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Berlin evicts pro-Palestinian camp that set up in front of the Reichstag

Free speech is being taken apart in front of our eyes. It is time for German civil society to stand up


04/05/2024

After seven months of protests against the genocide in Gaza—which has been sponsored, encouraged, and defended by Germany—police brutality toward pro-Palestinian activists is no longer surprising to those paying attention. A fortnight ago, Germany made headlines for the banning and live-streamed dissolution of the Palestine Congress in Berlin.

Following that, on April 26, hundreds of police were dispatched to carry out massive, violent arrests of peaceful protestors occupying a camp in front of the Reichstag. Activists had established the camp only weeks before, on April 8, in order to publicly demand an end to the genocide in Gaza, and to protest against Germany’s collaboration. When peaceful demonstrators arrived across the street in order to protest the campers’ eviction on April 26, many were rounded up and arrested. According to police sources, 161 arrests were made that day alone, and 41 criminal investigations were opened.

The encampment began on the day that Nicaragua sued Germany in the International Court of Justice in The Hague for its complicity in the genocide in Gaza. During the intermittent weeks, there have been activities, talks, and concerts hosted within the camp. Yet there have also been daily arrests and unprecedented rules that the police appeared to come up with on the spot, such as campers having to move all tents daily, and the banning all languages other than German and English. After protests at the camp, police allowed Arabic to be used for a few hours while there was a translator, so people could pray. In the name of fighting antisemitism within the peaceful encampment, not only Irish, an official EU language, but also Hebrew was banned.

Other bans implemented by police included a the removal of a sofa from the encampment, thereafter nicknamed “comrade sofa” (I recommend following our comrade’s Instagram), tables, chairs, hanging things from trees, and red triangles (which led to the painting of red circles by protestors). Unable to break the morale of the campers with arrests and absurd rules, and recognizing the beginning of summer tourist season, which attracts hundreds of tourists daily to the esplanade in front of the parliament where the encampment was installed, police gave an immediate eviction order at the site.

This order claimed that prohibited acts had taken place, such as speaking in languages other than German or English, saying “from the river to the sea”, and critically, because the grass on the esplanade must be protected. As Philip Roth writes in Operation Shylock: “It is too ridiculous to be taken seriously, and too serious to be ridiculous”.

Arbitrary arrests and bans are a constant occurrence at demonstrations and events in support of the Palestinian cause. During the last seven months in this country, there have been arrests for: wearing kufiyas, shouting “Free Palestine”, wearing stickers with a fist on them, and calling the police Nazi or antisemitic for are laughing at the kippah with a watermelon motif worn by a Jewish colleague, who was arrested by force the next second by the same police officer.

In addition, arrests have been made for minors for carrying marbles with which they were playing, for displaying maps of Palestine from 1947 to the present day, Jewish activists wearing the Star of David in the colors of the Palestinian flag, carrying a banner reading “Jews against Genocide,” or calling the police ridiculous in public. This is all done in the name of fighting antisemitism in Germany—and it is an incomplete list of arrestable offenses.

It should be mentioned that what these arrests mentioned above have in common is that the people targeted are either of migrant origin, mostly Palestinian, as Germany is home to the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East, or Jewish. What this points to is two things: the deep-seated racism and antisemitism in the German police, and the low presence and engagement of white Germans at demonstrations and events.

This silence, and thus complicity, of a huge part of German society will be the subject of study for decades to come. The pro-Palestine encampments being set up on US campuses, and the growing solidarity of students and professors stand in stark contrast to the largely silent college campuses here in Germany.

With honorable and courageous exceptions, students are silent; a good part of the faculty and management of universities, including the now misnamed “Free University” of Berlin, are advocating the expulsion of students for “political reasons,” which has been exclusively applied to Palestinian solidarity efforts. The same university had already sent riot police in December to forcibly break up a pro-Palestinian assembly and brought charges against some of its students.

Rather than prompting an outcry in defense of free speech and the right of assembly in the sacrosanct public universities, the German press and society became divided between condemning these students who, without evidence were branded as dangerous antisemites (several of the students were in fact Jewish), or simply looking the other way.

