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“Palestine isn’t going anywhere, and neither are we”

Interview with Jara Nassar about Berlin’s Camp for Gaza


19/04/2024

Could you start by telling us who you are and where you are currently politically active in?

My name’s Jara Nassar, I’m one of the organizers of the Occupy Against Occupation protest camp (Besetzung Gegen Besatzung) that is currently happening in front of the Bundestag, and that’s where I’m currently most active within the Palestine Solidarity movement.

Can you tell us how the Besetzung Gegen Besatzung Camp arose? And can you give us a bit of context around this initiative?

So, Besetzung Gegen Besatzung means “occupation against military occupation” and we’ve been protesting, marching, educating and organizing artistic interventions for six months now. There are people here who have been involved with Palestine for six months, some for three months, but some also for years. There’s been over one protest a day on average in Berlin for the last six months, ever since the newest aggression on Gaza and the genocide started, and it hasn’t been enough. This is an escalation of tactics to say, “okay, we’re taken the streets over and over and over again, and now we’re just going to not leave anymore and create a permanent disruption.”

The camp was initially set up for one day when Germany was before the ICJ. Now it’s been going on for over a week with no sign of stopping. What made you extend it?

Exactly that the idea of doing it for one day hasn’t been enough, and the idea that “Palestine isn’t going anywhere, and neither are we”. We planned our bodies to be moving in front of the Parliament to constantly remind them that this topic will not go away, that they’re complicit and even enabling genocide, and that the people know. It’s also been an amazing spot for people to come and find community and power.

What are you demanding?

Several different things. Our main demand is an immediate military embargo and an end to all weapons exports to Israel. Germany supplies almost half of Israel’s weapons imports, a share which has increased since October. And that just must stop. We demand an end to all the occupation. That includes also the occupied Golan Heights and part of occupied Lebanon. We also demand full application of human rights for all, so that means the implementation of right of return for all refugees. We also demand accountability for all parties complicit in war crimes, the genocide and the suffering of the Palestinian people. This includes the withdrawal of the SPD’s unjust resolution for politically motivated exmatriculation of students, and for Germany to stop criminalizing the solidarity movement.

What activities and actions are taking place in the camp?

We have political education, such as workshops, we’ve shown some documentaries, we have rallies and speeches. We’ve had an art installation that’s been running permanently since the start of the camp. But our focus is mostly on the political education.

Can you tell us more about this art installation?

It’s under the title “Life Ban from Gaza”, and it showcases the absurdity and the cruelty of the Israeli barricade on Gaza that has been going on for almost two decades now. And it has two parts. On one side we see everything Israel has banned from Gaza, and we also invite visitors to participate and contribute to that. It’s everything such as food and water, but also medicine and medical equipment, that Israel has blocked from entering Gaza, especially since the so-called total siege on the ninth. And also going back over the years, very basic things like shoes, doors, wedding dresses, these sorts of things that make it very clear that the blockade doesn’t have anything to do with Hamas or Palestinian resistance.

There’s one instance the CNN reported on when, this winter, a truck of aid was turned away because there were green sleeping bags in them and green is a military color so they claimed that they had a dual use. That was the reason why the entire truck was turned back, which is absurd and cruel. So once again, it’s not about the resistance, it’s about committing genocide against the population. And then on the other side of the installation is everything that Israel allows into Gaza. So we built some models of bombs and ammunition that is supplied by the US and Germany.

What are the best strategies to make the camp safe and mobilize people to come and join?

Well, I hope I know them. I can tell you what strategies we have been using. We’ve been mobilizing via social media, and through word of mouth. And to make the camp safe, we have 24 hour shifts, so there’s always someone here. The police are giving us a lot of arbitrary restrictions, for instance, completely forbidding the use of any language but German and English right before the evening prayers, during the last day of Ramadan. So, we do have to work with the police to keep to keep our participants safe. But mobilization has been quite good. There’s been hundreds of people here over the weekend. Literally hundreds.

How have the police reacted since the camp was set?

