It would be possible to list further examples ad nauseam. In areas such as provision for drug addicts, road traffic policy, school and educational policy, environmental policy and even cultural policy, the current Senate is mercilessly continuing along the line adopted by its predecessors, i.e. that politics is no longer to be seen as a means of creating equal opportunities, or of enabling citizens to have a stake in society and have a share in its prosperity. Rather, the Senate is working according to the tried-and-tested principle that the fittest, i.e. the better-off, flourish, while the weak go to the wall. The result of this is a process of increasing political and social disintegration. This development seems all the more cynical in light of the fact that there is never a shortage of money in Hamburg when it comes to the financing of street cleanliness campaigns or anti-graffiti hotlines. On top of all this, millions of Euros are being spent in support of Hamburg¹s Olympic bid, while at the same time, huge sums of money have been recklessly thrown away to pay for the presence of police units from outside Hamburg during the eviction of the "Bambule² squatters and the resulting demonstrations.

With this series of solidarity concerts we intend to voice our unequivocal rejection of the above policies! We are not prepared to sit back and watch while political dialogue in this city is reduced to the level of cat-calling in the press, nor, as in the case of the "Bambule² squat, will we tolerate a situation where water cannon and armoured JCBs speak louder than words. What Hamburg needs now and in future is for people to have the freedom to live as they choose. We call for an end to the exclusion and expulsion of non-mainstream groups, and for the implementation of non-exclusive social policies. The proceeds from the concerts will go to the following projects: The "Bambule² Solidarity Account, The Campaign against the Forced Application of Emitics, Café Exil, the Buttclub and a youth project for girls in St. Pauli. <home>