At our June 7 Stammtisch we will be having a special speaker, Rich Rosen, who will bring us up to date on the ever-hot topic of climate change policy and legislation, including the upcoming IPCC report on scenarios that might hold the global temperature increase to only 1.5 degrees Celsius, as hoped for in the Paris Agreement. 8 pm to 10 pm at Cafe Daddy at Kolonnenstrasse 50
Reverend Dr. William Emerson Downey (28.2.1931 – 24.3.2018) founded the Democrats Abroad Germany – Berlin Chapter and cooperated with AVA-Berlin in many joint activities.
Join us for our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on April 5 at 8:00 pm at . Café Daddy, Kolonnenstrasse 50 in Schöneberg.
There’s lots to talk about: First, our solidarity rally in support for March for Our Lives last Saturday. Here are Florian Schiedhelm’s terrific Videos of the event.
And let’s also talk about today’s article in the New York Times by former Justice John Paul Stevens, who recommends the repeal of the Second Amendment. (more…)
In his Riverside Church speech almost 51 years ago, Martin Luther King connected racism, militarism, and extreme materialism, all of which, he said, ride on the tide of hate. He said that our loyalties must become “ecumenical rather than sectional,” meaning that racism, militarism, and extreme materialism intersect and reinforce each other.
What we are seeing in the United States today and to some extent, here in Europe, are
these same forces: racism, especially in online discourse and out of the mouths of elected (more…)
BBC’s lead photo for the worldwide March for our Lives featuring AVA’s own Ellen Brändle!
Interview with excerpts from speeches.
American Voices Abroad Berlin organized a demonstration together with Democrats Abroad in solidarity with the Florida students’ initiative for strict gun control laws. AVA gathered at 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 24, at Pariser Platz for a solidarity rally. 
The rest of the photos: https://www.flickr.com/gp/karenaxe/0GJ99q
Florian Schiedhelm’s Videos on YouTube
On the afternoon of Saturday, March 17, Aufstehen Gegen Rassismus is organizing a protest march against racism and the radical right. AVA-Berlin will have a contingent carrying our banner from Potsdamer Platz to the AfD (Alternative for Deutschland) headquarters at Schillstrasse 9 near Lützowplatz. More information to come, especially about exact meeting time and place.
Organized by AVA. With this rally at the Brandenburg Gate, Americans and Germans will show solidarity with the Parkland students’ initiative for strong gun control laws. 
Join us for our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on March 1 at 8:00 pm at Café Daddy, Kolonnenstrasse 50 in Schöneberg.
January 21 11 am: AVA is co-hosting the Women’s March along with Democrats Abroad Berlin and The Coalition Berlin and, hopefully, many other groups. Everybody welcome!
Where: The meeting point will be at the Brandenburg Gate and the march will proceed according to the schedule. Look for the American Voices Abroad Berlin banner!
This is the anniversary of the huge Women’s March last year and should remind everybody that we’ll still here. This march is to: (more…)
January 20 11 am: AVA is joining our German friends for the ‘Wir haben es satt’ demonstration. This is the day that Germany will host ministers of agriculture from around the world, and it’s the perfect time to try to influence agriculture policy. See this link for details: https://www.wir-haben-es-satt.de/informieren/aufruf/englisch/.
Where: Hauptbahnhof, on the north side (Europaplatz), at the Rolling Horse statue. Look for the American Voices Abroad Berlin banner.
For a food policy that promotes regional and sustainable food rather than industrial mass production! For an end to subsidies for big ag! For secure access to land, water, seeds, and food around the world! Ban glyphosate! FOOD IS POLITICAL!
The first AVA Movie Night of the new year: Saturday, January 13, at 8:30 pm at the Lichtblick Kino (Kastanienallee 77, tel. 030 44058179). Join us for the film DETROIT and a discussion, which will be moderated by journalist, musician, filmmaker, and anti-war activist Darnell Stephen Summers.
DETROIT, directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty) tells the “gripping story of one of the darkest moments during the civil unrest that rocked Detroit in the summer of 1967.” Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=186_Fh73Wfw
Join us for our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on January 4 at 8:00 pm at Café Daddy, Kolonnenstrasse 50 in Schöneberg. Let’s talk!
Photo: Florian Schiedhelm
We had a productive annual brunch with elections of officers on December 10, 2017. The new officers are: ANN (chair) PAM (vice-chair) ADAM (secretary) ALAN (treasurer) JANE (assistant treasurer) ISABEL (associate) and MICHAEL (associate).