The police do not like us. They have been giving us plenty of arbitrary restrictions. So, as I just said, from one minute to the next, it’s completely prohibiting the use of any language except German and English, including music, prayers, and chants. So we can say “free Palestine”, but we can’t say Falestin hurrah, which is the same thing but in Arabic. And other arbitrary restrictions such as not allowing us to tie anything to the trees, making us move the tents every day but denying us space to set them back up again, etc.

Earlier today, we were asked to move a tent, we did it and then the cop came back again and said: “No, it has to be 20cm further to the right.” They’ve been patrolling and harassing people, so it’s been very difficult. Another thing they prevent us from using was our big tent, even though it’s perfectly legal and someone even called the Grunbauart to ask for permission. But once it was set up, the cops made us put it away again. It would be nice to have it back because it helps a lot against the wind, cold and rain.

What are the future perspectives of the camp? Do you think it’s going to materialize into some kind of umbrella movement for all the Palestine solidarity groups and organizations?

I mean, we hope so. We’ve already been seeing people from different groups and organizations, also from all over Germany, come and visit. And we hope that it brings our demands to the forefront of the political conversation, and we hope that it inspires others. So, please, if there’s someone in a different city, organize your own Besetzung Gegen Besatzung and show the German government that we are not going anywhere until they stop enabling genocide.

How do you think the German government is going to act in this escalation of repression after the ICJ and the ban of the Palestine Congress?

They’ve already been escalating and escalating. I was at the Palestine Congress and it was insane. Turning off the electricity for the entire building, or one of the police taking away the cover for his weapon being ready to pull his gun out. So we simply hope that there will be enough pressure from civil society and the international community to stop this repression within Germany, because I personally do not see the government changing course unless they are forced to.

What can we do to support the camp?

Come by. If you are in a different city, make your own camp and spread our demands and use them as a guideline for your actions, hold those in power accountable and divest from genocide. If you’re in Berlin, we’re always very happy about people bringing us tea and coffee, especially now when the weather is cold. So that’s a very practical thing you can do. And aside from that, you support us by supporting Palestine, that means to continue talking about Palestine, joining or organising a march, educating people.

Philharmonie Banner Drop

Statement on the banner drop and flyer-dispersal performed by activists at the lunchtime concert at the Berlin Philharmonie on 17/04/24


17/04/2024

The Philharmonie’s website boasts that “worldwide, there is no comparable relationship between an orchestra and a private business [as that between the Philharmonie and Deutsche Bank]”. Sadly, the use of the arts to launder the reputations of businesses and individuals who profit from war and genocide is nothing special, and Deutsche Bank’s use of the Philharmonie to do so cheapens the institution immeasurably.

It bears reminding that the West Bank settlements are a violation of international law, have been leveraged to separate the Palestinian communities of the West Bank from Jerusalem, and involve an application of apartheid law to that region. To finance, both directly and indirectly, human rights violations and breaches of international law, constitutes a sordid endorsement of these violations.

Despite claiming to be concerned about all civilian casualties in the conflict, Deutsche Bank continues to urge customers to invest in stock from Rheinmetall, an arms manufacturer that has provided components and systems demonstrably used in human rights violations and the collective punishment of civilians in the past six months.

We commend the Philharmonie for their statement, released in December in advance of a benefit concert, decrying the danger faced by civilians in the middle east. We also note that these words are, sadly, meaningless, and the money raised at this concert a drop in the ocean, when seen in the context of the politely-ignored weapons trade that financed this same concert and many more in the Philharmonie. Every time that a concertgoer sees the Deutsche Bank logo on a Philharmonie brochure, yet fails to think of brutal ethnic cleansing and arms dealing, the Philharmonie further cements its role as a decorative distraction from that brutality.

We recognise that the artists who played today do not necessarily represent the ideals of Deutsche Bank and that their identity and contribution to the arts extends far beyond the interests of Deutsche Bank. We call on the Philharmonie to straightforwardly divest from a company that profits from human rights violations. When seen alongside a willingness to launder the reputation of an institution mired in corruption and the death and repression of millions, the hypocrisy emanating from statements of empathy and wishes of peace is shameful.

