A Berlin café and “intersectional” co-working space that explicitly bars white people from entry has received more than €662,000 in German taxpayer subsidies from the federal Demokratie leben! (Live Democracy!) programme, sparking outrage over state-funded racial exclusion in the heart of the German capital.
The BIWOC Rising project in Kreuzberg operates as a “safer space” open only to “BIWoC and TIN*BIPoC” individuals — Black, Indigenous, Women of Colour and Trans, Inter, Non-Binary, BIPoC persons, as its own website explains.
White visitors are systematically excluded under the organisation’s own rules.
Despite this explicit racial gatekeeping, the non-profit has drawn substantial public funding over several years for what it describes as anti-discrimination and empowerment work.
The project has been funded since 2021 for that.
According to some, the total amount of subsidies may be substantially higher for related projects on refugees and asylum seekers.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) party co-leader Alice Weidel highlighted the case on social media, questioning how German authorities can justify subsidising racial segregation with public money.
The story, first prominently covered by Focus and Apollo News, quickly spread across alternative and mainstream platforms, prompting accusations of hypocrisy in a country that prides itself on strict anti-discrimination laws.
Critics argue the funding exposes a glaring double standard: While “no whites allowed” policies are tolerated — and even financed — under the banner of diversity and decolonisation, any equivalent exclusion based on other criteria would face immediate legal and political condemnation.
According to newspaper Die Welt, BIWOC Rising Managing Director Loubna Messaoudi posted on anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel on social media, downplaying the incident as a “resistance to colonialism”.
The actress Mihaela Dragan, who is a member of the advisory board of the organisation, also delivered forthright anti-Israeli statements.
In light of the recent revelations, Federal Minister for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Karin Prien (CDU), haas now announced a “thorough review” and realignment of the Live Democracy! programme.
“Whoever draws public funds must stand firmly on the ground of the democratic basic order. Hatred and incitement have lost nothing here,” she said.
Prien added that she wants more attention paid to “loyalty to national goals” and efficiency.
Live Democracy! now has more than 200 projects set to lose funding by the end of 2026.
Berlin’s left-leaning cultural and integration scene has long championed such “exclusive safe spaces” for marginalised groups, claiming they provide necessary protection from structural racism.
A children and youth charity from Berlin is warning that radical Islam is increasingly making inroads at German schools. https://t.co/idgNnckZvE
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) April 29, 2026
