Monday, May 3, 2010

Revolutionary Tourism in Berlin: Die Yuppie Scum

This is great. I've just come across a bunch of people doing a revolutionary tour of Berlin's famous May Day rally sites. Every year anti capitalists from across Germany gather to do battle with the police and the few neo-nazis who dare to show their faces in one of Berlin's working class districts. What once started as a genuine expression of outrage has now become something of a day out for revolutionaries. This is not shaking the heart of capitalist power but ends up burning a few cars in a working class neighbourhood.
Now, to add to the air of unreality, are the walking tours. It feels kinda circular. Revolutionary tourists travelling from rich parts of the old West Germany to burn barricades in Berlin with more normal sorts of tourists coming to watch. The mere fact that there are now people making a living giving these tours has also outraged the left, who complain that even their protests have been comodified. ouch

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