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Month: January 2024

Letter from the Editors, 18th January 2024

Palestine, fighting state repression, and Rosa Luxemburg


17/01/2024

Hello everyone,

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR YOUR CALENDARS: On Friday, 26th January, we’ll be organising an Eye Witness Report from Gaza with Duha Almusaddar, Project Manger of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Gaza. Duha recently left Gaza and will talk about the situation on ground. The meeting starts at 7pm, and will be taking place in Oyoun, Lucy Lameck-Straße 32. Please note that after the Berliner Senat evicted the Oyoun building, no chairs will be available, so we will make ourselves comfortable on the floor. We want to organise a second event with Duha in February, with proper seating and translation into German.

The Muslim Futures weekend starts today in the ACUD Gallery and Club and lasts until Sunday 21st. With Muslim Futures, an empowering and disruptive space is created together with Muslim futurists from art, culture and political education, who translate, exhibit and discuss their imaginations in various installations, interventions and forms of expression. The futurists make use of literary, artistic, documentary, musical and many other perspectives and focus in part on different sensual experiences in imaginative processes. Come, and enter the world of Muslim Futures and to radically imagine more just and inclusive futures with us. Muslim Futures is one of two Campaigns of the Week.

Today also is the start of Views on Israel – a series of films about Israel organised by members of the Judische Stimme. Tonight’s film is Two Blue Lines. Shot over a period of 25 years, Two Blue Lines examines the human and political situation of Palestinian people from the years prior to the creation of Israel to the present day. By primarily featuring the narratives of Israelis whose positions run counter to their country’s official policy, the documentary provides a portrait of the ongoing conflict not often depicted in mainstream media. It starts at 7pm at Café MadaMe, Mehringplatz 10 (venue of last night’s meeting on Apartheid Israel).

Our Regular Palestine Reading Group continues on Friday with a discussion on Why do the US and Europe fund Israel? Follow the link to register and access the suggested reading. Following feedback that some people are not available on Fridays, the Reading Group will now take place on alternate Fridays and Sundays. Next week’s Group will meet  on Sunday, 28th January to discuss Post-colonialism, colonialism and settler colonialism. As ever, the meeting is in the AGIT offices, Nansenstraße 2. If you would like to join the discussion about what we read in the future, you can join our Telegram group here.

On Saturday at 10.30am, buses will be leaving Ostbahnhof to take people to a demonstration in Hamburg against state repression. Six and a half years after the G20 summit in Hamburg, the public prosecutor still has a strong intention to persecute. In the so-called Rondenbarg trial, the court case against six affected comrades begins this year. Together we want to travel to Hamburg on the 20th of January 2024 by Solibus and fight with you against the state and repression. The buses are being organised by Gemeinschaftlicher Widerstand (Community resistance), who are our second Campaign of the Week.

On Sunday, 21st January we are organising a Walking Tour about Rosa Luxemburg’s Berlin. “Berlin has made the most unfavorable impression on me.” It is 1898 and Rosa Luxemburg has just arrived in the capital of the German Empire. She describes it in a letter as: “cold, tasteless, massive — a real barracks; and the dear Prussians with their arrogance, as though every one of them had the stick up their ass with which they had once been beaten…” Fair to say it isn’t love at first sight, but Luxemburg stays here until the bitter end. Berlin is her home for the next two decades. The tour will start at 2pm at Mehringplatz, not far from Café MadaMe, and finish around 4.30pm near U-Bahn Friedenau. Participation is free, but we recommend a €10 donation to the tour guide.

There is much more going on in Berlin. To find out what’s happening, go to our Events page. You can also see a shorter, but more detailed list of events in which we are directly involved in here.

The LINKE Berlin Internationals are organising their annual Summer Camp on 29th-30th June in the Naturfreundehaus Hermsdorf, near Berlin. There will be keynote meetings from Ferat Kocak and activists from Italy and Poland on the rise of the far right in Europe, and Hossam el-Hamalawy and others on Palestine, the Arab States and the Arab Street. We are now deciding which workshops to organise. You can vote for the workshops that you want to see here. The survey ends on January 31st. Survey results will be used to make a decision at the next LINKE Internationals open meeting on 5th February.