How We Can Stop The AfD

The AfD intends to hold their party conference in Essen at the end of June. The anti-racist movement, which has gained traction in many areas, must also come together there


The AfD intends to hold their party conference in Essen at the end of June. The anti-racist movement, which has gained traction in many areas, must also come together there.

The time in which the AfD has been able to spread their inhumane propaganda unhindered in the open appears to be over. In every corner of Germany, resistance to the Right stirs. People are standing up en masse against racism and even more want to engage beyond assembly and protest. An important occasion thereto will be the AfD national party conference at the end of June in Essen.

The AfD–founded in 2013 as a Euroskeptical, national-conservative party, was no later than 2015 a far-right, partly-fascist party–has since primarily worked on building a party founded in racism (especially Islamophobia). This has been fairly successful. After its establishment, the party fell just below the threshold for inclusion in the Bundestag at 4.7%. In the following European elections, that number was already above 7% and during state elections the party gained admission to all federal state parliaments.

Since the 2017 federal elections, the party has also been represented in the Bundestag. After many directional disputes, several more ‘moderate’, national-conservatives have left the party, leaving a party made up of fascists such as Björn Höcke, wrought with racism and fascist at its core.

An Anti-AfD Wake-up Call

Despite increasing mass anti-racist, pro-refugee protests in recent years, the AfD was not one of the movement’s central interests. By and large, the party could grow undisturbed.

That changed in January of this year after the agency Correctiv exposed—along with other racists and fascists—a group of high-ranking AfD officials’ plans. The meeting in question concerned, among other things, the party’s recent demands for deportation (‘remigration’) of all migrants living in Germany, further including any ‘non-assimilated’ German citizens. When met with public pressure the party attempted to downplay and distance themselves from the affair.

Member statements, however, get to the point. ‘We will send foreigners back home. By the millions. That is no secret. That is a promise,’ Bundestag member René Springer made clear after the findings became public. When asked, Björn Höcke claimed, ‘We will be able to live with 20 to 30% fewer people in Germany without issue, in fact, I find this ecological and even rational.’

The published findings had the working of a wake-up call on the population. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people in Germany have taken and continue to take to the streets to stand against the demands of the AfD. All over, participation exceeded estimated numbers. Rallies were ended prematurely over security concerns, entire city centres were brought to a standstill. Many individuals who had never been to such a demonstration took part.

Bringing Countermovement to the Streets

Many at these demonstrations hope that the problem can be solved by banning the AfD from government. There are arguments for doing so, but there are just as many against. Among other things, such a process takes years. Years, over which Nazis could reorganise. A past with the neofascist NPD shows that the ban process can fail to overcome many judicial hurdles, or simply because the state is made up in part of these groups’ informants.

The danger of a ban process is that protests could lose traction in favour of relying on state action. The protests are made of precisely what we need: a broad, antifascist movement on the streets.

Hitler himself said, ‘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.’

How the NPD Was Stopped

History shows being branded as Nazis means trouble for fascists. Confronted publicly with their own identity, they lose their temper and expose themselves.

The best example is the NPD, founded in the 1960s. At that time, many former DRP (Deutsche Reichspartei) Nazis assembled in the NPD, but remained hopelessly isolated. The NPD was to give them a respectable, national-conservative camouflage, that the German public fell for. Kiesinger, Chancellor at the time and former NSDAP member, certified the NPD as not fascist. Liberal paper Die Zeit warned against ‘denigrating the NPD as neonazis’. After its founding in 1964, the party recorded strong successes. Membership doubled. Following early success in 1966, the party acquired seats in seven federal state parliaments within 18 months. But come 1969, the NPD found itself in crisis. Contrary to expectations, they fell short of inclusion in the Bundestag and over the following years, membership shrunk to 6,000. What happened?