Our Stammtisch on December 7 at 8:00 pm will be, as usual, at Cafe Daddy, Kolonnenstrasse 50. We will continue our discussion, moderated by Carolyn Prescott, of Strategies for Resistance and Change in the Trump Era. The following is a summary by Adam Wilkins of our November Stammtisch discussion: (more…)
Postponed to Nov. 2 due to storm: AVA-Berlin will hold a themed Stammtisch—Strategies for Resistance and Change in the Trump Era— on November 2, 2017 at 8 pm, at Cafe Daddy, Kolonnenstrasse 50
The discussion, moderated by Carolyn Prescott, will draw from a number of readings (listed below with links, some may have a firewall) each of which will be very briefly summarized by an AVA member. This is a short list for a very broad subject, and it’s meant to help us think about these issues in what will surely be an ongoing movement. You do not need to have read the articles or books to participate in the discussion, and feel free to bring up other sources. (more…)
We had an stimulating discussion after the films “Care in Chaos” and “Vessel” on the subject of abortion. The films were presented by the One World Berlin Human Rights Film Festival with support from AVA-Berlin. October 14, 2017
From the left: Anna Schaden, Sarah Diehl, and our AVA-Berlin moderator Pam Selwyn.
Photo by Oscar Brown
See previous post below for details. Thanks to Marie Budde of CIEE Global Institute for hosting the reading. Thanks also to the CIEE students, the AWC (American Women’s Club of Berlin) members, and all the volunteers for participating. September 6, 2017. Click here for the rest of the photos.
September 6, 7:00 pm, at the CIEE Global Institute. American Voices Abroad Berlin has answered the call of the international literature festival Berlin (ilb) to participate in a worldwide reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on September 6, 2017. Among the many readings in Berlin, this is the only one in ENGLISH. The purpose of these readings is to reignite and strengthen the concept of human rights in the world today: http://www.worldwide-reading.com/archiv-en/06-09-2017-worldwide-reading-of-the-universal-declaration-of-human-rights.
The reading will begin shortly after 7:00 pm on Wednesday, September 6, in the common room of the CIEE Global Institute (Gneisenaustr. 27 in Kreuzberg). Before the actual reading, Adam Wilkins will give a brief historical introduction to the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration. After the reading, all are welcome to join in a discussion of the relevance of this human rights document today. (more…)
Join us for our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on September 7 at 8:00 pm at Café Daddy, Kolonnenstrasse 50 in Schöneberg. Let’s talk!
More photos here
Meet in front of the US Embassy. AVA-Berlin is joining the solidarity demonstration (organized by The Coalition Berlin) on Wednesday, August 16, 6 pm, at Pariser Platz. We stand together in solidarity with activists in Charlottesville, Virginia, who bravely stood up to the racist and fascist “Unite the Right” demonstration last Saturday. The murderous attack on anti-racist activists demonstrates the deadly consequences of the right’s organizing, emboldened under a sympathetic president. Look for the AVA-Berlin banner! And here again is the Berlin Statement of Solidarity that AVA just signed: (more…)
Join us for our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on August 3 at 8:00 pm at RAAMSON in Schöneberg, Kolonnenstr. 48-49. It’s right at the S-Bahn station Julius-Leber-Brücke, right next to Café Daddy, which is on vacation for the month.
At the Stammtisch we’d like to make final plans about our participation in the Worldwide Reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sponsored here in Berlin by the International Literature Festival on September 6, 2017. We’ll distribute copies of the Declaration and you can choose the section you’d like to read.
And here’s an article from fivethirtyeight.com about the four types of ‘constitutional crisis’ and which ones are most likely to come up during Trump’s presidency: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/constitutional-crisis/
Join us for our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch at Café Daddy, Kolonnenstraße 50, 10829 Berlin, 8 pm. At the Stammtisch we’d like to take some time to discuss our participation in the Worldwide Reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sponsored here in Berlin by the International Literature Festival on September 6, 2017. (more…)
Join us for our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on May 4 at 8:00 pm at Kolonnenstrasse 50 in Schöneberg.
