PUSHBACK Talks

Sixty percent of voters in Berlin voted to socialize apartments owned by corporate landlords with more than 3,000 properties in the city, but what comes next?
The Filmmaker and the Advocate catch up with Joanna Kusiak, spokesperson for DW enteignen, on what has happened since the September 2021 Berlin referendum that voted in favor of government expropriation of over 200,000 privately-owned apartments in Berlin to create a new system of public housing.
After years and years of pushing for reform, the referendum made headlines around the world as voter support was spread across all political parties in Berlin. Fredrik, Leilani, and Joanna discuss what it takes to build a revolution that uses the legal system while simultaneously challenging it, and keeping momentum when a movement isn't making headlines.

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The Filmmaker and the Advocate are traveling again!
While traveling to Palestine on a research trip at the invitation of the Norwegian Refugee Council, The Advocate was confronted with her family history and what her parents call "The Palestinian Heartache." Her trip through the villages of Area C of the Occupied Palestinian Territories left her focused on the hope of a future where the Palestinian people have a voice. The Advocate also talks about learning to persevere in her work while while carrying sadness, and fighting with human rights.
All that, plus a week-long stopover in Pittsburgh to launch Fair Housing Month. Formerly a hub for the steel industry and home to jazz legends, the city's population has dropped by more than half in recent years, and the number keeps on dwindling. The city has yet to fall victim to some of the more virulent forms of financialization - and the Advocate is hoping to keep it that way.
And where has the Filmmaker been lately? Listen to the end to find out!
*See Leilani's photos from her trip to Palestine here.
*Please note this episode was recorded in early April, before the religious holidays and prior to the recent violence that has emerged.

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Welcome to Season 7 of Pushback Talks! It's been an eventful summer, as nations worldwide grappled with the housing and climate crises, and people took to the streets to protest wealth inequality and the rapidly rising cost of living. In this highly anticipated season premiere, we join Fredrik and Leilani for a one-on-one conversation about their work to push back against the injustices of our time and how their mission adapts as the situation develops.
In this premiere episode, Fredrik and Leilani engage in a candid conversation that peels back the layers of the housing crisis as it relates to student housing, the climate crises, and the social contract. What actions can be taken right now to mitigate the crises? The episode underscores the critical need for accountability from both governments and private entities in addressing these far-reaching housing issues.

Join us for an engaging Season 7 premiere that deepens our understanding of the how the housing crisis is developing, and stay tuned for an exciting lineup of episodes that will inspire action, promote change, and illuminate the path toward a more just and equitable world.

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Class is in session – In this two-part episode, the Filmmaker and the Advocate sit down with New York Times correspondent and author of powerful new book Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World, Peter S. Goodman, to learn about the handful of billionaires that are dramatically re-structuring the world as we know it.
In the two years since the pandemic began, the ten richest people on the planet have more than doubled their wealth, even while homelessness and housing inadequacy have increased at a rapid rate. And this isn’t just about housing, these people impact systems all over the world – health care, public health, sovereign debt, the list goes on. These billionaires hide behind a cosmic lie – that by giving them tax breaks and advantages everyone will reap the benefits – while creating the problems they are claiming to solve.
Goodman’s must-read new book, Davos Man, unpacks that cosmic lie by exploring who these people are and how they have manipulated laws and policies to uphold and perpetuate a system that proves, year after year, to primarily benefit the ultra-wealthy.

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It was a radical experiment – impose a rent cap on apartments in Berlin so that tenants wouldn’t be priced out of the city by the big money actors moving in. It was challenged in the courts by Members of Parliament – litigation supported by a lobby of institutional landlords. On 15 April 2021, the highest court in Germany struck down the rent cap, ruling that the Berlin state government had exceeded its jurisdiction. It's a devastating ruling for tenants, many of whom now have to pay back rent they had withheld or pay rents they cannot afford. The question is, if city government doesn’t have the power to protect tenants, who does and who will? What role must the national level government play in light of constitutional and international human rights law obligations? This will certainly be a front and centre issue for the upcoming federal election (September 2021).

As anger swells in Berlin in reaction to the court ruling on the rent cap, people take to the streets to demand their right to housing, the Filmmaker and the Advocate are joined by Florian Schmidt, featured in PUSH-The Film and city councillor of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg a neighbourhood under a lot of pressure, and Christoph Trautvetter, an independent researcher with the Tax Justice Network of Germany and the lead for the Who Owns the City project. Truatvetter has been working with a research team to map exactly which private equity firms and institutional investors own the 2 million apartments in Berlin — a murky world that is not easy to penetrate. Who Owns the City recently released a report revealing that the usual suspect, private equity behemoth Blackstone, owns 3,000 apartments in the city, and that’s the tip of the iceberg.

In a lively and informative conversation, the foursome discusses an even more radical policy now being pursued by tenants and some politicians in Berlin: The Deutsche Wohnen & Co. referendum, which calls for the expropriation of market rent units owned by asset management firms in possession of more than 3,000 units. These units will be expropriated at land values of 10 years ago, and rents set accordingly, causing a major disruption to the market! There is little doubt that Berlin is the epicentre of the push back against the financialization of housing.
For more on Who Owns the City go here!

Produced by WG Film
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Maja Moberg, Valerie Estrina, Hanna Leander

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