When in national headquarters of the Berlin FDP party the 6pm election prognosis is transmitted, cheers broke out. Although the FDP has won only 1.8% and drops out of the House of Representatives of the Berlin Parliament, the result is celebrated, confetti is flying in the air and people are chanting the phenomenal performance of the Free Democrats.

About 50 activists of the Hedonist International, the Party "The Party" and "an unnamed group of guerrilla communication" had put on evening wear and sneaked into the election party, drank a lot of free beer provided by the FDP and celebrate the amazing result wildly.

One activist told the presss pretending to be an FDP fan in an interview: "We had a great tailwind from the German FDP, so we could accomplish this phenomenal vote of less than 2 percent. Without a tough message against Greece this would not have been possible. And so one can say from the result:..the FDP is back ... "

Hedonistische Internationale kapert Wahlparty der FDP from Hedonistische Internationale on Vimeo.

here some press articles (all in German):

• Stern.de 18.9.2011: Röslers Debakel
• DRadio Wissen 19.9.2011: Warum auf der FDP Wahlparty doch noch gefeiert wurde
• Nerdcore.de 18.9.2011: Hedonistische Internationale kapert FDP-Wahlparty
• 20 Minuten CH 19.9.2011 - Nur noch 1,8 Prozent? Großartig!
• junge Welt 20.09.2011 - Aussteigerhilfe des Tages
• Blogchronik der Kommunikationsguerilla - 20.09.2011 - Zum Berliner Wahlerfolg der FDP (1,8%)

Here is some news from the section Minneapolis (USA) which started few days ago with their first action:

First of all, the issue at hand: the government of the state of Minnesota has shut down. Because of the total inability of the two parties to agree on a state budget before the deadline, the government has shut down. However, it isn't exactly an anarchist's paradise -- on the one hand, poor families no longer receive child support; services for the blind and deaf have shut their doors, and thousands of people who work for the state aren't receiving their paychecks. On the other hand, the police are still in full force, and the prisons and courts are operating as normal.

Because we find this totally unacceptable, it was decided to organize a hedonist action to protest the government shutdown. The "Shut Down, Rise Up! Street Party" was born. It took place in Cedar-Riverside, a neighborhood with a radical history but which is now being gentrified and has become the latest hip place for university students.

Around 11:00 PM we met on a street corner and waited for everyone to show up. We had two soundsystems there, the smaller, battery powered "Lorelei" on a bike trailer, and a much larger, generator-powered system. We started the music, and then started heading on the street to dance. Since it was a Friday evening in the middle of a strip of bars, are numbers weren't lacking - approx. 50 people were dancing, with hundreds more watching. For about five minutes we danced in peace, and then the first cops showed up. However, they just provided us with some sweet dance lights for awhile, as their number grew. Eventually, they threatened us with pepper spray, so we moved off the street onto the sidewalk and continued the music and dancing. After about five minutes of this, with about twenty cops assembled, one of them came forward and unplugged the sound systems. The music stopped, but the dancing did not.

There was a bit of unrest as the police attempted to disperse the crowd. One was arrested and charged with "disobeying a lawful order". The police told us that whoever accepted responsibility for the soundsystems would be arrested. Two of us came forward an accepted responsiblity. We were not arrested, however we were both given citations for "Unlawful Assembly" (total bullshit) and our sound systems were confiscated. We should get them back when we pay the fines, which are $180 each. We took a collection and got $125 in donations, and there is a party being planned to help recoup the rest.

All in all: a great success!

.......

Find pictures and videos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64730506@N02/sets/72157626975910857/. Several sections of the Hedonist International greet the Minneapolis section in Solidarity. They are really happy to see the first action of the Hedonist International in North America

The 2nd World Congress of the Hedonists International has finished and everybody has returned from Riebau. At this point, we want to thank everybody who conquered their way to the Altmark! First of all, our thanks go to all of you. You have been the best audience that a festival-congress could ever have! You have been much more than an audience – you have been an active part of the whole congress. You made it what it turned out to be: a small world, in which 300 people have found out in a self-determined and responsible way, what is possible if they just gather and kick off doing the things they want to.

