Caitlin Hardee remembers Friedrichshain’s celebration of local subcultures…
In Berlin, longtime Mecca of rebels and bohemians, there is nothing so cool and artsy that somebody can’t organize an edgier, more underground alternative.
And so it is with Karneval der Kulturen. This colourful celebration of multiculturalism has been an annual tradition in Kreuzberg since 1996, and dominates an entire weekend. This year, the “Morgenpost” reported 750,000 visitors and 3,900 active participants in the main parade.
There’s money to be earned too, since the festival’s role as a tourist magnet benefits not only the temporary stands lining the streets of Kreuzberg, but the entire urban economy.
But paradoxically, the vibrant groups of dancers and artists who create the main attraction have ended up on the losing side of this financial equation. Forced to bear the costs of participation without a dedicated source of revenue or direct rebates from the city’s cultural authorities, some disgruntled Karneval-goers have taken to protesting the event’s organisation. And for some locals, the festival is simply too capitalistic – which is where the Karneval der Subkulturen came in.
No, I hadn’t heard of it either, but I was more or less ambushed by it upon exiting my Friedrichshain apartment building on the morning of Saturday, May 23. I saw the police vans first; around ten Streifenwägen lined the edge of Frankfurter Allee, doors thrown open to reveal folding tables and laptops, officers fetching coffee and loitering. Their practiced ease stood in sharp contrast to holstered hips, radios at the ready, all part of a well-maintained machine coiled and ready to spring into action. Clearly something was going on.
I looked left and spotted a still-modest street gathering nestled into Silvio-Meier-Straße. Ageing punks in studded jackets, young Rastafarians, women in bear suits and space-age get-up. Eager to find out more, I approached a smiling, carrot-topped dreadhead who shied away as soon as I drew out my recording device. “It’s too early, I have to drink myself awake,” he laughed bashfully.
Another participant was more willing to speak on the record, but only under condition of anonymity. He broke down the structure of the festivities as encompassing two s…