Berlin has always been a city of resistance, in a constant game of tug-of-war — but everyone is pulling in a different direction. Currently, those taking to the streets are tackling questions surrounding who receives government funding and who doesn’t; Who is allowed to live here in the midst of a housing crisis and a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment? Who is allowed to protest, with the recent crack-down on Palestinian solidarity?  And most of all: who is responsible for our coexistence? Is it our politicians, the police, or our communities? 

 

Tug of War sheds light on various threatened groups in Berlin and their resistance: cultural spaces and artists’ studios, women’s shelters, and research institutes, all of which, among others, are affected by the government’s massive budget cuts; the censorship of the Palestinian solidarity movement; demolished housing projects as illegal real estate speculation eats them up; and numerous demonstrations.

 

Perhaps it is this constant unrest that defines this city: feelings of fear, threat, and unease that are in a state of perpetual tension with solidarity, mobilization, resistance, and struggle.