Of course, we want to give our sincere thanks to all the contributors, technicians and DJs as well, and last but not least to all the folks who just came a few days earlier to help. We thank the musicians and artists for the program filled up with punk rock, rock n’ roll, boom-boom and all kinds of wonderful hippieshit. We are grateful for the people who enchanted the area with beautiful decoration, for the team who did the cinema floor and the kitchen crews who provided us with delicious and healthy food. We bow to serious lectures, philosophy and funny hoax. We are happy that you had so much fun and pleasure. That you pestered the contributors with so many questions and thrilled them with your interest. We are overwhelmed by your determination to join in and make the congress such a special place. We have fallen in love with your spontaneity and the smile in your face that has made others smile as well.

Especially, we would like to give props to the people of the „Traumschule Riebau“, who have invited us to their place and let us „do what you want“. We thank the inhabitants of the village, who endured us (and our music) during all four days without grumble. Such a tolerant place isn’t easy to find – we did not get any complaint at all.
Now, we are primarily sad that it’s over. We will take some weeks to decide whether to do it again or not. Anyway, these beautiful memories in our heads are tempting us : )
Please contact us if you want to join us, if you know about a nice potential congress site we should explore or if you have any idea about what should happen at another hedonist world congress.
We are looking forward to hear from you!

Additionally a little information:
We had a few journalists at the congress, who – in our opinion – made some very apposite contributions. Unfortunately, they are all in German.

Unabhängiges Radiofeature
Neues Deutschland 15.6.11: Hightech am Lagerfeuer
Funkhaus Europa 14.6.11: Bericht vom Weltkongress
ON3 Radio 15.6.11: Radikal-Aerobic für Anfänger

During the next days we will upload some podcasts and sheets of the lectures, too.

There are more photos here.

This year, the Hedonist International celebrates its World Congress for the second time. On the site of a former border barrack in Riebau, a small village near Salzwedel in Saxony-Anhalt, there will meet advocates and masterminds, dancers and friends of a good life for all.

The Congress will consist of three topics: protest, party, and action. They will be filled with a wide range of talks and workshops held by political activists, old and new communication guerill@s, scientists, musicians, philosophers, and artists. Please visit http://hedonist-international.org/worldcongress2011/?page_id=318 for further details. There are some talks in English, and we will do our best to provide some basic consecutive translation for the rest.

It seems clear that a hedonist congress without singing and dancing is like summer without sun. That’s why the congress program will be surrounded by music and performances, cinema, and art. After the two congress days Friday and Saturday, the whole thing will end up in a whole-day and open-air dancing workshop on Sunday.

Hard to say if this Hedonist summer camp can be called a festival, a conference, a political gathering or an open air. We assume: something in between all this, with some bits of everything in it. We are sure that it will be a colorful and pleasurable experience.

We want to make sure that people can come to this memorable event in a comfortable and cheap way. From and to Berlin, we have thus organized some shuttle buses which bring you there at the cost price of 8 Euros one-way. The Hedo-Liner (buy tickets here) goes on Thursday and Friday evening from Berlin to Riebau and from Riebau to Berlin on Monday. Please book now! We need to plan the buses and their costs, so it would be great if you arrange to book before June 3rd (Friday) noon.

We are looking forward to meet you under the sun of Riebau!

More Info on the Congress:
http://hedonist-international.org/worldcongress2011/?page_id=310

The Hedonist International’s 2nd World Congress will take place from June 9th to June 13th. It will bring together people from all over the world who are interested in hedonism, to promote their networking and to open new perspectives for resistance. We will discuss theoretical concepts, try new forms of action, talk about social conflicts and about alternative methods of political intervention. Last but not least, we will experience that a happy and good living is possible – here and now. It is foreseen that contributions, panels, and workshops will be added spontaneously.

The Congress program is planned along the topics Protest, Party, and Action.

Protest
The topic „Protest“ will contain theoretical debates as well as discussions about actual political and social conflicts. We want to talk about conditions of life and work we want to achieve and social conditions we want to overcome. Any subject is welcome – fpr us, the most important thing is to attract people who are politically active and who are willing to discuss and to share their knowledge and their experiences with others.