AVA at the March for Science more photos here
Come to our AVA-Berlin movie night on Saturday night, April 15, for a screening of ‘I Am Not Your Negro’ by Raoul Peck. The film will begin at 7:30 pm at the Lichtblick Kino, Kastanienallee 77, and will be followed by a discussion with artist and writer ISAIAH LOPAZ. Thanks to the Lichtblick, profits from the €10 ticket sales will go to the American Civil Liberties Union. Extra donations are, of course, always welcome! (more…)
Guest speaker Sarah van Gelder, “YES! Magazine co-founder and editor at large speaking at our Stammtisch. Sarah drove 12,000 miles through the heartland of the United States, living in her tiny truck camper, interviewing people on Native American reservations, in rust belt cities, Appalachian towns, and southern communities. Her book, “The Revolution Where You Live: Stories from a 12,000 Mile Journey Through a New America” (Berrett Koehler, 2017), tells the stories of broken economies, devastated ecosystems, and communities shattered by racism, violence, and exclusion. But the focus of her book is on the extraordinary work of ordinary people who are transforming their communities, even in the places that seemed to have run out of hope.” Find details here.
March 8
More photos here.
March 2 Stammtisch with Adam Wilkins speaking. Click on photo for the rest of the photos
Our March 2 Stammtisch (8:00 pm)will be dedicated to SCIENCE, SCIENTISTS and the SCIENCE MARCH on Earth Day, April 22. The Stammtisch will feature a presentation by our own Adam Wilkins of his new book Making Faces: The Evolutionary Origins of the Human Face, Harvard University Press, January 2017: (more…)
for more information: http://marchforscienceberlin.de/
Saturday, February 4, at 14:00 American Voices Abroad Berlin joined The Coalition at the #NoBanNoWall protests at Pariser Platz. Click here for more photos. Video and Instagram (more…)
Come to our first-Thursday-of-the-month STAMMTISCH on February 2 at 8:00 pm. At the Stammtisch we would like to informally discuss our involvement in The Coalition. We will be at Cafe Daddy at Kolonnenstrasse 50 in Schöneberg right near S-Bahn Julius-Leber-Brücke.
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/trumps-praesidentschaft-angst-um-amerika-liebe-zu-deutschland-14762314.html?printPagedArticle=true#pageIndex_2
American Voices Abroad Berlin will speak out on Inauguration Day, January 20, to say NO TO GLOBAL TRUMPISM! We will demonstrate in solidarity with all those in Washington, D.C., across the United States and around the world to say NO to Trump and to right-wing extremism here in Europe.
AVA-Berlin stands united with our German and European friends against the extremist right. Some of us (look for the AVA BANNER) will meet in front of the AfD offices at Schillstrasse 9 at 5:00 pm for the beginning of the demonstration and march to Pariser Platz. The rest of us (look for the WE SAY NO flag) will meet directly at Pariser Platz near the US embassy between 5:00 and 6:00 pm for the closing rally. (more…)
On JANUARY 5, our first Stammtisch of 2017 will focus on the Electoral College and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact that has gained momentum in recent years. States in the compact are promising that, if enough of them ultimately join the bandwagon, they will give their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. BEN JOHNSON will explain the most important elements of this project. Ben is a scientist in the fields of alternative energy and materials science, and some of you may remember him from the early days of AVA. Well, Ben is back!
So come to our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on January 5 at 8:00 pm at Kolonnenstrasse 50 in Schöneberg.
So, what do we do now? What’s happening? Let’s talk! Come to our first-Thursday-of-the-month STAMMTISCH on December 1 at 8:00 pm. We will be at Cafe Daddy at Kolonnenstrasse 50 in Schöneberg right near S-Bahn Julius-Leber-Brücke.
13 years later we dug out our dusty, slightly ripped flag and took it to the Brandenburger Gate to protest again the direction politics in the US has taken. We will be vigilant.
Click on photo for the rest of the photos.
Come to our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on November 3 at 8:00 pm. There’s no special event planned – so there will be time to talk about EVERYTHING. We will be at CAFE DADDY at Kolonnenstrasse 50. CAFE DADDY is a family-run Turkish cafe. We always look forward to meeting new people.
MIGUEL VERDE gave us a well-prepared update on the trade treaties, especially TTIP and CETA. We had a lively discussion afterwards and a long question and answer period. Many thanks to Miguel.
Join us at the Lichtblick Kino at Kastanienallee 77 in Prenzlauer Berg on Monday, October 10, for a special screening of DJ Spooky’s REBIRTH OF A NATION, a remix of D.W. Griffith’s infamous 1915 film BIRTH OF A NATION (see below). The film begins at 9:00 pm, but don’t come at the last minute because the theater seats only 32 people. And, if you can, come early to discuss the up-coming election.
STARTING AT 7:00 pm, AVA will be offering urgent last-minute help for all those who have not yet registered to vote or who have not by then received their ballots. Alan Benson, our voter registrar, will be there to help with especially difficult cases.
