Published on X by Middle East Eye – 25 April 2024
Germany has terminated the contracts of a Berlin-based women’s centre, citing pro-Palestine solidarity among its board members and Israel’s “right to self-defence”, amid a growing crackdown on civil society support for Palestine.
Founded in 1990, the Frieda Frauenzentrum identifies as a queer-feminist organisation, and as a space to provide support for women in difficult life circumstances.
Last week, the board members of Frieda received a letter from the district councillor of Berlin’s Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Max Kindler, informing them of the “extraordinary termination with immediate effect” of the service contracts for the organisation’s two centres, Alia and Phantalisa, in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, by the youth welfare office.
The incident has sparked a wave of outrage among Frieda’s members and supporters, as well as Berlin’s district councils.
“We find the fact that our employees are being monitored on their private social media profiles and that the exercise of fundamental rights outside of their working hours, e.g. participation in demonstrations, is being profiled and apparently criminalized, worrying and calls into question the very democratic values to which we are committed in our work both as an association and as social workers”, said a statement released by Frieda in response to the closure.
Published on X by Middle East Eye
Also read the statement from the Center 0n April 21.