Berlin radically new

Election platform 2021 Chapter 6

Rise up for the climate! Now!

A good climate thrives in a strong community in which all people find their place. For this reason, we think about climate, society and economy together. Our view of humanity is positive. The necessary radical change will succeed when we all pull together. Each as they are able. All together.

More courage. More action. More climate. More Berlin!

A donut for Berlin

Hand on heart: Wealth and luxury at the expense of others has always been suspicious to Berliners! In our city, the focus is not on money, but on people. Namely, with comprehensive social security and respect for the limits of our ecosystem. The Donut Economy thinks local and global economy together with social responsibility and creates a balance that takes the pressure of the permanent meritocracy out of the system, makes the city livable for everyone and enables future generations to feel comfortable here.

Building on the donut experience of Amsterdam and in close partnership with other donut pioneers, we are making Berlin a model city of transformation. We are setting up a "Donut Action Lab", designed by the Berliners themselves. They will determine the framework conditions of their economy in a participatory process. Based on the results, legislation and funding policies will be realigned. All existing and planned public investment and subsidy programs must be put to the test. Anything that does not serve the goal of climate justice will be cleaned out. Berlin has what it takes to set an international example. To this end, we are bringing our economy on board as a driver of social and ecological renewal. Climate- and socially-just urban renewal means more meaningful work, more appreciation for systemically relevant professions, and a critical approach to bullshit jobs, destructive subsidies, and unlimited growth insanity.

The city is bursting with active, committed people and entrepreneurs with forward-looking, sustainable ideas. We take them seriously. We make them strong. We support businesses with a common good orientation that are not based on the exploitation of people and nature. This includes cooperatives, commons and other types of solidarity-based and not, or not primarily, profit-oriented economic activity. We work to ensure that a stable legal framework exists for all these forms of economy. Loss-free material flows of the circular economy become the standard.

Berlin does it itself

We put a stop to the destructive cycle of consumption and throwing things away. We bring a repair and exchange café to every neighborhood, financed by the state. Here, Berliners can get free help repairing things and find workshops for DIY. These "Maker Spaces" function as the common property of the neighborhoods. Here, people can swap, tinker, restore and learn together. Another advantage: These places also become neighborhood depots where residents can pick up and drop off their packages.

Budgeting instead of endless growth

An end to the growth spiral and out of the hamster wheel. Full employment in classic gainful employment within the framework of an endlessly growing meritocracy is not ecologically justifiable and is detrimental to human well-being. We are driving forward mobile working, thereby reducing unnecessary travel and stress. In this way, an estimated half of the office space in Berlin can be dismantled and repurposed: for housing, for community. We are pushing the federal government to abolish the commuter allowance. Professions with high mobility requirements (e.g., mobile care, skilled trades) should be integrated into new mobility plans at an early stage. We systematically promote meaningful employment with added value for people and the climate (meaningful work) and regional economic structures. We create incentives for lifelong learning and support new activities, occupational fields and skilled workers that are essential for the climate-friendly transformation.

Income? Livelihood!

Berliners earn significantly less than the national average. On average, women earn another 20 percent less. For years, federal and state policies have prevented fair pay and equal pay for equal work. We change that! We are making Berlin a role model for pay equity. We will find effective measures against wage evasion by subcontractors, chain contracts, temporary work, temporary contracts and other trickery. We immediately set out to explore and directly try out alternative forms of income (e.g. variants of unconditional basic income). Until they are introduced nationwide, we want to ensure consistent collective agreements and raise the minimum wage. We are committed to a 4-day working week with full wage compensation. Because more free time means deceleration, strengthening one's own health and more time for family and friends.

Consistently apply the right to housing, end homelessness

A life without existential anxiety and hardship is the prerequisite for a strong community. Our current social system must therefore be comprehensively reformed. It must be thought of in terms of integration and solidarity, across all strata. The empowerment of hitherto marginalized groups takes center stage. Homeless people, welfare recipients, mini-jobbers, students, pensioners - these categories hide individual stories and fates, people who want to be taken seriously. We want to empower them to participate fully in society. Through a basic material security that includes money, food and housing.

The right to housing, which is anchored in the Berlin state constitution, must be concretized and applied by law - rents must be affordable for all, in all districts! Vacancies must be actively countered by law and the districts must make aggressive use of the law on the misappropriation of housing.

No one is illegal

Asylum and protection seekers and all other migrants are welcome. We see migration as a normal aspect of human behavior and strive to normalize migration and its processes. This includes creating the necessary physical and mental infrastructure to improve the coexistence of people arriving here and those already living here. We recognize the privileges of the white majority society and take responsibility towards the people and countries exploited by neo:colonial, especially considering the unfair distribution of the catastrophic climate consequences. Right to stay for all, because no human being is illegal.

CO2 tax and fair compensation

The consequences of climate warming hit the people of the global south and future generations the hardest. And this despite the fact that both groups are not among the main polluters. It is therefore a matter of justice if those responsible also take responsibility and bear the costs of the climate crisis themselves. We advocate a CO2 tax that takes into account the actual environmental costs. According to the Federal Environment Agency, this is currently 195€/ton of CO2. The resulting revenue should flow in equal parts into the climate-positive reconstruction of the city as well as into a per capita climate allowance, which will be paid back to the citizens. In this way, we create a social balance and an incentive to act in an environmentally friendly manner. Those who consume more pay more - those who protect the climate are relieved.

Taxing bads not goods

To accelerate the transition to a climate-friendly economy, our tax system must be made fit for the 21st century. In line with the principle of "taxing bads not goods," we are campaigning at the federal level for a radical tax reform that is geared to the common good. Accordingly, climate-damaging production and consumption will be taxed more heavily, while climate-friendly production and consumption will be priced little or not at all.

Growth must not be a state goal

Our economic system, built on growth, is partly to blame for the increasing destruction of our livelihoods. It can therefore not be part of our state policy objective. We push for the removal of the growth paradigm from all legally binding treaties and laws. Instead, we will include the protection and equitable use of our livelihoods as a supreme state objective in the Berlin constitution and adapt the state laws accordingly.

Not saving on the climate

The climate-friendly restructuring of the economy and society can only be achieved with unprecedented investments in the future. It must be driven forward with all means at our disposal. Protecting our livelihoods cannot be counterbalanced with money. The longer we wait, the more expensive it becomes. And the ecological consequential costs must not be imposed on future generations. That is why we are calling for the deletion of the debt brake anchored in the German constitution for the purpose of socially just climate protection.

No room for climate destruction

In tomorrow's world, infrastructures that are harmful to the climate and the environment no longer have a place. Everything we build today will last for decades to come. But the future starts now. That's why we're fighting for an immediate nationwide halt to the construction and planning of fossil and climate-damaging infrastructure, such as highways, airports, coal and gas-fired power plants, fossil industrial facilities, and consumer temple malls. All this is not compatible with climate justice.

Last but not least: We remain activists!

Experience has shown: our policies are only as good as the civil society that drives them. We are part of the climate justice movement. We see ourselves as a mouthpiece for every initiative, every association and every alliance that works for climate justice, for the transport and energy transition and for a peaceful, social and livable Berlin. Let's get into conversation with each other.

Let's build a strong community for climate and civic participation. Let's bring radical humanity to Berlin's parliaments and cast social change into law. And let's stay active and continue to fight on the streets for the climate-positive transformation of our city. Join the movement! Berlin needs you!

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Bringing Berlin together