Slow Food Ready For Berlin Demonstration!

Once again, Berlin is gearing up for Wir Haben Es Satt (We Are Fed Up): a huge demonstration against industrial farming that has taken over the city center every January since 2010. The demonstration, organized by a broad coalition of civil society organizations including Slow Food Germany, sees farmers, consumers, chefs and beekeepers, along with animal welfare, environmental and anti-GMO campaigners, take to the streets to call for a change to our food system and an end to factory farming.

Taking place on Saturday January 18, the main speaker of the closing rally this year will be Carlo Petrini, president and founder of the Slow Food movement. Following the demonstration, during a series of presentations, Petrini will be joined by Slow Food Germany President, Ursula Hudson in a discussion on youth in agriculture, together with the German Small Farmers’ Association (AbL), and various other organizations of young farmers.

As in previous years, the Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN) in Germany is also playing a key role, organizing events in the run up to the demonstration. With Berlin the birthplace of the action that makes a bold statement about food waste known as Disco Soup – an event that went global in 2013 with events in New York, São Paolo and South Korea – SFYN is bringing the event home. On the night before the demonstration, they inviting members of the public to come and join them as they chop kilos of vegetables that would otherwise have gone to waste (accompanied by live music). A huge soup will then be made from the vegetables and served to demonstrators the following day.

The demonstration is held in January to coincide with International Green Week, the world’s largest agricultural fair, and importantly, the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture attended by more than 80 departmental ministers, including EU Agricultural Commissioner Cioloş – both held in Berlin at this time. The demonstration will therefore be held in front of both an international and political audience. In 2013, despite freezing temperatures, an estimated 25,000 people came to the event.

Find out more:

• Official call to action: why the demonstration is happening
• Full programme
• Facebook event for the demonstration
• Facebook event for the Disco Soup
• Twitter: @WirHabenEsSatt2 or #wearefedup
• Map of demonstration route