“Sociologists who study organizations sometimes use the term ‘field’ to describe a set of organizations linked together as competitors and collaborators within a social space devoted to a particular type of action — such as a market for certain products, the pursuit of urban development, or the realm of electoral politics. Agreements struck among the organizations that compose a field set the bounds on what kinds of organizational and individual action are possible.”
—Nicole Marwell, Bargaining for Brooklyn: Community Organizations in the Entrepreneurial City
When I read Bargaining for Brooklyn: Community Organizations in the Entrepreneurial City in a class my sophomore year, we focused on three chapters of how community-based organizations (CBOs) help their communities. From improving places to live to amplifying residents’ voices in politics, CBOs often fill the gap left from traditional politics that overlook marginalized groups of people. Before reading the Marwell’s book, I was interested in learning more about the true connection between the world of politics and the world of organizations that are community-based. Marwell’s research showed how CBOs can engage in a “more complicated, and technically legal, exchange of resources for votes— a three-way, indirect transaction involving not just the CBO and the client/voter, but also the elected official” (111).
Figure from Nicole Marwell’s “Bargaining for Brooklyn” that explains the relationship between the larger political environment and community-based organizations (CBO).
While I do not pretend to know a lot about politics in Berlin, I do know that many at EOTO are politically aware. But just like many Black people in the U.S., they are not entirely dependent on political parties because “Black” issues are very rarely integrated into the platform of mainstream political parties. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is the oldest political party of Germany and one of the world’s first Marxist’s influenced political parties. They also have the most seats in parliament. The political party with the second most number of seats in Berlin’s parliament is a party that is almost the opposite of the SPD: the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The CDU is centrist and its most defining feature is basing their policies around “the Christian understanding of man and his responsibility before God.”
When the debate around renaming the streets in the Afrikanisches Viertel entered the political sphere, both representatives from the SPD and CDU responded in their own ways. The CDU designed posters with the slogan: ‘Against the renaming of streets in the Afrikanisches Viertel’. Meanwhile, the SPD saw the renaming of streets as a possibility, but it was not a priority of the party, nor did they put it anywhere in their party platform. After the elections to Mitte borough’s deputy chamber, a new coalition of CDU and SPD agreed not to rename any streets in the Afrikanisches Viertel during the new legislature (2011–2016). Instead, they agreed upon to funding a project to learn more about the colonialist origin of the Afrikanisches Viertel, and to set up a slab to inform visitors about the history of German colonialism in Africa.
While Berlin, and Germany as a whole, positions itself as more progressive than the United States in some ways, there are still some downfalls. Politics on its own will not save Black Berliners from Germany’s colonial history. Although Berlin is a multicultural city, there are still pockets of people left out of traditional politics. Black Berliners carry the history of colonialism, human zoos, and present-day erasure with them and are not particularly represented in mainstream politics. EOTO fills that void and occupies a very unique “field” as far as Berlin-based eingetragener Verein (translation: registered association).
I have always found it difficult to accurately describe EOTO to people back in the United States; it is a non-profit organization, but it is so much more. In my own words, EOTO is in the field of social advocacy by way of Black empowerment. According to a description provided by Black Lives Matter Berlin, EOTO’s name carries the meaning of standing for “unconventional ways of overcoming states of unknowing through non-hierarchical learning processes.” Historically, the phrase designates moments of knowledge production as forms of resistance against oppressive systems. For me, I found the name of the organization to be interesting because it is an African American proverb. I would often hear my older relatives use the phrase as it was something used during slavery when the enslaved where not allowed to read. Not knowing how to read and write hindered the enslaved in many ways. Most notably, they could not interpret newspaper articles and were often kept in the dark about things happening beyond their master’s home. Some, of course, defied the odds and learned to read and write. For those who were the exception, it was their duty to teach others.
The work of EOTO has inspired my research on the renaming of streets in Afrikanisches Viertel to serve in the field of social advocacy by way of Black empowerment and urban planning/development. Afrikanisches Viertel (translation: African Quarter) in its creation was not an ethnic enclave, such as Chinatowns in U.S. cities; it was a name imparted on a neighborhood before over 1,000 African immigrants moved there in the 1990s. The renaming of streets is an act of decolonization by not accepting the honoring of colonists to be accepted.
EOTO has a broad mission of advocacy and education for Black Berliners, and they are not alone in their mission. Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland Bund e.V. (translation: Initiative Black People in Germany Bund eV) and Black Lives Matter Berlin often collaborate with EOTO because of their shared missions. No Humboldt 21! is not particularly focused on Black Berliners, but the campaign takes an anti-colonialist stance. They are demanding that “the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace be ceased and that a public debate is held: the current concept violates the dignity and property rights of communities in all parts of the world, it is Eurocentric and restorative. The establishment of the Humboldt Forum is a direct contradiction to the aim promoting equality in a migration society.”
Within the U.S., EOTO is looking for organizations that are similar to them: places that have a library and have opportunities for Black people’s empowerment through policy and advocacy work. So far, a comparable organization is Said Institute. They are based out of Houston, Texas, but also have an office in Brooklyn, NYC. I would encourage EOTO to look at nonprofits in the United States that have a shared mission as them, but do not have libraries. I believe EOTO could learn a lot from working with organizations that work with African Americans. Sometimes I feel as though Africans Americans are seen as privileged because we live in America, but there are not enough nuances to the intergenerational pain and trauma that we endure.
I’m delighted to read that you have read Marwell’s book! I think she offers a useful and flexible framework for understanding how CBOs mediate between citizens (some unaffiliated) and government. She also shows how these CBOs can sometimes exist in tension between being advocates and being power brokers. Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, which is now RISEBORO, for example, was long accused of corruption. Its founder Vito Lopez was targeted in particular since he quickly rose in the ranks of the city’s Democratic machine after founding the Council. So one issue that seems to come up in many efforts to correct historical power imbalances is increasingly corrupt leadership and the increasing exclusion of new voices. This seems particularly exacerbated when there are material wins at stake — housing in the case of Riseboro or Los Sures, or maybe street name changes in Berlin — and when there are a lot of “players” on the “field” who are working against each other. That is to say that partnerships and coalition between different organizations in a field (seem to) need to be transparent, revisited regularly, non-competitive, and flexible. That kind of explains how our fellowship works, actually! But it should also explain how groups like No Humboldt 21 and EOTO might work together successfully and not at cross-purposes — AND how they might better serve constituents. At this point, it doesn’t seem like the warning signs I’ve listed above are even a murmur for orgs like EOTO, but they are worth considering in the long-term, which I’m sure Nadja et al. are doing. Have you heard of adrienne maree brown’s new book EMERGENT STRATEGY? You might like it. It speaks to some of the above. And I will also think about EOTO-like orgs in the U.S….
Yes! Since EOTO is relatively new and well-received by the Black community here, I haven’t noticed any warning signs. Since they are applying to renew their grant right now, I know they are looking for long-term partnerships with other organizations in the area. I’m not sure of how active No Humboldt 21 is right now because their website hasn’t been updated since 2018, but I’m sure their core members would find it beneficial to work with EOTO in some way.
I haven’t heard of Emergent Strategy but I will definitely check it out from Bobst when I’m back on campus. I read a summary of it that said the book is written in the tradition of Octavia Butler so I’m already sold.