Tag Archives: culture

Image rights: by George Gastin, Design: Katja Avant-Hard

When startups are trying to reach the moon with paying an intern €300/m, it is clear – their business model is wrong. They are fooling you by saying “you will have a great chance to learn how to… and you’ll get individual tasks and responsibilities where you can show your creativity and strategic thinking”. In translation to the reality language this actually means: ” You will work 40+ hours a week, replacing an employee who otherwise would have been paid at least €2000/m”. Mummy does not pay my rent, daddy does not cover my food expenses. And I say I need a health insurance, which I cannot pay for when I only have €300/m.

Once I left a negative comment on a company’s Facebook page under an unpaid internship offer, to which they said:“If we could pay, we would; we all work for this project with a great passion and hope to find interns who will share this vision with us”. And when I said :” Can’t pay, don’t hire. You don’t work for free yourself, why should anyone?”, they deleted the post entirely. After a similar comment on Praktikum Berlin not only they deleted my comment, but also blocked me from commenting or liking their posts.

They don’t want to hear me on Facebook, then they will have to hear me speaking out loud on the 13th of November at Supermarkt where I will be giving a masterclass presentation on this very important topic. After a coffee break Nicholas Wenzel from InternsGoPro will join us for an open discussion.

This free workshop will give a deep insight into the different aspects of an internship across the world. We will discuss what is a useful internship and what is illegal. I will talk about the biggest internship scandals in 2013 wrapping it up with Berlin startups policy. A great collection of videos, comics, stats and infographics will be provided for visitors to understand the problem and see possible solutions.

Please share the Facebook event with anyone who might be interested: DIY MASTERCLASS: Know Your Rights! Internship Culture in Berlin

↓ The most creative way how to leave the company which destroys your life.

On this same topic a new promising German article, which I recommend to read: The Local: If the Internship is Really bad, Walk away.

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Masterclass Programme
14:00 Presentation from Katja Petrova on the problem with unfair internships, intern laws across the world, material and psychological aspects of unfair internships, case studies with source material from a range of articles, video and activist resources, problematic startups business models in Germany, and last but not least, solutions!
15:00 Open discussion where participants are welcome to share ideas, fears and experiences.
15:30 Coffee break
16:00 Nicholas Wenzel from InternsGoPro, a European community fighting for intern rights, presents his activities, ideas and action plans, including building a team of activists and a possible demonstration in Berlin in March 2014.
17:30 Hosts will be available for private talks and consultations.

Cost: The Masterclass is free, but a donation box will be present should you wish to make a contribution to the host organisations.

Language: The language of presentation will be English.

Registration: Please register your attendance by sending an email to rsvp@supermarkt-berlin.net with the subject heading “Intern Rights”. Everyone is invited to attend and participate in this Masterclass, especially activists and those who have come across this problem and/or experienced Berlin’s internship culture first-hand.

I thank Supermarkt for all their help ans support!

What Makes Berlin “Poor, but Sexy?” [infographic]

September 11, 2013

Images

Where do you cycle?

April 13, 2012

Images, Quotes, Review, thoughts, Video

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Image taken from: http://www.rad-spannerei.de/

Most of us learn cycling at an early age, what contributes to the development of a child, both morally and physically. We learn how to focus circling the obstacles, keeping the balance and making sure we do not run into neighbor’s car. Later in life we understand all the advantages of cycling for real..

Moving from a small city to Riga in 2003, – meant no bicycle. Even though the roads are wide, the amount of cars and busses is too high, especially early in the mornings and around 6pm. The traffic gets insane, and the blockages on the streets do not dissolve for hours. There were no bicycle paths in Riga until last year, still there are just a few. Therefore you can count cyclists on your fingers! I could only cycle, visitting my grandparents on the countryside. The situation in Riga is hopefully starting to change now little by little.

Going to Amsterdam and Copenhagen in 2008, made me think for how long i have not cycled!

Today Amsterdam is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world and is a centre of bicycle culture. 38% of all journeys in the city are made by bicycle. Most main streets have bike paths. Bike racks are ubiquitous throughout the city. There are about 700,000 bicycles in the city. Each year, about 100,000 of them are stolen and 25,000 end up in the canals (“Amsterdam Fietst” (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2007-03-06. Retrieved 2007-04-19.)

BUT

Netherlands had to fight really hard for their ability to cycle!

Image by FaceMePLS via flickr under a Creative Commons license

In Denmark there is everything made for people. The government always tries to improve cycling infrastructure: by providing small road lamps for fast cycling, pumps, painting especially dangerous turns in blue, leaving the car roads brick laid, so the cyclists can go on the pavement and many other things. So, the cyclists here feel really safe, going by hundreds day and night. And nothing can stop them! Young, old, pregnant, businessmen, in mini skirts, with kids on the board etc. everyone cycles!

Image by MaxKatz. Taken from http://maxkatz.livejournal.com/57083.html

Pay attention to where the car parking is. Image by MaxKatz

The cyclists stay before the cars! Image by MaxKatz

Now this is super cool! Image by MaxKatz

Image taken from: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/

Now Berlin.

Just like in Amsterdam the first thing you have to be aware of is that cycling roads are everywhere, and very often on the pavement, so you can easily get hurt by bike! There are plenty bike shops around, for buying, renting or fixing your bike.

Stolen bikes for the price of 30 euros are available on flea markets. But I’d try Craigslist first.

Berliners just like Danes and Dutch cycle almost 12 months a year. But this is what sometimes happens when you wake up early in the morning….

Image taken form: http://www.worldhum.com/

In comparison to London, where cyclists are squeezed and are forced to slip among busses and cars, Berlin streets are nice and wide (in most of the places). There are not so many hills in Berlin, at least not as many as parks, where you can go down the cycling path.

Don’t know about the other 2 cities, but Berlin surely breaks the rules, and the car drivers and also pedestrians will scream at you.

The other thing which is so typical to creative city Berlin is the usage of old bicycles as shop signs or marketing tools. The other day I saw a bike locked at the crossing with a shoe glued to the pedal, which was a sign for a shoe shop..

I personally smile when I walk or cycle to work. I see fathers with a kid sitting behind him or a mother with 3 kids in the front basket. The other day when the father was pushing his pedals the little boy was singing songs filling the street with his baby language. I just wish I could see the same scene in Riga…

There are bike workshops too! So, you can make your individual one. Just recently there was a Berlin Bicycle show to celebrate bicycle culture, gathering a great amount of fans and showing all kind of bicycles made by all kind of people and companies.