Sometimes in politics things look really grim.

But it is exactly in these moments we have to find the strength to keep going and fight for what’s right.

I was recently asked what I do not to lose hope - and I thought I could share it here as well. 1. TAKE BREAKS:

A bit of a counter intuitive starter, but working through every weekend, not sleeping enough is not helping anyone.

Find time to rest to have full energy when you need it.

I am completely exhausted after #EuroPride2022.

I am happy with what 🌈 activists pulled off yesterday.

But I am also angry.

Angry with hateful political movements attacking us.

But also angry about a political context where many still do not understand what is at stake. First and foremost, I want you to understand what this community is going through. Especially in the Western Balkans.

I am told: We are facing an energy crisis, inflation, rising poverty. All of this is true and has to be addressed.

Als eine der Abgeordneten, die in die Ukraine gereist und „voller Emotionen“ zurückgekommen sind, wollte ich gerne ein paar Gedanken dazu mit euch teilen.

Vielleicht ist es ja hilfreich, einige Erwägungen in Deutschland besser verständlich zu machen: 1. Ja, Reisen in Kriegsgebiete erzeugen Emotionen. Wut, Angst, Verzweiflung. Menschen reagieren unterschiedlich, wenn sie mit so großem Leid konfrontiert werden.

Meine stärkste Emotion war und ist: Solidarität.

Ich habe bisher immer @Die_Gruenen gewählt 💚💚💚

Aber dieses Mal mit mehr Überzeugung denn je.

Nicht nur wegen unseres Programms - mit klarer Ansage im Kampf gegen den Klimawandel, für Gerechtigkeit und Freiheit.

Sondern weil ich @abaerbock von ganzem Herzen unterstütze. Dass Annalena nicht nur in ihren Kernthemen, sondern durch die Bank megakompetent ist, hat sie in diesem Wahlkampf wirklich zur Genüge bewiesen.

Aber für alle, die nicht die Chance hatten, sie persönlich kennenzulernen, wollte ich ein paar eigene Eindrücke teilen:

Together with 144 colleagues - I have send this letter to the Commission:

To explore ways for Scotland and Wales to stay in Erasmus.

For me, it is also a tribute to all the wonderful people who made me feel welcome and at home in Edinburgh during my own Erasmus year.

🇪🇺❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Here you can find the full letter and all the signatories so far.

I have never had so much support for an initiative in such a short period of time.

In 1,5 days we collected more than a fifth of all signatures from MEPs - from all democratic groups and across the EU.

The doctor Kristina Hänel was convicted for „advertising“ - meaning: informing about - abortion care.

Her appeal has just been denied.

Now she will bring it to the constitutional court.

Yes, this is Germany 2021.
Yes, solidarity welcome.
Yes, make some noise.

#wegmit219a

https://twitter.com/haenel_kh/status/1351540378449686530

Maybe some context is useful:

Abortions is still criminalised in the German penal code. Yet, penalties are not imposed when certain preconditions are met.

During the Nazi time, paragraph 219a had been added to the section - prohibiting the “advertising of abortion”.

I wanted to share this story from my home town Gelsenkirchen:

This advertisement mural for suits and clothes was found after the building next to it had been torn down this year.

It is from a clothing shop run by the Jewish family Alexander.

#Novemberpogrome In the night of the November pogroms in 1938, their shop was attacked. The nephew of the owners - who is still alive - remembers his uncle trying to defend the shop after the windows had been broken. He was ten at the time.

We are currently experiencing an authoritarian wave in Europe. Old narratives around authoritarian nationalism are revived - sometimes newly interpreted, sometimes not.

The current Brexit debate is one example. In nationalist authoritarian narratives a „we” is created which is supposed to always be stronger than the individual. That’s not new.

Today, in a neoliberal context signified by eroding traditional systems of solidarity this might appear even more appealing to some.

I have to share this: It’s about Finland, public services and caring people.

Yesterday, I forgot my backpack on a train going to Tampere. With my laptop, my wallet, my medicine, my documents. All inside. I was tired and stressed and I had two other bags with me. Still: Stupid and entirely my responsibility.

I called lost and found. They told me that IF they find it I can earliest get it back next week. Not this weekend for sure.

Unfortunately, I have to leave again on Sunday.

I just watched “Sorry We Missed You”. The story of the family from Newcastle touched me a lot.

And it made me think: A lot of EU laws have been portrayed as useless red tape in the debate around Brexit, but in fact they give much needed protection to workers.

Some examples: Working time: Ricky Turner (the lead character in the movie) has to work overtime. 14 hours a day, 6 days a week regularly.

This has unbearable consequences for his health, his family, but also the security of him and others.

The backlash in Europe is a strategy executed by a well-funded coalition of reactionaries, autocrats and fascists trying to (re-)create an ethnically pure, authoritarian, ultrapatriachal “natural order”. The fight against sexual self-determination is at the core of it.

How? Orbán’s state of the nation speech - pressuring Hungarian women to have more children - is an example of how the attack on women’s rights feeds into a broader agenda to destroy liberal democracies based on human rights, equality and freedom.