It is in this breeding ground of apathy, constant criminalisation, excuses and, let’s not kid ourselves, absolute support from a large part of society, even some who consider themselves leftists, that the German state is skirting democratic boundaries and slipping into authoritarianism in all matters pertaining to the Palestinian liberation movement.

But here, right now, Germany’s adjustments toward authoritarianism don’t seem to matter; in fact, it is welcomed by too many who accept German politicians and media framing it as a fight against jihadist terrorism and antisemitism. Right now, critical thinking, in general, is conspicuous by absence. While much of German society has indicated privately that they that Israel is going too far, few seem to be showing up in public to defend these beliefs.

Nor does this majority appear to care that in Germany today, there is no full right of speech or assembly when criticising the same genocidal actions they allegedly take issue with. This may be because they do not agree with what is said at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which many interpret in black and white terms, to be for either Palestine or Israel, since the political and historical context has for decades been either banned or directly rewritten in Israel’s favour.

The absurdity reaches Dantesque limits when the anti-Deutsche (known also as anti-Germans, they are a theoretically left-wing anti-fascist movement, which opposes the establishment of the German state due to its crimes in World War II) While their motto is “Never again Germany,” they presently fill the streets with stickers of the Israeli flag next to the anti-fascist flag, as if Netanyahu and his government were not extreme right-wing politicians; organize events about antisemitism without first inviting Jewish comrades to talk about their experience; inviting a singular, token Jewish participant onto their panel, complain about anti-German hatred in videos of the aforementioned camp where “Fuck You Germany” was shouted.

Apparently only the anti-Deutsche can complain about a country that is actively complicit in the genocide in Gaza—a genocide in which many of the camp’s protesters have lost dozens, or hundreds of family members and friends—a country which is forcibly suppressing demonstrations, riding roughshod over the right of assembly and free speech of those who inconvenience it.

What is Dead May Never Die: The Rebirth of Campus Occupations

The Columbia University occupation and it’s violent dispersal has rebirthed the haunting spectres of 1968 student radicalism.


On Tuesday, I awoke to the news that Columbia University students had stormed Hamilton Hall and renamed it “Hind” Hall after Hind Rajab, the five year old child murdered by an Israeli tank on January 29 when fleeing the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City. This development follows a week-long Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which has activated campuses nation-, and now, worldwide. 

The latest occupation and escalation was a direct response to the university writing a public statement the previous day stating they would not divest support to Israel; their demand for the protest to be broken up by 2 pm with threats of suspension for participating students.  

Vietnam Protest

Hamilton Hall was last occupied on April 23, 1968, when students stormed the hall and took the college president hostage. The event also had a notable German anti-Fascist flavour with the “Springer Demonstration”, an event “supporting German speakers against Fascism”, and a screening of the German anti-imperialist film “Three Penny Opera” from 1931.

The students’ message was that Columbia University was complicit in the ongoing atrocities in the Vietnam War. The uncovered link was between the IDA—Institute for Defense Analysis—and the University, an institutional member of the IDA. 

Additionally, the protests revolved around segregated gymnasiums in Morningside Park and the eviction of black and hispanic families to clear more land for a campus expansion. Students stood in solidarity with arrested student protestors, and the demands made on April 23, 1968, had to deal with the students’ fates. 

Today’s Protests 

The demands from the current protest are eerily similar to those in 1968, if even more depressing in the university leadership’s craven complicity with atrocities. 

Columbia has over 13 billion dollars in endowment funds, which the Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of campus groups, has campaigned to bring into the spotlight. Investments the university has made in companies such as BlackRock, AirBnb, Caterpillar, and Google, are directly linked to the Israeli government’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians.

For example, Airbnb rents out apartments in the West Bank, and Israel uses Caterpillars’ bulldozers to destroy the homes of Palestinians and clear land for new settlements. The link between private ownership and investments is directly linked to the creation of new markets and landed interest for capitalists to expand their businesses on occupied land.

