In Germany, there's a Brandmauer — a firewall — against parliamentary cooperation with the far right; nobody is supposed to work with the AfD or their members in the process of governing. But in the last few years, that firewall has developed some real cracks — including what happened yesterday, at the first meeting of the new Berlin House of Representatives.
Six weeks after the election, the new parliament convened for the first time to elect a president and vice president. Die Linke's Hendrikje Klein was elected to the top spot, the first member of the Left Party to ever hold the position. But it's the election for the vice presidency that has caused a stir. The Berlin AfD parliamentary group, which has 29 members, put Martin Trefzer up as a candidate for the job — and he got 40 votes. That means that 11 politicians who aren't members of the AfD voted for their candidate.
HEIST is a worker-owned online magazine, founded by writers and editors who after years working across Berlin's media landscape believed something essential was missing.
Anyone living here has felt a growing gap between the city as it actually is and the version being served up by mainstream outlets. We experienced that disconnect firsthand. We saw political censorship shape coverage decisions and felt the weight of billionaire ownership land directly on our work. It reached a point where we could either keep going along with it, or try to build something better.
That's why we created HEIST.
And look at you: scrolling, clicking, squinting at blurred text just to get a little further. If you'll go to that much effort to read HEIST, you can surely give us one email. That's the whole price, and the rest of the story is right behind it.
Real journalism costs money. We commission the hard-hitting, well-reported, long-form work everyone wants to read but nobody seems to publish anymore.
The future of this city is still in the balance. We intend to be part of that struggle. We hope that you'll join us.
