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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

the insanity of the world (or at least significant parts of it) in a nutshell.

Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Academic News: Finally, my article on adventure playgrounds as sites of democratic learning in the Federal Republic of Germany is freely available. What slides, swings, and constructing wooden huts in concrete desserts have to do with democracy. academic.oup.com/gh/article/4...

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Spending the summer in Brittany, a place to simply forget about the madness of the world. And it fills me with nothing but bewilderment that it seems impossible for humanity to simply enjoy the immense beauty that this world has to offer.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

Next heat wave in Berlin looks even worse. Maybe people will eventually take climate change seriously. Oh, and no rain whatsoever.

weather forecast for Berlin until Monday, 21 July, showing 40° C for 20 July.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

With all the bleak news about Trump, the AfD, etc., I sometimes think about history as a message in a bottle: that something else, better is possible. This photo is, to me, such a message: a message from a world of joy, of laughter, of intimacy that is not sexualized; a world beyond patriarchy.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Pleasant things in life: the smell of warm summer rain.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

The other day, I saw a huge ad for a vibrator at a Berlin railway station. Nothing secret, nothing hidden about sex toys. Imagine a world in which we could spend the resources, the creativity, that now go (and have to go, sadly) into rearmament on developing better sex toys.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

In Berlin, The Left came out first. This will be interesting when a new regional parliament is elected next year. (For the record, I have sympathies for their clear stance against the far right, much more committed than the Greens, but their foreign policy ideas are... scaring me.)

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

To inspire to try to build coalitions, to challenge power in subversive forms, to organize, and to build alternatives to what is here and now, without ignoring "dark sides" and unintended outcomes. The point is in trying, failing, and trying again. (6/6)

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Beautiful snowy morning in Berlin. Just ignore the news.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

The lesson history can provide for the present seems to be all about the rise of authoritarian / fascist regimes. But history also provides another lesson: people taking to the streets, reimagining society, challenging power can actuall win, as they did in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Writing Diary (working on a new project, provisionally entitled: Building Futures: Europe 1917-1939): ca. 500 words each over the last three days. That's a pace I'm happy with, though it still takes too long to get words on paper. But I'm writing again! (About more hopeful times...)

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

An important piece that has been going around recently (which is, of course, a bit ironic given the article's argument): www.404media.co/you-cant-pos...

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Gab es eigentlich nach den Morden von Hanau irgendwelche Gesetzesverschärfungen, oder zumindest Vorschläge, um ähnliches künftig zu verhindern? Präventiver Hausarrest, Fußfesseln mit Trackern, oder wenigstens schärfere Kontrollen beim Waffenrecht? Just wondering, you know. And: Say their Names!

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Bei Kaufland... who the hell would eat that?!

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 08/11/2024

A simple lesson from history, from a historian of protesting: Taking to the streets can make a difference. Organizing matters. Action matters. Mobilization matters. Envisioning a better future matters. It's possible to fail, to be defeated; and then it's time to get up and try again.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 02/11/2024

To me, this is what history has to offer to the present: the inspiration to imagine something different, the encouragement to struggle for a concrete utopia. This is why it's worth telling the stories of "paths not taken," whether in the Spanish Civil War, in May 68, or in the Syrian Revolution. 4/4

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 02/11/2024

To find inspiration for imagining a different future, for envisioning the kinds of solidarities that cross boundaries, I'd suggest turning to those who actually built such solidarities, such as the Sans Papiers movement in France that re-envisioned citizenship beyond national belonging. 3/X

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 02/11/2024

I've started reading Gary Wilder's Concrete Utopianism (2022), an attempt to imagine alternatives to the current state of the world based on what already exists; it's an attempt to go beyond the fatalistic pessism of much of current leftist thinking without buying into naive neoliberal optimism. 1/X

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

History Post: There's a lot of talk about historical analogies between today and the (late) Weimar Republic. The French Popular Front, and especially its defeat, might actually be a more interesting comparison. Elected in 1936 after a period of great and enthusiastic mobilization, ... 1/X

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

The book by Major Waldemar Fydrych tells the story of Orange Alternative in 1980s Wroclaw, where Fydrych and his comrades staged colorful happenings mocking the authorities. Written as a biography, it's a book to make you laugh, lively and full of humor. I cover Orange Alternative also in my book:

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

With all the new followers, I feel pressured to actually post something. So I'll start a short series with "best books" on the history of protesting, some by famous scholars, others by obsucre activists. I start with an absolute gem: Lives of the Orange Men. www.akpress.org/lives-of-the...

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

PS: If I post, I do so mostly to promote my latest book, so here we go, not least because it's now available in paperback (and thus affordable): www.amazon.de/-/en/Joachim...

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 03/10/2024

Official release day of the paper back copy of Beauty Is in the Street -- £12.99, even cheaper on Amazon. penguin.co.uk/books/321011... A short thread on why I think histories of protesting matter today, and what I try to do in the book:

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 03/09/2024

Photo und Überschrift beschreiben das Elend der Grünen: sie verharren in einer Jammerpose. Ok, ist verständlich nach dem Wahlausgang, aber es ist nicht neu (und begann eigentlich schon während des Bundestagswahlkampfs 2021). /1

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 02/09/2024

Angesichts der Wahlergebnisse sollte sich nicht zuletzt die (lehrende!) Geschichtswissenschaft fragen, was sie macht. Vielleicht täte sie gut daran nicht nur mahnend zu erinnern, auf dass sich Geschichte nicht wiederhole, sondern zu zeigen wie Geschichte Hoffnung auf eine bessere Zukunft geben kann.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 27/08/2024

A week ago or so, I did a lovely interview with Morteza Hajizadeh about Beauty Is In the Street. If you'd like to hear me talking about the book, some of its stories, and why I believe histories of protesting can be an inspiration, listen to our conversation. newbooksnetwork.com/beauty-is-in...

