There is quite a lot to DO here in Berlin at grey and somewhat cold November days, such as visiting one of the many museums like the New National Gallery, or the new ´museum of exile` at Anhalter Bahnhof under Herta Mueller`s patronage, see https://stiftung-exilmuseum.berlin/en.
Plenty of cafés and restaurants invite us to sip a cup of coffee while reading a nice article about ugly politics, chatting with people we do not really know, or to check out current theatre and movie events. This entails screening original features at streets we would stroll along thereafter …

Parks and winter markets let us think of festive moments towards Christmas and end-of-the year attractions, although we all suffer ongoing war situations in South East Europe, the Middle East or beyond. We won’t really go for Spa-visits either that let us drown in wellness and relaxation, matters we do not really fancy these days.

picture source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/berlin-spree-herbst-wasser-baum-6907526/

Atef Ben Bouzid in action at Arsenal Cinema Potsdamer Straße at AFRIKAMERA November 20, 2021, leading an openly amusing discussion about his film idea on Amr Salah with his Cairo blues around doing music and jazz with young people,

see also at https://cairojazzman.com/

Mid-December 2020, Müller obliges Berliners… “… to contain the Corona pandemic, public life in Berlin is largely shut down a good week before Christmas.” #berlinsights says ‘yes-we-can’!

September 2020, the mayor’s focus had been on … „Berlin is the City of freedom, tolerance and diversity. Berlin as a country appeals to the city’s ‘lived individual diversity’ that emphasizes people’s joint “miteinander” that brings us together. Müller: … “I am proud to present Berlin as a brand that points to exactly this – our common ground at the centre of all’.

#berlinsights agrees, and thanks all Berliners to be who they are, women and men, young and old, local and Bavarian, Togolese and African: welcome here!

Was Corona (un)sichtbar macht – Auftaktgespräch zur Asylinitiativenkonferenz
Heinrich Böll Stiftung – was diskutiert wurde, ist tatsächlich zentral: https://www.boell.de/de/2019/11/25/berliner-aktionsplan-neustart-der-europaeischen-asyl-und-migrationspolitik-notwendig. Hier ein Auszug aus Ellen Ueberschär’s guter Rede:

“Asyl und Migration sind nicht die Themen, an denen Europa scheitern muss. Im Gegenteil, es ist genau eine dieser Fragen, die Europa gemeinsam meistern kann und auch gemeinsam meistern muss. Der Berliner Aktionsplan für einen Neustart in der Asyl- und Migrationspolitik ist ein deutlicher Schritt einer vernetzten und lebendigen europäischen Zivilgesellschaft, die sich konstruktiv um Lösungen kümmert.”

For CORONA BERLIN, see UPDATES at thelocal.de:

https://www.thelocal.de/20201118/whats-the-coronavirus-situation-in-germany-right-now-november-18-2020

The Berlin LICHTBÜHNE seems rather silent these days, yet not fully passive. Let us see what the year 2018 will bring in terms of lights, shows, music and, most importantly, people! We continue to welcome refugees emerging from difficult living circumstances, in particular women with their children, sometimes with or without husbands, often carrying the families’ burden to sustain in life. Let us just welcome them in full generosity, having fled unbearable situations. We all remember our grand grandparents and their war- and postwar stories. Living in Berlin today means to be part of several generations without any war, let alone without hunger. Thank You world!