B EAST Magazine website

Dec 10, 2009

It’s not the Hopenhagen effect, though going green and ‘being green’ are more closely linked than has been discussed. (Just roll one up and think about it. Sure, an hour or two later you’re still going to be sitting here and thinking about it instead of going out there and creating some scary carbon footprints.!) It’s the Amsterdam effect. And, since we called it years ago, we feel good crowing about it in public now that it’s come to pass.

In yet another sign that Prague is the New Amsterdam, the Czech government went one step further this week towards legalising cannabis. From Jan 1, 2010 onwards, Czechs can grow upto five marijuana plants or carry couple Js in their pockets without fear of criminal prosecution. Marijuana has already been semi-legal in Prague for years, with most bars looking aside as clients rolled up a spliff, and dealers operating in the open in ‘known’ cafes and clubs. It’s never been a big deal to light one up in Prague, and, unlike its sister city, Amsterdam, the natives do smoke. It’s not just something for the stoner tourists but a local phenomenom, with 22% of Czechs between the ages of 16 and 35 having smoked. We figure it’s much higher than that, at least 50% and over in Prague.

Whatever the real statistics, the government ruling is a legaslative recognition of the realities on the ground. Since the Velvet Revolution, Czechs have been the most dope-friendly nation in Europe, even more than the Dutch, who have spent the last decade cutting back on their freewheeling coffeeshop culture. The country’s mainstream magazine, Reflex openly campaigned for dope legalisation, and its reporter, J.X. Dolezal was hailed as the Czech Hunter S. Thompson. He’s written books like ‘How to Take Drugs’ and ‘Stoned Country’, and . A medical marijuana pharmacy was opened to great fanfare in the center of Prague recently, with even the Mayor attending the event. Though the place was raided and the drugs confiscated a few weeks later, the message is clear: Europe’s dope-mecca is moving East. Now, what we need is some new strain of Beastly weed from the East!

By Joel Alas

Once upon a time, there stood a castle in the center of Berlin. A huge and hulking Baroque monolith, it was built by the Prussian kings to display their power and wealth. But the castle wasn’t powerful enough to survive World War II. It was damaged by bombing, and was later destroyed entirely by the occupying Soviets.

In the 1970s the DDR built the headquarters for its government, the Palast Der Republik, on the same site. But after German reunification, it too was destroyed under the guise of asbestos concerns (though many believe the building’s removal was a symbolic act against the former Soviet East German state).

Now it sits empty. A beautiful green park with boardwalks reaching down to the River Spree has been installed there, enjoyed all summer long by tourists and locals alike.

Over the past decade, a group of powerful and rich (mostly) west Germans have lobbied the government to reconstruct the old Prussian castle (known as the Stadtschloss) on the site. With their good ties with the ruling political parties, they were able to persuade parliament to agree to the plan. The project was budgeted at over half a billion euros, although the cost is expected to skyrocket beyond that. An architectural competition was called, and a boring design by an Italian architect was selected.

Over the past few months, the wheels have been falling off the project. The architectural competition was found to be improperly conducted, and a financial crisis has drained the treasury. Berliners are slowly waking up to the realization that the idea of building a fake castle was stupid to begin with, and makes even less sense in the current economic climate.

Today B EAST magazine announces the first public demonstration against the Stadtschloss. Called “Schloss Mit Lustig! Cancel The Castle!”, the demonstration will take place on Saturday October 17 at 15.00 on the site of the proposed castle. A jumping castle will be on site, and participants are requested to come dressed as royalty to help ridicule this indefensible waste of money.

Later that night, B EAST will host an afterparty for the demonstration at Betahaus in Kreuzberg called “The Only Good Castle is a Jumping Castle.” Our favourite DJs Shameless Limitless will spin some electro-techno-laptoprock, and Linards the Latvian DJ, formerly of Riga’s Space:Garage, will provide visuals.

Get all the details at www.stopstadtschloss.com

Over a year ago, we told you about Iraq’s abandoned embassy in East Berlin. The embassy was deserted by Iraqi diplomats shortly after the fall of the wall, and was promptly forgotten.

We at B EAST decided it was time the deteriorating building was handed back to the public. One sunny weekend in August, we – along with our Berlin friends (the Shameless Limitless DJ team, plus the Berlin Loves You t-shirt crew) – took over the embassy, armed with a generator and a sound system.

Here’s two videos that show what went down:

“The green Zone” from Knut Knutson on Vimeo.