The French are kidnapping managers and taking to the streets in protest against the global downturn. But their neighbors in Germany seem curiously unmoved by the economic nosedive -- at least for now.

Arne Brecht has a problem, the kind of problem only a radical leftist in Berlin's bohemian Friedrichshain district can have. In one of the hippest neighborhoods in the German capital, where there is a bar or restaurant on every corner, Brecht is having trouble finding a café where he can give an interview.