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 22/08/2024

I tell some of these stories in my book Beauty is in the Street: workers' struggles for autonomy from both bosses and established unions; Radio Alice in Bologna seeking to explode communication itself; urban struggles in Rome not just for lower rents, but for a liveable city. 2/3

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 21/08/2024

In personal news, a first review on amazon.com of Beauty is in the Street. Short, but five stars! www.amazon.com/Beauty-Stree...

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 14/08/2024

Last week we went for long walks in the woods around my home town of Heidelberg. The ground was covered with wildly overgrown blackberry hedges. Another consequence of climate change, and not a good one (no tasty blackberries!). www.faz.net/aktuell/wiss...

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 09/03/2024

Spent two lovely days in the UK at Unis Warwick and Sheffield, seeing old friends and talking about "Beauty is in the Street." Many thanks for the engaging discussions. If anyone is interested in me reflecting on what a history of protesting has to offer in our present times, please do reach out!

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 14/02/2024

Last December, I did a wonderful interview with Lucie Hunter at the Review of Democracy podcast about my book Beauty is in the Street. The interview is now online. I hope it gives a sense of what I'm trying to accomplish in the book. revdem.ceu.edu/2024/02/13/b...

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 29/01/2024

Returning, if only virtually, to my previous employer, Warwick History, I talked to my former colleague Roberta Bivins' students about my book Citizens and Refugees. It was a lovely conversation, and I'd be happy to talk to other students anywhere else!

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 05/01/2024

And yet, they were a space were people tried, with lots of enthusiasm, to start building a better world, here and now, against all odds, not least combatting the everyday racism they encountered amongst kids and parents. That gave playgrounds a utopian but practical dimension.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 05/01/2024

Engaging in such constructive games, children would learn to be creative, to cooperate, to negotiate conflicts, and ultimately become good democratic citizens, or so adventure playground activists hoped.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 05/01/2024

An alternative to those conventional playgrounds were adventure playgrounds, first developed in Denmark in 1943, then popularized in the UK; the first such playground in Germany opened in 1967 in Märkisches Viertel, West Berlin.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 05/01/2024

Conventional playgrounds looked all the same; their equipment did not encourage curiosity, creativity or cooperation amongst children, but imposed order upon children: children simply learned to obey on such playgrounds.

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 05/01/2024

According to many pedagogues and playgrounds designers, usually with leftist leanings, playgrounds were deeply political spaces. Modern cities, they believed, were grey and monotonous, making children sick. (Whether that's true is another question, of course!)

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 05/01/2024

Just submitted the revised version of the piece on West German Adventure Playgrounds -- it will see the light of publication, hopefully within a year. A short thread on the fascinating politics of playing in the FRG!

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 03/01/2024

Spotted my book in Berlin's Dussmann today. And the salesperson said they actually sold a couple of copies -- at a cheaper price than on Amazon!

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 05/12/2023

I had a lovely and very engaging conversation about Beauty is in the Street with Lucie Hunter at the Review of Democracy Podcast, organized by CEU. Thanks so much for the questions and your kind words about my book. I'm very much looking forward to the publication! revdem.ceu.edu

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 24/11/2023

The problem of lefty (?) academic thinking in a nutshell: The critique of Hamas is turned into blaming Palestinians (or are the two the same; is that conflation willful, or just intellectual laziness?), coupled with a jargon of absoluteness (the "absolute insanity") ... 1/2

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 23/11/2023

Friends and colleagues in the UK: I'm planning a trip in early March to give book talks. If anyone would be interested in me talking about "Beauty is in the Street", please do reach out! I'd love to see many of you, of course - and I hope to say something interesting about the history of protesting!

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 08/11/2023

A very generous review of my book Citizens and Refugees: Stories from Afghanistan and Syria to Germany by Chistopher Molnar in Central European History: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... However, there is something I don't fully agree with, hence a response:

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 07/11/2023

... why so many noble endeavours failed so quickly." I've tried to emphasize ambivalences and how combatting power structures often went hand in hand with building new power structures. But fair enough, I could have done a much better job here. -- 2/3

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 05/11/2023

Natürlich kann man nicht in die Köpfe von 10,000 Menschen hineinschauen; manche Leute, die ich kenne und die bei der Demo waren, sagen sofort, dass sie Hamas hassen, wenn man sie fragt. Aber man kann ja mal schauen, was Gruppen, die zur Demo aufrufen, sonst so sagen, z.B. Palästina Spricht:

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 03/11/2023

Just did a lovely interview with Paul O'Doherty at Dublin City FM for their Bookbound Program about Beauty is in the Street. (Not yet sure when it will be on air, though, but will post about it.) www.dublincityfm.ie/shows/bookbo... PS: If you're in the UK, the book is on sale on Amazon right now!

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 28/10/2023

This is what the Berlin-based group "Palestine Speaks" posted on Twitter on 7 October: it's a celebration of terror and murder, a cheering for Hamas. It's not about rights for everyone, it's not about a two state solution, about protecting civilian lives in Gaza. 1/X

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Joachim C. Häberlen @jchaeberlen.bsky.social · 28/10/2023

so, even though the book is not about Israel / Palestine, I hope the general spirit it's written in has not lost its relevance.

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