After the discussion, we went to meet with members of Kotti & Co, a group of local activists from Kreuzberg in the Kottbusser Tor neighborhood organizing against increasing rents and gentrification. The area is home to a mixed group of artists and other residents with Turkish, Tunisian, Circassian, German and Afghan roots. People from all backgrounds and professions have come together to fight rapid gentrification, displacement, city housing laws and financial policies. We sat down with members of Haben und Brauchen and one of the Kotti organizers and had a lively conversation about solidarity and how the cultural workers in Berlin can offer support. Kotti & Co. had set up a 24-hour protest camp where tea was served, musicians played and people passing by could learn how to become active. At midnight some of us went to the camp and stood by a discussion between locals and politicians. This discussion, coupled with Haben und Brauchen’s advocacy for arts funding through formal written address to political representatives, showed us how certain artists in Berlin were engaging in strategies much different from our approach in Arts & Labor. There was an attempt to engage with politicians directly to achieve specific goals and demands, a strategy that we and most OWS arts groups have not embraced. This also speaks to the different economic climates that we are working within, specifically a system that offers state support to artists versus one driven predominantly by private funding and the market.