In News from Berlin, the Rosa Luxemburg Conference shows solidarity for Palestine, and thousands of farmers demonstrate once more in Berlin.

In News from Germany, secret meeting of AfD and CDU politicians and neo-Nazis planning mass deportations exposed, thousands demonstrate against the AfD, new government in Hessen is younger but has few female faces, and Namibia accuses Germany of not having learned from its past genocides.

Read all about it in this week’s News from Berlin and Germany.

New on theleftberlin, Nathaniel Flakin accuses German élites of instrumentalising antisemitism to cover up for their own rotten histories, Patrick Bond exposes the corrupt side of German footballer and manager Franz Beckenbauer who died recently, and we publish an open letter to the UN criticizing Germany’s crackdown on cultural freedom.

Our Videos of the Week show scenes of the police attacking the Palestine block of last Sunday’s Luxemburg-Liebknecht demo, which resulted in 15 demonstrators being hospitalised.

You can follow us on the following social media:

If you would like to contribute any articles or have any questions or criticisms about our work, please contact us at team@theleftberlin.com. And please do encourage your friends to subscribe to this Newsletter.

Keep on fighting,

The Left Berlin Editorial Board

Urgent Request for Investigation and Remedy Action Regarding Human Rights Violations, Race and Ethnic Based Discrimination and Targeted Suppression of Immigrants, Political Leaders and Civil Society, by the German Government

Open Letter to the United Nations


This is a letter to the UN written by activists and organisations in Germany, published on theleftberlin on their behalf

To:

  • Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and Head, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
  • Verene Albertha Shepherd, Chairperson, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
  • Amy E. Pope Director General,, International Organization for Migration (IOM)

CC:

  • António Guterres Secretary-General, United Nations (UN)
  • United Nations Headquarters

Dear Representatives,

We are writing to bring to your attention a matter of utmost urgency and significance regarding recent human rights violations in Germany, particularly concerning the suppression of free speech and blanket political repression of millions of people.

Since Israel’s lethal aggression on Gaza has intensified, in response to the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7th, Germany has been suppressing free speech far beyond any reasonable measure or democratic nature, as outlined by an open letter from Jewish artists, writers and scholars (1) published on 23rd of October.

Germany is home to one of the largest populations of Palestinian refugees in Europe, and part of the greater diaspora stemming from Israeli displacement of indigenous peoples. As a result, there is a large community of people wishing to demonstrate against Israel’s disproportionate response and publicly mourn the civilians killed. However, peaceful, lawful protests led by Palestinian and Jewish diaspora groups across the country have been prevented with, for example, a blanket ban in Berlin, of any protest (2), demonstration, or vigil, which was in effect from October 14 to 20, 2023. Virtually all of the cancellations, including those of gatherings organized by Jewish groups, have been justified by the police in part due to the “imminent risk” of “seditious, antisemitic exclamations” (3). These claims, we believe, serve to suppress legitimate nonviolent political expression that may include criticisms of the actions of the Israeli government (4).

These acts of silencing are carried out under the German federal government’s consensus that, “Germany stands firmly with Israel. Israel is acting in self-defense” (5). Germany applies the operating definition of antisemitism as defined by the IHRA (6), which has been criticized as “misused” for shielding Israel from criticism (7).

As a result, individuals and groups in Germany who express public opposition to Israel’s blockade and siege on Gaza, including wearing symbols in support of Palestine, have been detained, threatened, questioned and arrested by police – with a tendency for racial profiling as highlighted by Amnesty International in 2021 (8). Critical individuals, groups and institutions in support of the Palestinian people or of a future political solution that guarantees equal rights, dignity and freedom for all people in Israel-Palestine – regardless of their ethnic origin or religion, are at risk of being politically sanctioned, blacklisted and defunded (9).

Meanwhile, a large part of the observing world agrees that Israel’s actions go far beyond self-defense, and many experts have already said it potentially constitutes a genocide (10).