This form of protest has worked before. In 1985, Columbia divested support from companies that supported the Apartheid regime in South Africa…

Columbia also has a special relationship with Tel Aviv University, offering a dual degree program and creating the Columbia Global Center in Tel Aviv. These global projects and initiatives entrench collaboration with the genocidal actions of the Israeli government, with the profit margins the involved corporations stand to gain from them. 

Media Response

In the intervening years between the Vietnam protests and the current protests, the playbook has more or less stayed the same for those liberals and conservatives siding with capitalists: protesters are accused of siding with illiberal forces, claim they’re naive, young, and stupid, or, most provocatively, called them agents of foreign forces or antisemitic terrorists.

In her article for the Telegraph, Janet Daley typifies the response by conservatives and even some liberals.

“My generation of student radicals fought for liberty. Today’s are a delusional cult,”

It approaches it from the cynical, “that was then, this is now, the young should know more and do less,” which was the same kind of brow-beating patronizing many conservatives hurled at activists like Daley in 1968 and justified the violence on them.

In the most extreme examples, liberals have relitigated the Vietnam War protest and come up against its contradictions and conservation of private interest. The general attitude of these conservative and liberal voices is unified: “How dare you disrupt our peace and tranquility and side with forces we don’t like.” How dare them, indeed. 

Divestment Campaigns Work

More than ever, American and European capitalists are desperate to have their utopian liberal project be seen in lockstep with the expansion of settlements in the Israeli government’s occupation of historic Palestine. More than ever, this liberal project will remain entrenched in its ethnic cleansing violence when it inconveniences them or their profit margins, and that goes for the treatment of protestors as well.

If Columbia and other universities don’t want to divest support from Israel, the protesters should continue to force the question to the university’s faces and wallets. The lives of students not supporting the protests and the politicians who visited the college and booed should be disrupted. These disruptions, beyond anything else, are what will force the hand of capitalists. Bourgeois hands of reaction are guided by the ghostly, seductive promise of blood-drenched lands cleared for their profit-driven market. Non-violent protests and disruptions to daily life should continue until all the protesters’ demands are met. 

…the end of the occupation was a negotiation of violence between state officials and campus administration officials whose bourgeois interests were on the line.

This form of protest has worked before. In 1985, Columbia divested support from companies that supported the Apartheid regime in South Africa after a long pressure campaign by campus activists. The university took a 4% decrease from its portfolio. 

By Tuesday night, the New York Police Department had brought a small army to break up the occupation at ‘Hind’ Hall. As with much of the handling of the protesters, the end of the occupation was a negotiation of violence between state officials and campus administration officials whose bourgeois interests were on the line. But this is not the end. This form of protest will continue to spread as global boycotts force capital to buckle under the pressure of the misery they are complicit in. Then, as now, it will continue.  

Germany’s Authoritarian Turn

The brutal and repressive authoritarian measures taken by the German establishment against Palestine solidarity are only increasing in frequency, as mainstream German society remains silent.


03/05/2024

A few months ago, I wrote an article about how the unity of German political parties in support of Israel marks a decisive moment in the consolidation of rightwing power in this country. Today, the egregious acts of state repression surrounding the Palestine Congress now mark Germany’s authoritarian turn. The rate and speed at which such measures are progressing should alarm us all.

I believe that the state’s ability to pull off the banning of the Congress – complete with deploying police at a 10:1 ratio of attendees, barring the entry into the country of several well-known figures, cutting off power to the venue, and brutally arresting Jewish activists – has only emboldened the continued expansion of the state’s repressive apparatus. Moreover, when questioned by organizers and lawyers on the scene about why they were doing this, police responded that they didn’t know and were just following orders. This, of course, should serve as consolation to no one. 

And yet, the events of that weekend have extended beyond the gross violation of civil rights at the Palestine Congress, and they have continued to intensify in the fortnight that followed – a trend that deserves our close attention beyond what occurred on that Friday. This article will recount the subsequent events of that weekend, chart the rapid pace of repressive measures taken since then, concluding with the violent eviction of the protest camp in front of the Bundestag, which has been condemned by human rights watch groups like Amnesty International. 

