[RARE PERIODICAL OF THE BERLIN SQUATTER MOVEMENT] Der schwarze Kanal [The black canal]. Nos. 0, 2, 4–6 (most likely no more than six issues were published).

Berlin: self-published, 1982. Quartos (29.7 × 21 cm). Original staple-stitched pictorial self-wrappers; 23, [1]; 31, [1]; 31, [1]; 31, [1]; 35, [1] pp. with numerous photographic illustrations. First issue with continuous vertical crease; else very good. Item #P6618

A significant run, lacking only issues 1 and 3, of the very rare successor periodical to the Instand-Besetzer-Post (Restoration squatters post). After the "Instand-Besetzer-Post" ceased weekly publication after only one year, a deficit in information exchange arose within the loosely organized squatter movement in Berlin, which the journal "Der schwarze Kanal" attempted to compensate for. The first issue states: "The most important reason (...) is the tremendous lack of communication within the movement. No neighborhood knows what the other is doing, and the wildest rumors are circulating. (...) Mistrust and resignation are spreading in the absence of knowledge. (...) The newspaper's task is therefore to facilitate communication and discussion within the movement." At the same time, the authors of the first issue did not spare their criticism of the “Instand-Besetzer-Post,” which had increasingly attempted not only to facilitate the exchange of information within the scene, but also to promote its own goals among the Berlin city population. Thus, “Der schwarze Kanal” explicitly positioned itself as an internal journal for the scene, whose sole task it saw as internal communication and discussion: “It cannot fulfill this task if we use it to reaffirm what great guys we are, how lovable, how imaginative, how combative, how consistent, and what else I don't know. (...) With public-relations squatter idylls, we are deceiving the very people who sympathize with us.” (No. 0, p. 2.)

Berlin was affected by large-scale plans in the 1970s and 1980s to demolish the old turn-of-the-century buildings which had been spared during the war, in order to raise new buildings quickly and cheaply in their place. Renovating the old buildings seemed too costly and not profitable enough. West Berlin was a place where the Left increasingly turned away from the Marxist dogmas of 1968. The “Tunix” (“do nothing”) congress, attended by Michel Foucault and Jean-Luc Godard, was regarded as the founding act of an undogmatic alternative movement. The dogmatic Left was widely regarded as a failure and the RAF seen as a phenomenon of dissolution. In any case, the subculture of punk had little use for the various communist theories and forms of organization. This context gave rise to a subculturally dominated Berlin squatters’ movement.

The year 1981 in particular marked the zenith of this development. Numerous buildings were occupied and the “Tuwat” congress was organized, in which the first computer hackers organized as well. Unlike in Frankfurt am Main ten years earlier, the focus was now not on political theories, but on concrete measures to preserve the buildings. This becomes clear from the publications. The “Instand-Besetzer-Post” and „Der schwarze kanal“ dealt with everyday issues of renovation and restoration, but also with the sometimes violent clashes with the police, which were referred to as “Häuserkampf” (urban warfare, or literally: house fight).

As of April 2026, OCLC lists one holding in North America and no further entries, even in Germany.

Price: €450.00

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