The Recht auf Stadt Movement raises similar questions …

Interviewee: Margit Czenki & Christoph Schäfer

Christoph Schäfer: Here in Hamburg many similar questions and issues were raised earlier, through the Recht auf Stadt movement. Once Occupy was set up in the US, some people here in Hamburg occupied a square. But they actually knew too little about what was otherwise going on in the city. That was a bit difficult. I believe that for such a camp it is important to know the local situation. Even when lots of new people get involved, it’s important that there are five to ten people who are experienced and want to get something going long term. Much of the creative potential is already here in the Gänge quarter, under options which are sustainable in the long run. Margit Czenki: Occupy didn’t really play a role here, down to the present day… Christoph Schäfer: I see Occupy mainly as an attempt in the US to break out of passivity, to prise oneself free from the rear-guard battles fought by the left. And I even think that they’ve managed to achieve this, and – so at least I believe – a lot will come out of what was done. I thought there were a couple of great new approaches. I could hardly believe it when I saw that they’d occupied Wall Street. Awesome! And that they used their bodies to confront a realm that has become extremely abstract.ht.