Admission to see the film €6.50, reduced €5.50. (more…)
On Saturday, September 17, AVA took part in the anti-TTIP/CETA demonstration here in Berlin. We joined our German friends from Campact, the Berliner Wassertisch, the World Wildlife Fund, Brot für die Welt, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz, Attac, the DGB and many other organisations.
Come to our first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on September 1 at 8:00 pm. There’s no special event planned – so there will be time to talk about EVERYTHING. And we can definitely make plans for AVA’s participation in the big anti-TTIP demo on September 17. For anyone who needs them, we’ve got leaflets and posters, and maybe even door knob hangers, explaining the treaties and advertising the demonstration.
WE WILL BE AT CAFE DADDY AT KOLONNENSTRASSE 50. CAFE DADDY IS A FAMILY-RUN TURKISH CAFE. They have a glass case with homemadeTurkish dishes like stuffed peppers and zucchini pancakes, and they also bake their own cakes. They do not serve alcohol. We always look forward to meeting new people
Our own RICH ROSEN will talk with us about mitigating climate change and common misconceptions about what will work followed by questions and discussion.Location: Cafe Daddy; Kolonnenstr. 50; Berlin-Schöneberg
Time: 20:00-22:00: Raamson is on vacation–this is a Turkish cafe next door.
Remember: we love new people. So if you are new in town, or just haven’t been to an AVA event lately, join us.
click on photo for more photos and one video.
Next Sunday, November 29, one day before the opening of the Paris climate conference, there will be demonstrations all over the world calling for 100% renewable energy by 2050. AVAers and their friends will be meeting at 11:45 a.m. outside the Hauptbahnhof. LOOK FOR OUR BANNER next to the statue of the rolling horse on the north side of the station (Europaplatz). We will then walk to the south side of the station (Washingtonplatz), which is where the march will begin. In case of inclement weather, we’ll meet at the DB information (more…)
Panel: Paul Edwards, Anjana Shrivastava, Prof. Dr. Martin Lüthe. Click on photo for more photos.
German Premiere of the film 3 1/2 Minutes/Ten Bullets directed by Marc Silver presented by the One World Berlin Human Rights Film Festival (organized by Natalie Gravenor) and AVA-Berlin. Introduction by Pam Selwyn. The film was followed by a panel discussion with Prof. Dr. Martin Lüthe (FU Berlin/John F. Kennedy Institute), Paul Edwards (DAAD Fellow), and moderated by Anjana Shrivastava.
More information on Facebook about the movie 3 1/2 Minutes/Ten Bullets
Q&A following the film with director Marc Silver (via Skype), Prof. Dr. Martin Lüthe (FU Berlin/John F. Kennedy Institute), Paul Edwards (DAAD Fellow), moderated by Anjana Shrivastava.
click on photo for more photos
At the November 5 Stammtisch, Miguel Verde talked to AVA about the massive, and massively problematic, international trade treaty, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP. Miguel gave an informative talk about a complex theme followed by a lively discussion. (For additional information from Miguel, see below.) (more…)
Our regular monthly Stammtisch meets at Café X-Zeit at Welserstr. 10-12 just a few steps 
from Viktoria Luise Platz at 8 p.m.
Our dear friend David MacBryde died of pancreatic cancer on Wednesday, September 9.
His widow Sabine has sent us this invitation to David’s funeral on Wednesday, September 30, at 10:30 in the morning in the chapel of the Friedrichwerderschen Friedhof, Bergmannsgtr. 42-44 in Kreuzberg.
The next day, Thursday, October 1 at 8:00 in the evening, American Voices Abroad will dedicate its regular Stammtisch to David – we’ll look at photos and reminisce. All friends of David are welcome.
On June 4, AVA-Berlin dedicated the monthly Stammtisch to David Solomon. Ann Wertheimer read emails she received about David, Karen’s photos were shown as a slideshow, and other friends of David shared reminiscences. I’ve added these new photos to the album on flickr with the memorial service and some old photos of David. 
Dave Solomon’s friends are gathering to remember Dave and to mourn his loss tomorrow, Saturday, May 23, 
from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Dave’s parents, Mark and Pauline, and his brother Bill invite you to join them in the courtyard behind Books in Berlin at Goethestraße 69, 10625 Berlin. Feel free to bring memories to share. If you wish, you may donate in Dave’s memory to a cause that reflects his spirit, but the family prefers that you do not bring flowers.
