The neighborhood platform that wants to fight McDonald’s in Kreuzberg. Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
I read in Der Spiegel a “funny” piece of news: McDonald’s plans to build one of its establishments in Kreuzberg, the Berlin neighborhood known worldwide for its “alternative” culture, as they say in Der Spiegel, and for its high concentration of Döner Kebabs. Of course, the intentions of the global hamburger chain have met with the rejection of the residents, who have already set up a protest platform. Strictly nutritional concerns have joined the political awareness against globalization.
It is likely that Kreuzberg is currently, in addition to being one of the few MacDonald’s-free zones in the world, along with North Korea and Tibet, one of the most attractive neighborhoods, due to its cultural effervescence, for the youngest layers of the global creative class. Beyond the anecdote, we are once again faced with the poignant contradiction: it is precisely the presence in Kreuzberg of artists, cultural spaces, and “alternative” lifestyles that has made McDonald’s set its sights on the neighborhood… the cycles of gentrification are well known and present very few variations. McDonald’s, who are already very experienced in these matters, have postponed the construction of the restaurant until after the G8 summit next June in Heiligendamm (Germany).
Technorati Tags: city, gentrification