We acknowledge that the German Constitution, the Basic Law (Grundgesetz), contains provisions that protect the rights to freedom of speech (11) and assembly (12). These constitutional provisions also closely align with international law and the principles enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

  • Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and expression. This right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
  • Article 20(1): Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Collectives and gatherings of people are fundamental to expression of political thought and public discourse – not something we are meant to do alone at home or on social media. This is the pumping heart of public life. It is also protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights, to acknowledge some of the highest international laws.

We write to you with grave concern over the suspension of these rights as part of a broader overcompensation by Germany over its past crimes against humanity, which are used to justify the deadly support of Israel’s political and military breaches of international rule of law and likely genocide committed today.

The chilling effects can already be observed in government-funded cultural institutions, schools and the general public:

  • Jews have been fired from their jobs (13) in publicly funded institutions for speaking about internationally recognized practices of apartheid, oppression, and occupation.

  • The art exhibition of a Jewish artist was canceled (14) after she spoke in solidarity with Palestinians in a Berlin demonstration.

  • The Berlin Senate announced that schools are permitted to ban students from wearing the keffiyeh or other symbols connected to Palestinian culture and liberation. Statements such as “Free Palestine” can also be banned (15) on grounds that they “could be understood as support for the terrorist attacks against Israel or Hamas”, and thus are “a danger to peaceful co-existence in schools”. A demonstration by a parents’ collective against the measures was forbidden, as it “may contain Hamas sympathizers who could use such a demonstration to further their own agenda”.

  • The authors Sharon Dodua Otoo and Adania Shibli have been selected for two different literature awards. Both award ceremonies have been “put on hold”(16, 17) because of “possible proximity” to BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), a nonviolent movement which is considered an antisemitic organization in Germany.

  • Broadcast stations stopped working with a journalist of Palestinian descent (18) for expressing his understanding for Palestinians on social media.

  • Berlin’s Senator for Culture Joe Chialo (CDU) announced in a cultural committee meeting that the city would examine whether it will cut funding for the cultural institution Oyoun in Berlin, which could lead to its closing (19):

  • The impending closure of Oyoun was provoked by an event that took place on November 4, 2023 on the premises of Oyoun: an evening of “mourning and hope” by the organization Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East (20, 21), the German section of the international umbrella group European Jews for a Just Peace. The association is dedicated to “informing about the necessity and possibility of a just peace between Palestine and Israel” and “actively working towards the realization of a lasting peace that is viable for both nations”.

And those are just the most recent actions, that Germany has engaged in to suppress Palestinian voices. However, as seen in the case of Dr. Anna-Esther Younes, and countless others, what is currently happening is not an exception, but part of a long term pattern of firings, canceling, defunding, oppressing and silencing (22).

This is content-based discrimination with political motivations to censor and disrupt our communities, collaboration and to teach other communities to shun Jews and organizations who are critical of Israel’s politics.

Furthermore, the majority of the media is reporting only the narrative of the government and law enforcement. In an interview (23) on October 20, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, representing the governing coalition party, was asked to address the concerns related to “enemies of Israel with Arab background.” In this context, he emphasized the necessity for faster deportations of those “who do not have a right to remain in Germany”.

Notably, the governing coalition, consisting of the Social Democrats, Green Party and Free Democrats has introduced a resolution (24) with provisions similar to those proposed by the CDU/CSU, the opposition parliamentary group, only days earlier. The CDU/CSU’s resolution aims to combat alleged “imported antisemitism”: allowing for rapid denial of residency; deportation of immigrants accused of antisemitism or perceived to hold anti-Israel beliefs; potential revocation of German citizenship of dual nationals; making naturalization contingent on recognizing Israel’s “right to exist”; and never engaging in activism “against Israel.” Both drafts are currently under parliamentary discussion.

Given the current classification of all demonstrations in Berlin in solidarity with Palestinian civilians as broadly antisemitic by authorities – based on Germany’s non-legally binding adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism – this law proposed by the governing coalition would likely encompass a wide range of peaceful demonstrators and activists, including peace-seeking Jews, Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims living in Germany.