Saturday 13.4

The day after the congress was banned, a few thousand people gathered in the city center to protest the slew of oppressive measures that had just been unleashed against Palestinian solidarity. The police presence was – once again – excessive, as the reinforcements from North-Rhein Westfalia were still in town. Dressed in full riot gear, they formed a line on either side of us that extended the entire length of the demo. Mixed in with the righteous anger, there was a feeling of tension and fear, as people kept warning each other not to get separated from their friends, nor to leave the demo alone. 

Likely chomping at the bit for some violence during their big trip to the Hauptstadt, the cops eventually descended on the crowd and detained people that they claim to have seen at previous illegal demos – my sources confirm that this included people that both were and were not actually at said demos. They took these measures based on shoddy evidence – photos and videos from the events – that according to lawyers I spoke to at the ELSC, are not sufficient for a conviction. Nevertheless, the police pulled them from the crowd and questioned them, informing the suspects that they were opening an investigation and may press charges.

The police also separated multiple parents from their young children, including an 8-year-old girl who was chanting into a megaphone when around 10 riot police broke into the crowd in an attempt to detain her. The crowd united to shield her from the violent attack, but the incident left the girl terrorized. Later, a man was arrested, leaving his young son alone and sobbing. In response to these acts of police aggression, the crowd sat in place and stayed there until the demo’s end, demanding the release of those detained. 

Sunday 14.4

Things reached perhaps their most brutal point of the weekend on Sunday when, at the protest camp, a musical performer allegedly said an illegal slogan. Riot police attacked the crowd in squadrons truly reminiscent of the brown shirts or the SS, hitting anyone even remotely in their way. Several police once again violently arrested a Jewish participant at the camp who was attempting to intervene and deescalate the situation. Multiple people were arrested, pepper sprayed, and hospitalized as a result of the attack. Chilling videos circulated on social media showing the cops casually chatting and laughing in the aftermath of their shameful and undemocratic behavior.

The crowd stayed united against the onslaught and ordners held hands around demonstrators to protect them from the police. As the protesters chanted “Nazis raus!” – something that seemed to hit close to home for the police (who have been shown to have plenty of Nazis and rightwing extremists in their ranks) – they backed away and left with those who they had arrested. The atmosphere remained tense, as more reinforcements clad in riot gear returned to the site.

Over the following fortnight 

In the days directly following the weekend, there have been numerous unconstitutional acts of repression including the banning all languages except English and German from being spoken at the camp – with notable instances of Arabic, Irish and Hebrew being criminalized. People wearing kufiyas have been blocked by the police from approaching Brandenburger Tor en route to the camp on several occasions, and blatant racial profiling in the area surrounding the Bundestag remains a common occurrence. 

On Saturday, April 20th, the police violently attacked a peaceful demo demanding that Germany stop selling weapons to Israel, once again making several arbitrary arrests. That same weekend, the government also closed two centers for women and girls in Friedrichshain, after secretly surveilling those that work at the center. The justification was that one worker posted in support of a ceasefire on her private Instagram account and attended demos in solidarity with Palestine in her free time.

The latest disturbing iteration of this pattern occurred on Friday, April 26th, when the protest camp in front of the Bundestag was given an eviction notice with only one hour to vacate the premises – for flimsy reasons such as that they were damaging the grass. The police used shocking and disproportionate levels violence against demonstrators who staged a sit-in at the camp, including instances of police punching participants in the kidneys and faces while wearing reinforced riot gloves. Others were subjected to verbal abuse and sexual harassment – all in full view of tourists and passersby. The eviction culminated in as many as 161 arrests. 

