アウトバーン延長でクラブ存続の危機　音楽とダンスで抗議 独ベルリン

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドイツの高速道路（アウトバーン）は、同国が生んだテクノバンド「クラフトワーク」のアルバム名としても知られている。しかし、延長計画により首都ベルリンの複数のクラブが閉鎖の危機にさらされており、テクノシーンやクラブカルチャー界隈に不安が広がっている。（写真は独ベルリンで開催された「高速道路」Ａ１００号の延長計画に抗議するレイブの参加者）
　延長計画が持ち上がっているのは、ベルリン中心部の一部を囲む、完全なリングを構成していないＡ１００。今後数年で、東部のトレプトウ公園からシュプレー川を渡り、クラブが集まるフリードリヒスハインに向かって北に延伸される予定だ。
　市内のクラブやカルチャーイベント主催者のネットワーク「ベルリン・クラブ・コミッション」によると、この計画で、人気のクラブ５店舗の存続が危ぶまれている。
　その中には、テクノクラブ「アバウト・ブランク」や、ＬＧＢＴ（性的少数者）コミュニティーの拠点「レナーテ」などが含まれる。
　クラブコミッションの広報、ルッツ・ライヒセンリングさんは「どのクラブも２０～３０年前からこの場所にあった。こうしたクラブのおかげでベルリン（のクラブカルチャー）の知名度が高まり、この街も愛されてきた」とＡＦＰに語った。
　クラブコミッションは９月上旬、計画中止を呼び掛けるためのレイブ（パーティー）形式の抗議行動に協力した。
　延長計画のルート沿いに仮設ステージが設置され、テクノ音楽が鳴り響く中、大勢がプラカードを手にして踊りながら抗議した。
　■環境活動家も抗議に参加
　「アバウト・ブランク」のオーナーの一人、エリ・シュテフェンさんは、「私たちは断固として抵抗する。交通量をこれ以上増やさず、気候に優しく、カラフルで多様性のある街づくりのために闘う意義はあると思う」と話した。
　気候変動対策を求める運動「フライデーズ・フォー・フューチャー（未来のための金曜日）」ドイツ支部のメンバーも抗議行動に参加し、環境への懸念を訴えた。
　広報担当のクララ・ドゥビニョーさんは、「Ａ１００の建設は絶対に阻止しなければならない。社会的な理由からだけではなく、高速道路は気候危機を招く大きな要因になっているからだ」と語った。
　Ａ１００の延長計画が決まったのは、アンゲラ・メルケル前政権下の２０１６年だった。
　オラフ・ショルツ首相率いる連立政権は、いくつかの大規模なインフラ事業については環境への影響を再評価すると約束していたにもかかわらず、延長計画を進めるとしている。
　運輸省のバスティアン・パウリー報道官は先日の会見で、高速道路の延長は「将来的な交通量の増加に対応するために必要」だとの見方を示した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/09/08-16:46）

The Autobahn may have been beloved by the band Kraftwerk, but it has become the bugbear of the Berlin techno scene as a motorway expansion threatens to shut down several clubs in the German capital.
The planned extension of the A100 has also united clubbers with environmental campaigners, who argue it will contribute to the climate crisis.
The motorway, which runs a partial ring around central Berlin, is due to be extended north from Treptower Park across the Spree river towards nightlife hub Friedrichshain some time in the next few years.
The extension would threaten five popular nightspots in the area, according to the Berlin Club Commission, a network for the city's clubs and cultural promoters.
They include About Blank, an industrial-style techno club next to Ostkreuz station, and Renate, a hub for the LGBTQ community in an unrenovated apartment block.
These are clubs that have been here for the last 20-30 years... They're what makes Berlin famous and why people love it, Lutz Leichsenring, a spokesman for the Club Commission, told AFP.
The Club Commission helped organise a protest rave in early September in a bid to whip up opposition to the plans.
Temporary stages along the planned A100 route blasted out techno as several thousand people held up placards and danced along in hotpants and leopard prints.
- Club culture -
The clubs in this area... are really important to the culture of Berlin, said student Adrian Schmidt, 25, wearing a black crop top and a pearl necklace.
Those clubs create spaces in which everyone can freely express themselves, he said.
Carole Canale, 25, a marketing manager from Paris, had her first German clubbing experience in About Blank and is a regular in all five of the clubs under threat.
This is a place where people have lots of memories... and it would be really sad if everything was closing, she said.
Berlin's club scene flourished after the Wall fell, giving a new purpose to the city's many disused buildings and industrial wasteland.
But nightclubs in the city have struggled in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as noise complaints, rent increases, bureaucracy and rising expenses.
Eli Steffen, 37, a member of the collective that owns About Blank, refers to the planned A100 extension as this grey motorway nonsense.
Does she really believe the protesters have a chance against Germany's powerful automotive industry and a transport ministry led by the business-friendly FDP?
Nobody can say at the moment, she said.
But we are very determined to resist and believe that it is always worth fighting for a transport-friendly, climate-friendly, colourful, diverse city.
The German wing of the Fridays for Future movement also joined the protest rave, bringing their concerns for the environment.
The construction of the A100 must absolutely be stopped, not only for the obvious social reasons but also because motorways are a major driver of the climate crisis, said Clara Duvigneau, 21, a spokeswoman for the group.
- 'Increasing traffic flows' -
But outside the cultural bubble of central Berlin, not everyone is so determined to stop the traffic.
According to a recent survey by the newspaper Die Welt, 62 percent of Germans are in favour of the renewal and further expansion of the country's road network.
Only 33 percent said the expansion of motorways should be halted in favour of climate protection.
Decisions about motorway infrastructure are made by the central government, with this particular extension of the A100 first agreed in 2016 under former chancellor Angela Merkel.
The current coalition under Olaf Scholz has pledged to go ahead with the plans, despite promising to reassess some large infrastructure projects for their environmental impact.
At a recent government press conference, Transport Ministry spokesman Bastian Pauly said the expansion of motorways was necessary in order to be able to manage and satisfy the increasing traffic flows in the future.
The project is also unlikely to be met with political opposition in Berlin, which earlier this year elected a conservative mayor for the first time in 20 years.
Kai Wegner, a 50-year-old former insurance salesman, has declared himself firmly in favour of the extension.