Let’s organize – but where to? Between tenants’ association, tenants’ union and neighborhood organization (DE & EN)

In Berlin and other cities, we have been experiencing a strong self-organization of the tenant movement for years. Initiatives are being set up and are defending themselves (sometimes very successfully) against rent increases, energy-efficient renovations, heating cost rip-offs or the sale of their homes to speculators.

But one question that often remains unanswered is: Where do we actually organize people? What remains when the actual fight for your own home is over, the momentum dies down and initiatives fall asleep? What offers are there for people who want to politicize themselves in such struggles and become active in rent politics in the longer term? How can the many small initiatives come together and join forces to become assertive at local level, but also at state and national level?

Do we need tenants' associations as places to organize? And if so, how would they have to change in order to become powerful and conflict-oriented "tenants' unions"? Or do we need to build such tenants' unions ourselves in parallel? Do we need "revolutionary district unions" that network across cities - and if so, what could such a network look like in concrete terms? And what can we learn from the experiences of other cities such as Madrid or London when it comes to organizing?

The discussion will be held in German and English with simultaneous translation.