EXBERLINER Issue 163, September 2017

ELECTION 2017
Die Urbane Freestyle democracy
Members: 293 hip hoppers in
Berlin, 2630 Facebook followers.
Slogan: Wir sind DU (We are You)
Claim to fame: Co-founder Hillebrand
starred in a “hip hopera”
adaptation of Wagner’s Ring cycle.
About 20 people are sitting in
Gleisdreieck park, most of them in
trainers and baseball caps. They’re
here for a “cypher”, an old-school term for
an informal freestyle jam among rappers.
But instead of bouncing rhymes off each
other, they’re discussing campaign strategy.
“Hip hop values” might seem a questionable
base for forming a party. But the members
of Die Urbane see in the genre – particularly
its 1970s-80s, pre-gangsta version – a
potential to unite and inspire those who’ve
previously been on the political sidelines.
The message they take away from it is less
“Fuck bitches, get money” and more, in
the words of member Irmgard Bauer (aka
DJ Freshfluke), “‘Each one teach one’ and
tolerance of minorities”.
This isn’t just lip service: half of the
“cypher” participants are female, and nearly
half are non-white. One of them is Raphael
Hillebrand, an Afro-German dancer and choreographer
who, along with nine others, cofounded
the party in May. Hillebrand is keen
to point out that Die Urbane is “not just a
group of hip hop freaks”. He mentions members
such as Bernd Feuchtner, a former opera
director, and the party’s direct candidate for
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Dr. Frithjof Zerger,
who stands out at the “cypher” in his crisp
attire. A sociologist who has worked with
the Interior Ministry on migration issues,
Zerger confesses he’s “not that deep into the
hip hop movement”, but was drawn in after
Hillebrand explained his plan to democratise
politics the same way hip hop instigated “the
democratisation of art”.
In between quotes from Nas, Indian rapper
Brodha V and German group Advanced
Chemistry, Die Urbane’s 31-page programme
is surprisingly sophisticated, addressing not
only what you’d expect (policies on music
sampling, marijuana legalisation) but also
sustainable development, basic income,
solar energy and education funding. It’s
cobbled together from everyone’s suggestions,
and open for all members to edit, an
approach that means to show that the party’s
main slogan – “Wir sind DU” – should be
more than just an acronym. — AC
Die Piraten Righting the ship
Martin Haase doesn’t see the Pirates
as having fallen from grace. “There
was a huge wave of interest, but it’s
calmed down, the same as it would for any other
new party,” says the genial 54-year-old linguistics
professor, member of the Chaos Computer Club
and Berlin list leader for Die Piraten in this year’s
elections. “The hype is over.”
This is something of an understatement. Haase
joined the then-fledgling international movement
in 2009, after the Bundestag passed the Zugangserschwerungsgesetz,
a controversial law intended
to block child pornography but which Haase and
other critics pointed out as a government attempt
to rule over and potentially censor the internet.
“The SPD called a meeting with the ‘people of the
internet’, but didn’t listen to any objections,” he
says. The law was repealed a year later, but the
seeds for an internet-fuelled democratic revolution
were sown. Buoyed by their platform of internet
privacy, transparent (“liquid”) democracy
and a universal basic income, the Pirates entered
parliament in every single German state between
2010 and 2012, earning 8.9 percent of the vote in
Berlin. They were everywhere.
And then... nothing. After a year characterised
by a lot of infighting, accusations of sexism (less
than 15 percent of members were women) and little
accomplishment, the Pirates scored just 2.2 percent
of the vote in the 2013 federal elections. Since then,
membership has plummeted to just over 11,000
members from a high of 35,000, and the party’s
share of the Berlin vote has shrunk to 1.7 percent.
In Kreuzberg, they’ve resorted to sharing an office
with Die PARTEI (page 7).
Haase, who produces a Pirate podcast in his spare
time, is optimistic about the party’s future, despite
a reputation further marred by Berlin assembly
member Gerwald Claus-Brunner’s grisly murdersuicide
after the 2016 elections. This year sees a
“rebranding”, with a switch from orange to purple
posters (newly available to German Pirates after the
Violetten party dropped out of the race) to match
the Pirates’ international colour scheme. Slogans
call out Angela Merkel’s internet ignorance (“Look
forward to Neuland”, a reference to her remarks
about the web in 2013) and surveillance policies
(“Mutti doesn’t have to know everything”). Over
half of this year’s candidates are female. “And by the
way, we’re the only party with both gay and lesbian
leading candidates in Berlin,” Haase adds, referring
to himself and fellow candidate Ute Laack.
The party’s vision for a “society of the future”,
however, remains the same as it was in 2011,
focusing on government transparency, freedom of
information and citizen participation through the
internet alongside more quixotic proposals like
legalising sibling marriage. Will their new international
approach be enough to get Berliners back
on board? — Annie Kiyonaga/Rene Blixer
Members: 11,214 active hacktivists
(547 in Berlin); 79,194
Facebook followers.
Slogan: Freu dich aufs Neuland
(Look Forward to ‘Unknown
Territory’)
Electoral success: 1.7 percent
in 2016 Berlin elections.
Claim to fame: Only party to
have the legalisation of marriage
between siblings on its platform.
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EXBERLINER 163