Stammtisch theme: “Facts and Trends in Immigration” guest: Dr. Henriette Litta, Head of Office Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration.
Many thanks to our guest Dr. Henriette Litta for her informative talk about immigration in Germany. We had a lively discussion on this timely topic.
Drawings by CP, made at an AVA business meeting, found recently in a sketchbook.
From the TAZ, January 17, 2015
Photos © Karen Axelrad
Our regular monthly Stammtisch meets at Café X-Zeit at Welserstr. 10-12 just a few steps from Viktoria Luise Platz at 8 p.m. Phil Hill, one of our founding members, died on December 22, 2014 (he is pictured above at our brunch at the beginning of Dec.). We intend to spend some time at the Stammtisch reminiscing about Phil, telling stories or passing around photos.
On Sunday, December 7, from 12:00 am to 3:00 pm, American Voices Abroad Berlin will again be holding its annual business meeting in the separate room at La Parrilla at Albrechtstr.11 right behind the Friedrichstrasse station. If you are coming from the S-Bahn, cross the Spree and Schiffbauerdamm and there it is.
The meeting will begin promptly at 12:00. An excellent Mediterranean brunch will begin at 11:00 for all who are hungry at that hour or would just like to sit around and talk.
This meeting is open to all AVAers but only paid-up members will have voting rights (you cannot pay at the meeting) . If you still haven’t paid but would like to, please transfer €30 (or, if that’s too much at the moment, a self-assessed lesser amount) to our treasurer. For details, click on MEMBERSHIP.
More photos here.
The premiere of 1971 at the One World Film Festival was a great success. It was introduced by Natalie Gravenor and our own Isabel Cole, and followed by a panel discussion with, from left Annie Machon (former UK spy and whistleblower), Wolfgang Kaleck (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V. ECCHR) Nadja Vancauwenberghe (Editor-in-chief Exberliner Magazine), Johanna Hamilton (director 1971) and our own Ann Wertheimer, (in a double role as chair AVA-Berlin and telling her story of being spied upon by the U.S. army in the 1970s).
On November 20, AVA-Berlin will sponsor Johanna Hamilton’s film 1971 at the One World Berlin film festival. Co-produced by Laura Poitras, 1971 will open the festival on NOVEMBER 20, 7 p.m., at the ARSENAL movie theater on Potsdamer Platz. 1971 tells the story of the break-in at FBI offices in Media, Pennsylvania, in that year. Here’s the trailer for this ‘cat- and-mouse thriller’: http://www.1971film.com/. It’s a real bit of American history “before Watergate, Wikileaks and Edward Snowden”!
A discussion moderated by Nadja Vancauwenberghe, the editor of the Exberliner, will follow the screening. Special guests include director Johanna Hamilton, Wolfgang Kaleck of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V. (ECCHR), and our own Ann Wertheimer as ‘Zeitzeugin’ of the surveillance here in Berlin in 1971. Additional special guests will be announced as soon as their presence is confirmed.
September 21, 2014 Photo by Florian Schiedhelm
Joan Klakow introducing Rev. Zorn More photos here,
It will be 50 years this coming September that Martin Luther King, Jr. visited West Berlin at the invitation of Mayor Willy Brandt. AVA’s own contribution to the Martin Luther King anniversary celebrations took place at its regular first-Thursday-of-the-month Stammtisch on September 4 at 8:00 p.m. On that evening we hosted the Rev. Ralf Zorn, an American Pastor in West Berlin and Dr. King’s interpreter and driver on that weekend 50 years ago.
AVA-Berlin supported “Call to Action: Join the Mass Rally ‘Freedom not Fear’ against surveillance at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin”. More information here. Not all the photos represent the views of AVA-Berlin. Photos of the Demo here.
Freedom Not Fear protest march; August 30, 2014
Our chair Ann Wertheimer briefly explained our organization at the Berlin Chapter of Democrats Abroad Annual Cocktail Party/Fundraiser.
Our own Rich Rosen will give a talk with discussion on “The Science of Climate Change, and its Implications for Prevention” on June 5th at our monthly Stammtisch. Our monthly Stammtisch will, again temporarily, meet at Café X-Zeit at Welserstr. 10-12 just a few steps from Viktoria Luise Platz.
Rich, himself a scientist, has long traveled between Berlin and Boston working with the Tellus Institute – for a Great Transition – research and action for a global civilization of sustainability, equity, and well-being. The institute was established in 1976 as an interdisciplinary not-for-profit research and policy organization. The institute has launched a website called The Great Transition Initiative.