Contributions can deal with rather scientific topics like Predictive Behavioral Targeting, critique of ideology, religion or capitalist economy. They can discuss political concepts as the general basic income or the guarantee of access to public goods as transport, or housing. It could be the critics of lookism, sexism, or gentrification. Maybe you will like to discuss copyright problems, digital rights movement, or censorship. Last but not least, we hope to gather some interesting information about social movements all over the world that hedonists should know something about.
We will invite active political groups who will tell us about their struggles and their concepts.

The lineup of strategical topics will be of similar manifoldness. It copes with questions as “How to politicize common party people?” or “What could Hedonist alliances look like?”. Is there something like a Hedonist agenda? How do we deal with social disparity? What is our concept of revolution, and do we even have one? Is Hedonism a political philosophy and, if yes, what does that mean? How can we become truly “international”? Are we to learn from the 1968 “fun gueriller@s”, and what would we like to respond them?

Party
Obviously, this topic will address - ‘Party’! It will contain workshops and discussions on underground & commercializing, making music and killing music, net labels, on reclaiming public space, on repression, drug politics, and safer use, and about all the technical stuff like PA, lights, and decoration.

Action
Under the topic ‘Action’, we have subsumed practical issues. We want to find and offer solutions to all the problems that arise when you start to act. Creative techniques of protest and demonstration, the arts of adbusting and spreading information alternatively, building pirate radios or mobile sound systems – we want to try new forms of action and promote successful old ones. We will share our experiences and maybe, some spontaneous actions will be the outcome of the work at the Congress. Regarding the good life here and now,, ‘Action’ will contain workshops on, for example, guerilla gardening, yoga practice, and good recipes when you have to cook for many. Healthy pre- and after-party food will be a subject, too. After all, we do want to have a little bit of fun as well!

the preliminary schedule of the congress:
Thursday June 09 arrival, bands, performances, cinema
Friday June 10 day program: workshops and talks
Friday June 10 evening and night program: bands, performances, cinema
Saturday June 11 day program: workshops and talks
Saturday June 11 evening and night program: bands, performances, cinema
Sunday June 12 dance workshop
Monday June 13 surprise, surprise; dismantling

The congress will take place on the location of a former border casern and a former railway station in the village Riebau.

More Information:
http://worldcongress.hedonist-international.org/ (only german at the moment, english following soon)

Supported by the sections "nudist offensive action committee" Aktionskomitee nudistische Offensive (AKNO) and the "alliance for urban mobile acoustic irradiation" Bündnis für urbane Mobilbeschallung (BUMS) the “hedonistic flat viewing rally” section Sektion Hedonistische Wohnungsbesichtigungs-Rally has succeeded once again:

Originally, we wanted to use the statement "The real estate market is relaxed" by Mrs. Junge-Reyer, Berlin's senator for urban development, as the motto of this naked rallye. However, this rallye turned out to be the most stressful one to date. At both flat viewings we visited, the real estate agents immediately called the police, who arrived shockingly late. At the second viewing, two journalists were taken into custody and had to provide identification. This happened at Warschauer Strasse 33, in a luxuriously renovated corner house, offered at a price of 8.50 Euro per square meter, 40% above the upper end of the Mietspiegel margin, which reflects the average local prices and is suggested by the state as an orientation for new leases. After three failed attempts to enter this house, we were excited to finally get a chance to visit this sacred location. We entered through the open front door and the agent of Lion Real Estate had no choice but to watch us dance around the dark apartment for a few minutes.

Earlier that day, we had taken a look at a recently renovated building in Schreinerstrasse 32, that – while lacking any special features – impressed us with its price of 9.60 Euro per square meter, 60% above the upper end of the Mietspiegel (110% above its mean). At this public viewing, we even met actual apartment seekers, who appeared startled to see us. The dancing was laid-back until the real estate agent lost his head, prompting us to end the event.

At both viewings, we were accompanied by journalists from dapd, AFP, an Israeli camera crew and a radio reporter. Although the list of journalists still still waiting to report on one of our rallyes is long, we have decided to go into hibernation and suspend our naked appearances over the winter. We will, however, use the time to investigate new and unusual forms of protest, suitable for raising awareness for serious social issues. Uncontrolled and thus sky-high rental prices are indeed a serious issue with a direct impact on the livelihoods of many. As Berlin's Senate is pushing a legislative initiative in the Bundesrat, political pressure in every German city is more important than ever.

