Wahlberliner-ism (on expat life both here and beyond)

It’s been almost exactly a year (!) since the last Taboo Symposium, and we’re starting back up again, though I'm informally re-christening the group as ‘talkin’ taboos’, since Symposium is not 21st-century tweet-conform and kind of wanky :)

TL;DR: Talking to some of the regulars over the last year, we land regularly on the theme of life as an expat, particularly in Berlin. So we’ll start there.

The Full Skinny: (aka. a few directions the talk might go in)

Berlin’s landscape of culture and endless entertainment. Is it all too much of a good thing?

Tonnes of people pour into the city for the opportunity to prioritise their creative ambitions over making money (aka working to live instead of living to work) Is this doable, or, as author Gideon Kewis-Kraus points out, [is] “the main problem with desires, …that they’re not nearly as authoritative as we wish they were.”

Wahl(los)berliner: Over 700,000 residents (nearly a 5th of Berlin) are not German natives. Many have been here long-term (aka 10-20+ years) paying taxes, starting families, contributing to the city. But they are not allowed to vote. How does a city that does not encourage investing (politically or otherwise) in permanence hope to actively encourage democracy?

Gentrification: a lot of us came here to escape gentrification in our home cities. Particularly over the last three years Berlin has seen long-standing venues closing down at feverish speeds and high-rises going up just as fast. What does this mean for the city?

Friendships/relationships: In the age of digital nomadism, in which this city plays an ever-increasing role, what do stable friendships/relationships look like and how do we find them? Do big-tech-chaperoned social media platforms (fb, bumble etc, even Meetup) actually nurture such endeavours or are they false prophets in a world where our best friends have increasingly become our phones?

As usual:

• A web page with related readings/podcasts/conversational fodder will go up in the coming weeks so stay tuned for that.
• Anti-flake policy in effect. (For those new to these events, you can cancel your RSVP up to 48 hrs before the day of the event. Those who don’t cancel and don’t show will be automatically relegated to the wait-list for last-minute spots to future events.