Alon
Walking the #BerlinCSD route from end to beginning. I'm hearing I Will Survive, and trying to come up in real time with a filk addressing that Gloria Gaynor became homophobic after performing it.
Jul 26, 2025 at 1:59pmMastodon for Android
Show threadAlonJul 26, 2025

There is a delegation of marchers with Ukrainian flags, Ukrainian national emblems, and a Belarusian opposition flag. :)

And so far two corporate trucks (Duolingo, Rewe) say "nie wieder."

There is also a leather delegation with men wearing gimp suits and puppy masks, then a marcher with an EU Pride flag, then one with a red-and-black Antifa flag. Corporate Pride is still Pride. #BerlinCSD

Show threadAlonJul 26, 2025
I want to mock Axel-Springer for bringing its own nie wieder truck, but to give credit where due, Die Welt's coverage of the self-ID law was measured enough that it let Buschmann sell the law to the readers; for the UK equivalent of Die Welt, The Times, that's unthinkable. Bild even took the side of Israeli Jews posting hostage posters in October 2023 over the side of the cops who were removing these posters. #BerlinCSD
Show threadAlonJul 26, 2025

BVG brought both a bus and a truck with LGBTQ decorations. No complaints about them today. Tomorrow, we go back to complaining about train delays. #BerlinCSD

(Alt-text on pics on Bluesky, copy-pasting four alt-texts is hard. https://bsky.app/profile/alonlevy.bsky.social/post/3luutltkx7222)

Show threadAlonJul 26, 2025

Many corporate trucks with nie wieder slogans. The only one without it: Deutsche Bank.

But also a truck by the LGBTQ refugee support group Schwulenberatung Berlin. Consider supporting them if you can. https://schwulenberatungberlin.de/

#BerlinCSD

Show threadAlonJul 26, 2025
Things are winding down, and I found this sign, which I'd seen someone hold two hours ago, abandoned face-down. #BerlinCSD
Show threadAnders NorénJul 26, 2025

@Alon
My third last post on Twitter was this photo from Leipziger Platz two years ago:

#BerlinCSD

Show threadPowen ShiahJul 26, 2025
@Alon I think “nie wieder still” (what a silly mix of English and German) is the official slogan/motto/theme of the #BerlinCSD this year and the corporate trucks seem to be required to feature each year’s official theme. https://csd-berlin.de/kampagne
Kampagne – Berlin Pride | CSD Berlin 26.07.2025

Berlin Pride | CSD Berlin 26.07.2025
Show threadAlonJul 26, 2025
@polexa But Deutsche Bank didn't as far as I could see. Is it because the rules don't apply to them? :D
Show threadPowen ShiahJul 26, 2025
@Alon from skipping through the RBB livestream, maybe it was only on one side?
Show threadAlonJul 26, 2025
@polexa Hmmm, different truck, maybe? This is what I saw.
Show threadPowen ShiahJul 26, 2025
@Alon I think it's the same one, somehow combined Vorspiel e.V. and DB Pride? (starts at 1:38:04 ish with the one side, the other side is shown at 1:39:31) https://youtu.be/qx9UeDQ3DcI?t=5940
CSD Berlin 2025: Live von der Demo | Christopher Street Day

YouTube
Show threadPowen ShiahJul 26, 2025
@Alon Sorry, I'm not sure why/if this matters so much to me. I think it's more latent discomfort with the same slogan everywhere, but knowing that something gross in the past probably happened that lead to it.
Show threadAlonJul 26, 2025
@polexa It's cringe, but that memorialization of the Holocaust works very well for understanding 2020s homophobia, in which the status of a minority group can collapse in just a few years while all our friends from outside the group look away and make up reasons why we deserve it.
Show threadCidneyJul 26, 2025
@Alon I love you.