Having been among the protestors who came out to show solidarity with those being evicted, what perhaps shocked me most about the thoroughly undemocratic scene – in front of the German parliament no less – was the absolute lack of care coming from bystanders in the area. The place was absolutely swarming with cops, dressed in riot gear, committing egregious acts of violence. I even observed people gloating at the scene with their Starbucks in hand. After overhearing me speak words of condemnation about the German state, one man elbowed me when he walked by. This is all to say nothing of the elected officials sitting in their comfortable offices in the Bundestag as police beat demonstrators in full view from their windows.

That evening, at a spontaneous counter demo on Sonnenallee, the excessive police presence and use of force continued, perhaps most shockingly in the violent arrest of a man waving a Palestinian flag. The police forced him face down on the ground against the sidewalk, a position that can induce deadly asphyxiation within minutes. 

The implications 

No doubt, similar measures of police violence, cancellations, and the closing of publicly funded spaces that show even the slightest support for Palestine have occurred since Oct 7, and before. Yet, what is new is the near-daily rate at which such instances have been happening since the state got away with banning the Palestine Congress. In addition to the events recounted above, the number of people who have received letters from the police for sharing allegedly-illegal slogans on their social media accounts continues to rise. 

It is clear that the police are becoming more emboldened as their actions are met with impunity and indifference from the German public. They enact shocking levels of violence against protestors and justify this – along with arbitrary arrests and detentions – on unconstitutional grounds and allegations. From banning the congress based on what might be said during it, as well as the usual racial profiling, and declaring certain languages, slogans, and symbols illegal – it is clear that the democratic freedoms enshrined in the Grundgesetz (Basic Law) matter little compared to the whims of the state and police. 

Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands turned out for anti-AfD demonstrations earlier this year, the cognitive dissonance and affinity for authoritarianism amongst German society remains intact. The fascist turn of the centrist politicians of the Ampel coalition is widely supported and their racist suppression of Palestinian solidarity movement is seen as justified – rather than acknowledging it for what it is. 

As a foreigner, I find Germans’ deafening silence and inaction around what’s happening to be especially chilling because it is so obvious how this culture enabled the Nazis to ascend to power. And as I stood on the grounds in front of the Bundestag, I couldn’t stop thinking of the phrase, that when you scratch a liberal a fascist bleeds. And this is Germany – just as it was in 1933, it is now in 2024.  

In fact, the police violence is secondary to the quiet and smug acquiescence of the German public in the face of it. There is consistently a sense – such as among the bystanders at the eviction in front of the Bundestag – that the demonstrators deserve the unjust treatment for their disobedience. When they are not actively burying their heads in the sand about their country’s actions both here and in Gaza, they seem to think that this violence and repression is reserved only for those who fall out of line. 

What we have learned from Germany’s own shameful past is that when these oppressive acts are not actively and adamantly opposed, these tendencies only continue to widen their reach into broader sections of society. As the oft quoted line from Hitler himself goes: “One thing alone could have stopped our movement—if our adversaries had understood their own principles and had from day one struck with all ruthlessness the core of our new movement.” 

In these times we have a limited window within which we can resist and this window is closing more quickly with each passing day. And so we must persist.

Germany is clearly threatened – we’re doing something right

I would also argue that, despite the heavy handedness and absurdity of the repressive measures taken by the police (see: arresting a sofa, twice), these acts are strategic. They serve the purpose of overwhelming and distracting those who resist in solidarity with Palestine from Germany’s support of the actual genocide. They also function to normalize the onslaught of repression amongst the public, while striking fear in those who might otherwise become radicalized.

Clearly, the lengths that the German police, politicians, and press are going to suppress our movement are indicative of our power and influence. The level of repression is proportional to the threat we are mounting against the powers that be. The state’s main weapon is intimidation, and it is important to remain steadfast and to keep pushing in the face of it. Because, as Palestinian lawyer Nadija Samour reminded us following the cancellation of the Palestine Congress, when engaged in struggle “first they ignore us, then they laugh at us, then they fight us, and then we win.” 

They likely evicted the camp because they are afraid of the rising tide of such encampments across the US and around the world. They use violence because they do not know how to respond to the unbreakable and utterly transformative feeling of effervescent solidarity which all of us who are a part of this movement for a free Palestine have come to know over the last months. 

