#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #GERMANY #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) Germany, FAU, direkte aktion: THE #I AM POVERTY MOVEMENT[PART 1]- Operations & Society By: Jona Larkin White (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 An interview with an active member of the local group Ruhr area ---- Since last

year, the Hartz IV rate, or the basic security has been increased by 3 euros. A
self-designed chart that was hung at the main entrance to Bochum main station
illustrates how food prices have risen: 89 instead of 49 cents for a pack of
pasta, 89 instead of 39 cents for a pack of flour, 79 instead of 59 cents for a
pack of tomato paste , 2.19 euros instead of 1.45 euros for a pack of grated
cheese, etc. ---- As the website ichbinarmutsbefallen.de announces: Never before
have so many people in Germany lived at subsistence level as they do today. It is
not only since the Ukraine war that our basic security system has failed to
protect against poverty.

HOW A HASHTAG BECAME A MOVEMENT
Poverty is a stressful subject for many. It clearly shows how unequal the goods
are in our financially very well-positioned country. Even more unpleasant for
many is a banal-sounding realization: people affected by poverty are not poor by
choice. Behind the honest Twitter comments of single mothers, pensioners,
students without sufficient support or highly qualified people with a surname
that doesn't sound German enough; finally disappears the image constructed for
the Hartz reforms of the welfare state parasite sleeping in a hammock. Because
apart from the fact that he would not have time to sleep because he is in a
measure that is not appropriate to his qualifications; he wouldn't have the money
to afford a hammock. How does going to the supermarket feel? Does he get scared
when he thinks about his mailbox? How does poverty feel?

Since the beginning of the year, a growing online movement has been providing
answers to these questions, which too few have been asked. Since the beginning of
2022, the hashtag #I am poor has been enjoying growing popularity. Since the end
of May, local groups across Germany have been getting together to draw attention
to the social problem of poverty. The local Ruhr area group is particularly
active, meeting every two weeks in front of Bochum main station with posters and
flyers for a public photo campaign. Here is our interview with the person
involved, S., who was present at the campaign on July 23:

DA: May I interview you?

S.: Of course, gladly. In which direction should the questions go?

DA: I myself am affected by the job center and I know that there are many ways to
get in there - often through individual strokes of fate. However, I don't want to
concentrate on individual fates today. Poverty is a structural, general problem
in this society.

S.: I see it that way too. That's one of the things that generally annoys us,
that people only ask us how we're doing and not what we're doing here.

DA: Alright, my questions aren't going in that direction, it's more about your
structures. How long have you been in the Ruhr area as the #IBinArbmutsaffected
initiative?

S.: We have been in the Ruhr area from the very beginning. We gathered right away
at the first appointment and met at Bochum City Hall and presented our topic.
That was at the end of May. There has been this hashtag #I AmPoverty Affected
since the beginning of the year. When it became apparent that everything was
becoming chronically more expensive with all the crises, the hashtag on social
media was intended to draw attention to the fact that people affected by poverty
are normal people. We want to draw attention to their fates to show that it is
not your own fault that things happen very quickly - especially with Corona, for
example if you get Long-Covid and stop working.
As summer approached, # EineSorgeLess tweeted under the hashtag how cool it would
be if people across Germany took to the streets under the hashtag to publicize
the topic and asked where people were who would be willing to do such a thing.
Enough people got together in the Ruhr area right away. The first time we were
between five and ten and the last time in front of the main station we were
definitely 50 people who were here. Not all of us, of course, but a lot of people
came to show solidarity, many just stood still and joined them. That got a lot of
attention last time.

DA: How are you organized?

S.: We gather under the hashtag that makes it clear that we have a common problem
and goal that we want to draw attention to. There is a consensus in the
initiative that we want to be tolerant and open to everyone - regardless of their
sexuality, origin, employment history or gender - and that rights have no place
with us.
Germany-wide coordination is about how we can finance material. #
EineSorgeLesiger supports us financially and has posters printed. There is also a
coordination of how and when we tweet the photos, so hopefully we get a good
social media reach.
The actual action, as we stand here, is coordinated solely by the local group.
All groups have the opportunity to do their thing. We also have our own flyers
for the Ruhr area with information that we find important from the local group,
for example the ticket prices for the VRR, since public transport is particularly
expensive in our region.

DA: What will change for you when the 9 euro ticket is no longer available?

S.: If the 9-euro ticket doesn't exist anymore, or a similar replacement ticket,
then we'll have quite a problem because a lot of people come from neighboring
cities and they can't afford to pay 20, 30 euros every two weeks pay for a
one-hour action. We may still find a solution. # EineSorgeLesiger collects
donations and actively tries to support the campaign monetarily. That would be
less expensive for #OneSorgeLess. They have been an active charitable foundation
for years and have donations. You would then have to see how all this can be
organised. What may still remain open to us as a local group is to look among our
active group members, who has to pay where and how much and find something that
we can all finance to some extent and maybe move tickets back and forth and help
finance us, if someone does something a month has more. It won't be easy. But we
are looking for solutions for ourselves. It is certain that it will continue.

DA: Have you noticed that right-wing currents have tried to co-opt you?

S.: There is more of a strong, right-wing backlash. There are a lot of people who
tweet their contempt for poverty and insult all people who fight against poverty.
There are really terrible comments there. People are actively wished for death.
There weren't very many attempts at co-optation because we have a strict
demarcation line and the rights actively counteract if they try to jump in with us.
There was also at least one counter hashtag that looked like the more bourgeois
right-wing people wanted to give saving tips. They have pretended to support us
in solidarity by sharing their savings tips. These were savings tips from people
who weren't sure whether they really needed to save money or were just doing it
for fun. That was more cringe.

DA: What role does the topic of job centers play in your movement?

S.: Quite a large one, because many of us have had or are actively involved in
this position. Some of us have the problem of not having the energy to show up to
the protest because we are actively being harassed by the job center. For
example, through some bullshit tasks, like writing 40 applications in a month. Of
course, a lot of energy is wasted and at some point there is no time or energy
left to get involved.
Others actively worry that job center employees will track their activity,
recognize them and then become mean. This is an omnipresent problem for us.

DA: Do you think that it could help you to support each other more in dealing
with the job center, for example by accompanying each other and understanding
each other more as unemployment benefits?

S.: Not all of us are unemployed. All of us are short of money and live below the
poverty line. But that doesn't just affect the unemployed, it also affects a lot
of top-ups, a lot of students and also a lot of people in full-time jobs who
don't have to top up but still earn too little. In this respect, unemployment
benefit is the wrong framing because it does not go far enough. Of course, the
solidarity that is in there and the distribution of funds to those who need it
right now is definitely helpful and important. It's already happening in monetary
terms. On Twitter under the hashtag I'm poor, shopping vouchers are financed for
people affected by poverty who have acutely too little, for example when the
refrigerator breaks. So, certain support structures already exist. Accompanying
officials would be difficult because we are organized online.

https://direkteaktion.org/die-ichbinarmutsbetroffen-bewegung-1/
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