It says a lot about the hype machine of general elections, over which part of the status quo will out-do the other when the limelight is stolen by what should have been a vote of less significance. However, this is precisely what happened when in Berlin, the people voted by a majority to oust the grip of corporate landlords in the city. A movement called ‘Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen’ (one of Germany’s largest property companies) was created to take on these landlords and to demand a referendum on taking back housing into public ownership. The referendum result came out 56% to 39% in favour, calling for the Berlin government to “expropriate” up to 240,000 housing units. Currently, the new SPD mayor is shamefully against this idea, but the movement vows to push it through.
This vote is hugely significant for housing activists in Ireland for two reasons. The first is that it shows that change in the interests of ordinary working people can only come from those people themselves. The second most important aspect is that a movement such as this will only succeed if it has political aims and organises to achieve those aims. In this case, it was to take on their political enemies, the corporate landlords, with the aim of taking back housing into public ownership. They have succeeded in getting it to this stage and by raising the political importance of the demands – this now has to be addressed by the Berlin government, and the movement has pledged to keep up the pressure outside on the streets. In other words, this is now a hot topic and will not go away!