And at the end of the day, whatever tactics of violence and intimidation they unfurl on us, it is nothing compared to what our Palestinian siblings are currently living in Gaza. We must stay principled and focused on what we are fighting for.

All we have is each other: solidarity forever, power to the people! 

And for those who are a part of this movement and have been targeted by the violence, surveillance, repression, and psychological warfare, I have this to say: all we have is each other. Anyone who has had the privilege of attending a demo or event here in Berlin in solidarity with Palestine knows the power of our community. 

The joyful militancy we bring into public space – one of the latest examples being the protest camp where we saw our capacities to collectively self provision, organize, and educate ourselves in literal and symbolic opposition to the state. Our collective power is utterly terrifying to the powers that be and we must continue to wield it, until our aims are met. Palestine isn’t going anywhere and neither are we.

The repression only functions as a crucible that forges our discipline, organization, and solidarity to a higher degree. And it is spreading. There is a reason why the state is going to such great lengths to squelch it. It contains the stirrings of liberation – for all of us. So in the face of intimidation we must be even louder, bolder, and more defiant than ever, especially as the state will continue to take back territory from us should we waver for even a second. 

It is our steadfast solidarity that will save us and that stands as the portal to our collective liberation. 

Transparency – release the Minutes of the Cancellation of the Breitz Exhibition

Open Letter in support of Candice Breitz


Translated from the German. Original version here

Dear Minister Streichert-Clivot,


On March 18, 2024, a detailed statement by Candice Breitz regarding the cancellation of her exhibition at the Saarlandmuseum was published in the Saarbrücker Zeitung. Unfortunately, you have not yet commented or responded. Rumors continue to circulate in the art and culture scene. In the absence of any public discussion, people are talking behind closed doors…

We–authors, filmmaker, artists and journalists–are writing to express our concern regarding recent developments in connection with the cancellation of the exhibition. Across the press, concerns about artistic freedom and fundamental democratic values have been raised. Candice Breitz accuses you not only of putting pressure on the director of the Saarlandmuseum, Andrea Jahn (including forbidding her to give public interviews), but also of having excluded Jahn from the decision-making process regarding the cancellation of the exhibition.

These accusations, if true, are likely to undermine confidence in your leadership as Minister for Education and Culture. You yourself emphasize the need for transparency and clarification in the democratic process. We therefore suggest that, in order to facilitate this transparency, you make the relevant minutes of the meeting in which the decision to cancel Candice Breitz’s exhibition available for inspection. We believe that disclosure is necessary in order to thoroughly review the process and thus strengthen confidence in Saarland’s cultural policy and the integrity of its cultural decision-making processes.

We appeal to your responsibility as Minister of Culture to do justice to the cultural and democratic values that hold our society together. The promotion of art and culture, the preservation of freedom of expression and the transparent debate with critical voices are essential for a vibrant and open society.

With hope for a constructive debate as we anticipate your reply,

Klaus Behringer
Prof. Sung-Hyung Cho
Andreas Dury
Prof. Dr. Meinrad Maria Grewenig
Prof. Ulrike Rosenbach
Daniel Hausig
Sigrún Ólafsdóttir
Dr. Ralph Schock
Prof. Georg Winter

 

To sign or share the petition follow this  link or the QR code below

10 Reasons to vote Die Linke

European Election Programme of Die Linke (short version)


01/05/2024

The European elections will be held on June 9th. Die Linke is campaigning for a socially just European Union and for the fair redistribution of wealth in Europe. We are fighting for climate justice and climate protection and for peace. The government and the Right are calling for more armament, stronger militaries, and higher walls around Europe. The concerns of the people are seldom represented; the ‘everyday’ is no longer possible. Those who have enough concerns of their own are burdened with the costs of transitioning to green energy. Our vision for Europe looks different: we stand for greater collective welbeing, more fairness, more equality; for hospitals and care facilities not traded on the European stock exchange; for functioning public transport at no cost to its passengers; for a railway that connects Europe. And that all may profit from Europe’s vast wealth. This is possible. Together we are strong—stronger than the Right, who use the poor and refugees as their scapegoats. Stronger than the lobbies that put corporate interests and armament first. That is why we ask for your vote.

