So Mayday’s got everything. End­less sun­shine, a healthy amount of alco­holic bever­ages, an almost invis­ible head­count of police (that was a joke, by the way), bomb­ing parties on every street corner from the little Indian res­taur­ant with the shabby sound sys­tem to the fully packed Luzia Open Air, where music has become a rar­ity. For one day of the year, all eyes are on Kreuzberg and the MyFest which was estab­lished to dis­tract from the annual riot­ing against police.

The MyFest, although in the begin­nings con­sidered a fail­ure as riots con­tin­ued yearly (and got even heav­ier), has finally achieved what it was made to achieve: this year, riots were almost too quiet to be heard. In fact, I didn’t even see the protests, all I saw was cops, party­ing, love and.. a ton of amaz­ing food from all over the world (though with a heavy focus on the Middle East). And that has to count for some­thing, because this year, I don’t want to talk about dan­cing and feel­ing good on an extraordin­ary day in Ber­lin; this year, I want to say thank you to all the people who work hard to make it hap­pen. The Turk­ish and Arabic (and all the other) com­munit­ies who light up the streets with fun and joy and all the won­der­ful edibles they sell on their street stands. Here’s a big prop out to you!