We are at risk of losing fundamental democratic rights and those in power seem unaware of the dangerous path they are taking, with even Israeli publications such as Haaretz writing about the instrumentalisation of “Jewish pain” to stoke fear of Muslims:

“Germany’s second-largest opposition party, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), has seized the moment to shelve its antisemitism, at least in public, and unleash instead its unabashed Islamophobic agenda.” – Haaretz (25)

These extremists, too, hide behind the slogan, “We stand with Israel”, and continue their practices of hate-based discrimination without meaningful intervention to stop a dangerous agenda which threatens our existence. Many Palestinians, Jews, Israelis, Arabs, Muslims and foreign citizens living in Germany — as well as many German nationals — are now living in fear as unclear laws meant to intimidate, frighten and silence critical voices are enacted.

As Jews, we believe Germany has proven itself unfit to address its antisemitism in a real way and instead is using the concept to instill new fear and politicized hatred of Muslims, Arabs and immigrants – and to try to divide Palestinians and Jews who are peacefully organizing together in Berlin, around Germany and the world.

We have tried to convene with officials with intent to ease the tension, violence and brutality of the situation we face today in our communities in Germany. Formal requests to meet with political leaders and authorities have been ignored, denied or responded to with a level of arrogance in their policies – including statements declaring that police are within their duty to use force against unarmed, peaceful demonstrators, as it relates to this issue. Their self-imposed deafness to our pleas is why we now reach out to higher bodies to help ensure our protection under international law.

We, the peaceful groups taking action and facing repression in Germany, are calling upon the United Nations to investigate the political targeting and both subtle and violent repression, to intervene as an impartial actor and to restore political freedoms to the impacted public of Germany.

And finally, please investigate how siphoning of funding to cultural and social institutions has created a chilling effect in these arenas. It has made Germany predisposed to returning to oppressive behaviors and political repression by stamping out  any resistence to these tendencies, just as it has in the past.

These complaints and accusations are not new, but we have reached a new breaking point that has become so repressive that we must directly ask international bodies to recognize and call out these ongoing human rights violations.

We, the signers of this letter, represent community leaders, impacted people and organizations from various sectors.

We are Jews, Muslims, Germans, Israelis, Palestinians and international people living in Germany with a collective base of tens of thousands of people and a reach to hundreds of thousands, to whom we provide direct support.

Please contact us in reply for further testimony, evidence and data related to the complaint.

With Great Hope and Devotion to Peace and Justice,

Miriam Aberkane, Ceasefire Action Committee, Berlin

Wieland Hoban, Jüdische Stimme

Lili Sommerfeld, We Still Still Still Still Need to Talk Demo, Berlin

Biplab Basu, Kampagne für Opfer rassistischer Polizeigewalt (KOP)

Adam Broomberg, Artists + Allies x Hebron (AAH), Berlin

Ahmet-Kaan Sarun, Free Palestine Mannheim, Mannheim

Salah Said, PA – Palestinians & Allies, Berlin

Ferat Koçak, Member of Parliament of Berlin

Louna Sbou, Oyoun, Berlin

Palästina Spricht, Berlin

Zaytouna Rhein-Nekar-Kreis, Heidelberg

FACQ, Berlin

Hanif Shoaei, Documentarian , Berlin

News from Berlin and Germany, 17th January 2024

Weekly news round-up from Berlin and Germany


NEWS FROM BERLIN

Remembering and fighting

Solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, the call for peace, and the necessity of socialism played a central role during the 29th International Rosa Luxemburg Conference, organised by junge Welt, with a record attendance of 3,700. “Viva Palestine” could also be heard as the kilometer-long commemoration demo marched under red flags to the cemetery where Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, murdered 105 years ago, are buried. Solidarity with Palestine was, however, the trigger for brutal police attacks. Among the 16 demonstrators arrested, according to the police, were several musicians from the Anatolian Grup Yorum, currently on hunger strike for comrades imprisoned in West Germany. Source: jW

