Casino for Social Medicine
the things we know, the things we want to learn, the things we want to become
The Casino for Social Medicine is an anticapitalist, collectively-run cafe and bar at Sonnenallee 100. It serves as part coffee house, part clinic for collectivist experiences, and part mutual aid gamble. The Casino is also an experiment in creating a third space where social movement and practices intersect. We work slowly, from the inside out. We are a porous group of anti-colonial migrants, activists, radical librarians, writers, anarchist landscapers, facilitators, grassroot organizers, artists, and recovering individualists.
We know that due to the acceleration of housing for profit, war mentality and the rise of the right, the odds are stacked against this kind of experiment. That's exactly why we want to invite you to take a chance with us, and to play with what might be possible. In the Casino, we want to learn together how to protect life and resist the many cops (outside and inside of our heads) that are patrolling within the ruins of capitalism. We envisage a collective space of refuge that doesn’t hinge on temporarily forgetting the outside world. On the contrary, at our events we want to look at what is happening around us and to us right now, using the comfort of each other's company to take care, be curious, and become just a little braver.
Inspired by the revolutionary history of coffee shops including mental health cafes, community libraries, repair cafes and queer community spaces, we imagine a place where people from the neighborhood and beyond would meet with activist organizers, artists, academics, and fellow collectivists. We want to hold a brave space for Palestinian solidarity and other social struggles as they come. The Casino will be a place where we build and support social movements from the bottom up. Sometimes the space is very quiet, sometimes it gets very loud, but it is always a place where strangers can become a part of a revolutionary community if they want to. We dream of a place that creates such an energy that, upon leaving, we are motivated to take part in direct action—in whatever shape that takes—from helping our next-door neighbor to joining a movement.