Berlin Pride 2022

There are 3 sections.

1.      Anarchist Queer Pride – Nelson and I went to this gathering soon after we arrived in Berlin on July 17th.  It was a relaxed get-together of several hundred people in Mariannenplatz in Kreuzberg.  This odd and compelling performance brought the event to a close.

2.     Brunch at Karim Ainouz’s apartment on July 23rd before the main Pride March.

3.     The main Berlin Pride March.  Everyone I spoke to in Berlin complained about how commercial Pride had become.  Yet it was less commercial than New York in 1992.  There were no contingents – the way U.S. Pride events are normally organized – just amorphous crowds, with the exception of a small contingent protesting the war in Ukraine.  Instead there were about 20 large floats, each playing a different type of music.  It seemed as if people just walked behind the float whose music they liked.  People could walk/dance along, stop to watch, rejoin the procession, just like the old days in New York.  The route meandered around Berlin from Kreuzberg through the Tiergarden past the Siegesauele to the Brandenburg Gate.