Thousands of demonstrators protest against traffic light policy

Thousands of farmers, tradespeople, and transporters demonstrated against the policies of the German government in front of the Brandenburg Gate on Monday. Joachim Rukwied, president of a farmers’ association, demanded that additional burdens on agriculture be cancelled. In addition to the farmers, the transport industry also called on the federal government to change course. “Our industry has had enough too,” said Dirk Engelhardt, spokesman for the Federal Association of Road Freight Transport, Logistics and Disposal (BGL). Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) was loudly insulted and booed at the demonstration. Lindner referred to the need to make savings, offering in return a reduction in bureaucracy and more entrepreneurial freedom. Source: rbb24

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Right-wing secret plan against Germany

On 25 November, at a hotel near Potsdam, a meeting that looked like a chamber play took place – but it was reality. A group of politicians (AfD, CDU), neo-Nazis and businesspeople were there to hear about secret plans. Their most important goal: “Remigration,” the ability to expel people from Germany based on racist criteria, regardless of whether they have a German passport or not. Although this “conference” was secret, copies of letters were leaked to CORRECTIV, and its team was able to film undercover at the hotel. In addition, Greenpeace researched the meeting and provided CORRECTIV with photos and copies of documents. Source: correctiv

Thousands demonstrate in Potsdam and Berlin for democracy and against the right-wing

Following the revelations about the meeting between radical right-wingers and AfD politicians in Brandenburg, thousands of people demonstrated for democracy in Potsdam. Demonstrations are also taking place in Berlin, at the Brandenburg Gate. Mayor Mike Schubert (SPD), who called for the Potsdam rally, talked of 10,000 participants. The demonstrators held up placards with slogans such as “We stick together.” Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) were among those taking part. Source: rbb24

New faces, but only three women

“One for all” is written on the banner of the self-proclaimed first “democratic-Christian-social coalition,” which will govern the federal state of Hesse after the constituent session of the Hessian state parliament. Boris Rhein, as re-elected Minister President of Hesse, and Nancy Faeser, as Federal Minister of the Interior, will remain in office. In his second cabinet, Minister-President Rhein relies on many new and significantly younger members of staff. However, in addition to Rhein and seven other men, there are only three women in the twelve-person cabinet, falling short of the 25% quota that Rhein himself had announced. Source: taz

Perpetrators are bad judges

Africa is becoming increasingly important, and Germany, according to official statements, strives for a “partnership of equals.” However, as the International Court of Justice in The Hague started hearings in South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel for genocide in Gaza, Germany rejected South Africa’s accusations. The German government also failed to mention that the same day was the 120th anniversary of the start of the German genocide against the Herero and the Nama people. Namibia’s president now accuses Germany of not having learned any lessons from its own history. Source: taz

Muslim Futures

Creating an empowering and Disruptive space


Who thinks about the future and who doesn’t?

Who is offered chances and spaces to use the challenging experiences of today and the many fights in the here and now to imagine a tomorrow that is more just, inclusive, and empowering?

How would it be if there were such a space that allowed Muslims to draw the future, to negotiate, and to target what is worth fighting for today?

To draw futures, and the many desirable nuances from them, which focus on the many-faceted Muslim lives and on Muslims, which do not homogenise and categorise them in a racist manner, which do not criminalise Muslims and declare them to be an “Other.”

How would it be if we called this space “Muslim Futures?”

Inspired by the work on Afro-Futurism, Muslim Futures wants to connect with this tradition and to focus on specific Muslim intersectional futures. The anti-racist and decolonial project uses the methods of Critical Futures Thinking and makes it fruitful for political and artistic education work.

Muslim Futures is in many ways and areas a disruptive practice – in political education work, in Futures Thinking, and around anti-Muslim hegemonic thinking and acting.

Come and enter the world of Muslim Futures to radically imagine more just and inclusive futures with us. From the 18th until the 21st of January, you’ll find us in the ACUD Gallery and Club. Please visit the website and our social media (superrrnetwork) for more details on the programme!

