most shops will be closed. But restaurants, petrol stations and shops that offer 'Reisebedarf'/travel necessities will be open.

There will be festivities in a lot of places especially tonight (Tanz in den Mai - dance into May) and also tomorrow. And as it's Labour Day there will be Union organised demonstrations and more.

Ascension Day in some areas more commonly known as the less spiritual and more spirits-induced Herrentag or Vatertag. Expect a lot of people out walking, cycling, partying.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14275159

In Berlin, police swiftly shut down a pro-Palestine conference just after it kicked off, citing concerns regarding a speaker prohibited from engaging in political activities within Germany.

Although the police didn't disclose the speaker's name, attendees of the congress indicated on X that it was Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta.

This development unfolded alongside another incident where British-Palestinian doctor Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah was refused entry into Germany to participate in the conference.

Short Summary

1. Pro-Palestine conference in Berlin shut down by police due to concerns about a speaker prohibited from political activities in Germany.
2. British Palestinian Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta was also denied entry to Germany for the conference.
3. Dr. Abu Sitta was questioned for 3.5 hours and informed he would not be allowed to enter Germany for the whole of April.
4. Concerns about crack

Prominent British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah said authorities in Germany have detained him and are refusing him entry into the country.

Abu Sittah was due to speak at a Palestinian conference in Berlin on Friday. The surgeon said he had been invited to the conference to speak "about my work in Gaza hospitals". "The German government has forcibly prevented me from entering the country," he posted on X.

Since leaving Gaza in late November, the doctor has been raising awareness about the impact of Israel's war, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians.

In the initial weeks after Israel began its assault, Abu Sittah was the unofficial English-language representative of Palestinian doctors and surgeons treating Palestinians wounded by Israeli attacks.

He accused the Israeli military of using white phosphorus, which is illegal in built-up and populated areas like Gaza, and deliberately targeting children. In an interview with MEE after he left Gaza, Abu Sittah said medi

A leading Jewish American philosopher has been disinvited from taking up a prestigious professorship at the University of Cologne after signing a letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the killings in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces.

They said the letter, titled Philosophy for Palestine, which was signed by Fraser and several hundred other academics, was separate from Fraser’s work as a scholar and that her guest professorship had nothing to do with the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Cologne University said in a statement its decision to cancel the invitation had been made “with great regret”. It said the reason was that in the letter signed by Fraser, “Israel’s right to exist as an ‘ethno-supremacist state’ since its foundation in 1948 is called into question. The terror attacks by Hamas on Israel of 7 October 2023 is [sic] elevated to an act of legitimate resistance.”

Boooooooo!!!