1. Protect the climate—not corporate profits

Climate disaster threatens the survival of our children on our planet. The wealthier someone is, the more CO2 emissions they produce. 100 corporations are responsible for an inordinate share of all CO2 emissions. The federal government has failed to get a handle on these largest instigators of climate change. Companies receive state funding for making the switch to climate-friendly production. All the same, the subsequent profits and dividends land in private wallets.

CO2 prices—petty change for the mega rich—most affect those who already struggle to make ends meet.

Die Linke demands clear specifications and rules for companies and real alternatives for the people. We are fighting for a green transition with public energy producers and socially scaled pricing—for climate friendly economic restructuring that generates secure employment with good wages. To redistribute the burden of CO2 costs, we demand socioeconomically minded climate funds that will especially support those with low and middle incomes.

2. Living wages—not survival wages

Corporate profits are through the roof. Wages are not. Rent, groceries, gas, electricity, and heating costs are exploding. Many can no longer stretch their pay to the end of the month. More than 100 million people in Europe work for low pay as adjusted for the wages of their country. This is the case for one in six full-time employees in Germany—in the former East, that number is as high as one in three.

Companies exploit the low wages of other EU states for profit. The EU is against poverty wages and stipulates that as many workers as possible be protected by collective labour agreements. In Germany, less than half of workers enjoy such protections. Still, the German government does nothing. In Germany the federal minimum wage must be raised to 14.14 euros. Die Linke says: round up to 15!

Workplace pressure builds, a mountain of unpaid overtime grows. Die Linke is fighting for work that fits life in the form of a 4-day or 30 hour week with full pay and more employees.

3. Finding safety

It is not refugees who threaten our welfare, but the mega rich who hide their wealth in tax havens. We want an end to the fatality on EU borders and that no one is left to drown. International maritime law enshrines an obligation to at-sea rescue; something we wish to organise publicly, reliably and legally. Chaos on the borders is a political failure. Asylum procedures compatible with international law and human rights are essential. The costs must be equitably distributed within the EU. Municipalities that take in refugees must be granted additional funds.

4. Abolishing poverty

More than 120 million people are in danger of poverty—including one in four children in Europe. Poverty does not look the same everywhere. Retirees collect bottles, families cannot afford vacations. Children go to school without breakfast. Others live on the streets. Many affected by poverty provide wealthier nations with cheap labour, for example as agricultural workers or 24-hour-care nurses.

Poverty is always a failure of the government. The EU must see that a social security net is provided to all member states—welfare and federal minimum wages must reliably protect from poverty. We demand that in Germany that no pension or welfare payments fall below 1,200 euros per month. Social security is prerequisite to a life in dignity. If corporations and the wealthy are held accountable, this is affordable. We stand for good social security benefits and against the need for them to be collected—because wages and pensions are sufficient for a good life, because public services are free, and because shelter and power are affordable.

5. No profits at the cost of health

Long waits for a doctor’s appointment, cancer surgery, in the emergency room; nursing staff are overworked and leave the branch exhausted—these are everyday phenomenon in Germany. The poor are more likely to suffer from chronic illness and to die earlier. This is true in Germany and across Europe.

Die Linke is fighting for better care for all, regardless of income. Other European countries invest more in healthcare, have more nursing staff per patient, and pay them better. This benefits the employed and their patients.

Die Linke aims to orient nursing and healthcare around communal wellbeing and according to need—rather than European competition rules. Hospitals and care homes should not be allowed to pass profits on to investors. Supplementary funds must be directed back into healthcare and nursing. The EU should set aside funds and assist municipalities in turning private hospitals over to public control.