Muslim Futures
Thursday 18.1 – Sunday 21.1 – ACUD Galerie + ACUD Club
Opening: Thursday 18.1, 19H

Gemeinschaftlicher Widerstand (Community resistance)

Our Solidarity against their Repression


What went on in Hamburg in 2017?

In the run-up to the 2017 G20 summit, the meeting of the governments of the 20 most powerful countries in the world, Hamburg was turned into a fortress to prevent protests as far as possible. Tens of thousands of police officers were deployed, general bans on demonstrations were imposed across the city, demonstrators travelling to the event were monitored, critical journalists were excluded and even the German army was involved. Despite this, hundreds of thousands of people took the opportunity to protest against the summit: After all, it is precisely these states that are largely responsible for inequality and exploitation, flight and war, neocolonialism, oppression and climate catastrophe.

From the very beginning, demonstrations and protests were attacked by the police, hundreds of people were injured, some of them seriously, and countless others were locked up in specially designed prisons. Despite this, there were massive, angry, creative and diverse protests in favor of a better world in which everyone can live without fear.

A good overview of the protests and police violence can be found in the documentary “Hamburger Gitter” – available on YouTube with English subtitles.

What is the new G20 process starting this week all about?

The first day of the summit was July 7. Thousands of activists were out and about from the early morning to demonstrate and block access routes for the summit participants. Various protest marches set off from the protest camp in Altona. On the way to the city centre, a group of around 200 people encountered several police units who brutally attacked the demonstration in Rondenbarg Street in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld from the front and behind and broke it up within a very short time.

The police immediately ran towards the demonstration without prior announcements, shouting loudly. Demonstrators were violently brought to the ground, beaten and insulted. There were numerous injuries ranging from lacerations and bruises to sprained neck vertebrae and open fractures.

Although there was massive police violence against the demonstrators and no police officers were injured, it is not the police but the demonstrators who are now on trial. Charges have been brought against a total of 85 people in the so-called G20-Rondenbarg-proceeding, and the trial for six of them will now begin on January 18 at Hamburg District Court.

What impact would a conviction have?

The public prosecutor’s office accuses all of the defendants of “serious breach of the peace”. None of the six defendants is accused of an individual act: Demonstrators are to be sentenced for mere presence at a demonstration! The minimum sentence for “serious breach of the peace” is six months in prison.

If the court follows the demands of the public prosecutor’s office and sentences those involved in the Rondenbarg proceedings, the freedom of assembly and thus the most important means of political debate in public spaces would be massively restricted.

In addition to the retrospective justification of police violence during the G20 summit, a permanent restriction of the right to demonstrate is the most important goal of the state in this trial. The trial is being organized on a correspondingly gigantic scale. The first instance alone will be heard over at least 25 days, with dozens of police officers invited as legal witnesses.

How can we show solidarity now?

We would be happy if as many people as possible came to the demonstration in Hamburg next Saturday, 20.01.2024!  The details of the joint bus journey from Berlin are here.

There will be manifestations in front of the court on every day of the trial. We look forward to your support and participation here too. All dates can be found on our homepage. There will certainly also be other larger protest actions – not only in Hamburg, but hopefully also in Berlin and many other places.

What else can we do? We can (very importantly!) tell as many people as possible about the ongoing process and spread the word, we can distribute leaflets and put up posters, write our own texts, translate existing texts and show our protest against this political process in Hamburg in all imaginable diverse, angry and creative ways.
And perhaps most importantly, let us expand, broaden and intensify the struggles for which we already took to the streets in Hamburg in 2017: Against the impositions of capitalist normality, against war and isolation, armament and racism, patriarchy and environmental destruction, police violence, oppression and exploitation. Let’s come together, let’s change the world for the better!

The campaign „Gemeinschaftlicher Widerstand“ (“Community Resistance”) has been working on the so-called G20-Rondenbarg-proceedings since the end of 2019. It stands in solidarity with the 85 defendants. People across Germany are involved in organizing rallies, demonstrations, events and other solidarity actions as part of the campaign. The campaign’s call for solidarity is supported by more than 100 groups and initiatives. Contact: gemeinschaftlich@riseup.net