A lot of german sections of the Hedonist International mobilize to protests against nuclear power. The protests will take place in the Wendland district starting November 5th when the conservative-neoliberal governmemt will bring tons of nuclear waste to this area. The protests will propably the largest against atomic power since years, because the german government prolongues the use of nuclear power for more than 14 years.

Sections of the Hedonist International are organized in a coalition with club collectives, cultural initiatives and subculture initiative which is called "Atomkraft wegbassen" (Bass away nuclear power). More than 60 groups signed the call for action. You can have a look at the website at: http://atomkraftwegbassen.blogsport.de

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The nudist offensive action committee (Aktionskomitee nudistische Offensive (AKNO)), the alliance for urban mobile acoustic irradiation
(Bündnis für urbane Mobilbeschallung (BUMS)) and the "hedonistic flat viewing rally" (Sektion "Hedonistische Wohnungsbesuchtigungs-Rally") section completed another flat viewing rally on Sunday, September 26:

Berliners don't have a lot of purchasing power - some people have to pay so much rent that they can no longer afford clothes. That's why on
Sunday, September 26, we went to another flat viewing in Kreuzberg without a stitch on. Although the apartment passed our party test, we were pissed about the rent of 11,50 euros per square meter – that’s excluding utilities and heating costs. Trying to find someone stupid enough to pay that price borders on illicit profiteering (Mietwucher).

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Basically, the law says that overpriced rental offers are illegal if demand exceeds supply in the housing market and apartment-seekers have no choice but to accept these offers. For this rule to apply, however, a housing shortage has to be officially established by the authorities. If a shortage is determined, demanding a rent which exceeds the reference value suggested in the “Mietspiegel” (rent index, an official document issued by the state detailing average housing prices) by more than 20% constitutes an administrative offense, and prices exceeding this value by 50% or more are treated as a criminal offense. In the latter case, signed lease agreements can be changed to reflect an average rental price.

Anyone currently seeking an affordable apartment in Friedrichshain will tell you that there is a dramatic shortage in affordable housing - the situation is no different in other districts.

Against profiteering in the housing market – for fair living conditions!

For price fixing in the housing market (Mietbindung) – new leases have to reflect commensurate reference values!

Do your own flat viewing rally – anywhere!

Shout-out to the Fette Mieten-Parties Hamburg, to the Fette Mieten-Parties Zürich and to Jeudi Noir in Paris!

The action committee nudist offensive Aktionskomitee nudistische Offensive (AKNO), the alliance for urban mobile acoustic irradiation Bündnis für urbane Mobilbeschallung (BUMS) and the "hedonistic flat viewing rally" (Sektion "Hedonistische Wohnungsbesuchtigungs-Rally") section have completed another flat viewing rally on Sunday, August 8:

“Although both apartments passed our party test, we are pissed off that such apartments cost some 10 Euros rent per square meter excluding utilities and heating cost nowadays. Trying to find someone stupid enough to pay that price borders illicit profiteering (Mietwucher). The law forbids overpriced offers, if demand exceeds supply in the housing market and apartment-seekers have no choice, but to accept these offers. If a shortage is established, demanding a rent exceeding the reference value suggested in the “Mietspiegel” (an official document issued by the state detailing average housing prices) constitutes an administrative offense, and prices exceeding this value by 50% or more are treated as a criminal offense. In the latter case, signed lease agreements can be changed to reflect an average rental price.
Anyone currently seeking an affordable apartment in Friedrichshain will tell you that there is a dramatic shortage in affordable apartments. And the situation is no different in other districts. Those who do not believe this – like the senator for urban development, Ingeborg Junge-Reyer (“The housing market in Berlin is 'relaxed'.”), might not be convinced until an unusually fair housing offer is advertised and hundreds of people gather for the flat viewing. We shall see...”

Against profiteering in the housing market – for fair living conditions!
For price fixing in the housing market (Mietbindung) – new leases have to reflect commensurate reference values!

Do your own flat viewing rally – anywhere!

Shoutout to the Fette Mieten-Parties Hamburg, to the Fette Mieten-Parties Zürich and to Jeudi Noir in Paris!