6. Strengthening that which holds humanity and society together

Classrooms are too full. If a teacher is sick, lessons are cancelled. A free spot in a daycare is difficult to come by. Childcare workers are at their limits. The old apartment has long been too small for the family—there is no affordable, suitable housing. Functioning public transport and railways, or a public library and youth centre? In many areas, the suggestion sounds utopian. Good public services are the glue that holds humankind and society together, or not. Those who can afford to send their children to private schools and purchase homes, do. The EU is pushing for privatisation and public services are at the behest of the market. This leaves traces everywhere in the EU and in our daily lives—private equals costly. Die Linke wants to remove priority for privatisation and profit orientation from EU accords. We are fighting for good public services with enough staff; for enough affordable housing. For education and childcare free of charge. For healthcare organised publicly and not for profit.

7. Wealth to benefit all

Half of Europe’s wealth is in the possession of its richest 1%. The COVID-19 pandemic, war, and crisis have meant less money and more worries for many. The wealth of the richest has grown significantly. Why? Because many countries—such as Germany—lowered taxes for the wealthy; because the prices of rent, power, and groceries have been driven up, and the government is funnelling huge sums of money into armament. This makes corporate owners and shareholders rich. Class sizes could shrink, public transport could be cheaper, and there could be more daycare spaces if a wealth tax was reintroduced in Germany.

Inequality between the top and bottom is growing, as does the inequality between EU member states. This is bad for the people, for cohesion in the EU, and for democracy. We want to raise taxes on corporate profits and the wealth and inheritances of the mega rich throughout the EU. We demand a wealth tax starting at assets of 1 million euros (debts subtracted) in Germany. Assets over 1 billion euros will be taxed at 12%; no one needs more than 999 million euros.

8. Free public transport—not private jets

Well connected public transport, free and for all: beneficial to us, our cities and the environment. We want to expand public transport throughout the EU and make it available free of charge. More transit lines, accessibility, higher frequency service, better connection for rural areas and improved working conditions will require investment in the billions; then, public transport will pose a real alternative to car travel and all would be mobile. Through a well-functioning railway system, we can bring Europe closer together and expand daily commuter routes.

With better track networks, modern coaches, and comfortable night trains, Die Linke wants to make rail the most important form of transportation in Europe—for an affordable price. This way, train travel will be a real alternative to flying. Socially just climate protection means stopping the excesses of the mega rich. We want superyachts and private jets banned in the EU and to abolish tax breaks for aviation fuel.

9. Cap profits, close tax havens

Shell, Lidl, Aldi, and other corporations raised prices during the war and energy crisis. Necessities have increased in cost by one third; energy costs by one half. Excessive pricing has been cushioned with tax money. Taxpayers were left in the cold all the same. Inflation is no force of nature. Price increases tell us that we must pay more while corporate profits increase. Die Linke wants to prevent profiteering from crises. This is possible—if excessive profits are taxed away, raising prices loses its attractiveness. We demand a 90% excess profit tax in the EU on all surplus profits. Electricity and gas prices cannot be left to the market. We want socially-scaled pricing. International corporate giants pay an average of just 19% taxes, while the neighbourhood baker pays around 30%. We want to put a stop to tax havens and tax evasion, through which 835 billion euros escape the EU every year. We want standardised minimum tax rates for Europe’s large companies.

10. Investment in peace—not war

Putin’s criminal war of aggression in the Ukraine has shocked many. The EU has obligated member states to invest more money in armament. The German government quickly set aside 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr. The result for some: extra arms-industry profits, with stock values increasing tenfold. For the rest of us: pension cuts, child poverty, care sector and housing crises. As the armament budget goes up, basic child welfare has been abolished. Now, discussions of implementing ground forces and the use of atomic weapons are being held. Escalation and dying carry on. Reliance on escalation brings with it the risk of a world war.

Die Linke wants to outlaw war as a political tool. Negotiations for ceasefire and peace are needed over more arms shipments. We want to ban atomic weapons. If economic lobby representatives propose that we must choose between ‘guns and butter’, then we say, ‘Butter for all!’ Stop the arms race!

Translation: Shav MacKay, reproduced with permission