The Korean Women’s Group in Berlin (Koreanische Frauengruppe in Berlin e.V.) was formed in 1978 in protest against the Court’s decision to send Korean nurses back to their home country, whose help Germany had enlisted earlier out of an urgent shortage of caretakers. The group has been active in various political engagement ever since. With “Asian Women’s Film Festival” the Korean Women’s Group wants to confront prevalent stereotypes with their own multi-layered, contradictory images of Asia.
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Popularity: 46%
September 14th, 2007
Posted by
em8chel <<
a Taiwanese in Berlin >>
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I went to Saturn, an electronics chain store to buy a power plug adapter for my trip to London. As I was explaining to a staff what I was looking for, someone walked on by behind me and muttered, “just go back to Asia!” When I turned around to thank him for his travel recommendation, all I could see was the back of a middle-aged man disappearing into the crowd. “What a friendly travel agent,” I withdrew my gaze and wanted to be clever. The staff just looked at me, silent and expressionless, waiting for me to finish my unfinished inquiry.
Popularity: 29%
April 14th, 2007
Posted by
em8chel <<
a Taiwanese in Berlin, close encounter of the slurred kind >>
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For many expats, one of their biggest gripes is how expensive books are in Germany, especially imported English books. The Buchpreisbindungsgesetz not only stipulates a book’s price but also prohibits publishers and bookstores to sell it for any less. The idea is to protect the value of books as a cultural heritage by exempting it from the “supply and demand” inevitability of a free market, as well as protecting the smaller, independent bookstores from being disadvantaged by a more competitive pricing chain stores more capable of sustaining. Amazon Germany is also subject to the same regulation. Since 2004 customers were no longer able to use coupons for book purchases. Thank goodness at least free shipping for books is not verboten. I can see that the heart of the law is in the right place, but on the other hand you’d have to wonder at the end of the day if book lovers aren’t the real underdog with the heaviest burden to bear?
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Popularity: 44%
March 2nd, 2007
Posted by
em8chel <<
a Taiwanese in Berlin, a site for sore eyes, judge a book by its lover >>
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