Adolf von Thadden, NPD party chairman at the time, later admitted that the 1968 loss of support could be traced back to, ‘cries for a ban, oppression of party assembly and increasing terrorisation’ from the Left. Wherever he went, he was greeted with the chant, ‘one Adolf was enough’; eggs, tomatoes, etc. were thrown at him. Nearly all public NPD events were disrupted in this manner. Conflicts at NPD rallies intensified. The party deployed its security service more frequently, which conducted itself like a paramilitary unit, in white helmets and armed with nightsticks. Attacks by these SS-like troops were included in the agenda. In Kassel a Nazi marshal fired shots at counter protesters. Images of the NPD security circulated the national and international press. The NPD was exposed. The national-conservative facade chipped away revealing the ugly grimace of fascism.

Direct Confrontation with Nazis

At every public appearance, Nazis must be shown that many not only reject their content but are also prepared to stand directly in their path to be demoralised. If Nazis cannot march, young members impressed by the feelings of power that come with rallying in particular grow discouraged. Even Goebbels recognised the threat of decisive confrontation by antifascists when he said, ‘If you allow even one single meeting to be broken up, people will stay away from you.’

Experiences in the 1970s, as the NPD again gained traction, showed anew that they could be weakened by a determined countermovement in the streets. Their 1977 ‘Deutschland-Treffen’ in Frankfurt gave the NPD cause for celebration as 5,000 members and only 1,000 counter protesters were in attendance. Those who wanted to stand in their way, however, grew quickly in number despite police bans. By 1978, the NPD was forced to divert to Frankfurt suburbs because thousands were prepared to hinder their rallies in the city centre. In 1970, 50,000 gathered in a counterprotest banned by police.

In 1997 up to 20,000 Munich residents occupied the city centre and prevented the largest Nazi march since the 1970s. The rally was interrupted and police escorted the Nazis back to their buses. As a result, numerous members withdrew from the NPD. Europe’s largest annual Nazi march in Dresden could also be stopped by mass antifascist blockades. A broad antifascist union called upon the nation to stand in Nazis’ way using this tactic. In 2010, 12,000 determined antifascists succeeded in blocking 6,000 Nazis. In 2011 it was 20,000 against 2,500. In 2013, only around 800 Nazis showed up.

Mass Mobilisation Against the AfD

These wins can be linked to broad alliances that confront fascists and racists head-on.

In the fight against fascism, it is necessary to form the largest possible union of workers and those who wish proactively stand in the path of fascists. This is true of the fight against the AfD. In light of the upcoming European elections we must disrupt each and every AfD info-booth, campaign event and rally with creative action and with as many people as possible. To do so, we need broad alliances that make it clear that racism and fascism have no place in our society.

In a capitalist economy, in which a minority exploits a large majority, the minority relies on racism to divert majority unrest toward scapegoats. New fascist organisations will always arise from environments of frustration with prevailing conditions and omnipresent racism. Antifascists can always fight back, but a prerequisite to a world without Nazis is a world without oppression and exploitation. As such, it is necessary to prioritise the establishment of socialist organisations today.

Save the Date: AfD Party Conference in Essen

The coalition, Essen Stellt Sich Quer, has already declared that they will not let the AfD national party conference on June 29th and 30th go by unchallenged. The nationally operating group, Aufstehen Gegen Rassismus, will also partake in disrupting the event. Further information in brief can be found here: Aufstehen gegen Rassismus

This article first appeared in German on the Sozialismus von Unten website. Translation: Shav McKay. Reproduced with permission

Germany speeds down one-way street, unable to change course

The repression against last weekends Palestine Congress has shown Germany’s true face.


16/04/2024

The Palestine congress that was to take place in Berlin on the weekend of April 12-14 was banned by the police. The “reason”: they may be showing antisemitic content, may call for violence against Jews, or may deny the Holocaust. The real reason: Israel and its defense are above all else, including freedoms in this country. Citizens and associations are now rejoicing at the fact that the congress, during which it was planned to discuss the situation in Gaza and Germany’s complicity in the genocide, has finally been banned. However, these same groups will also be silenced by the repressive state apparatus and its propagandistic press in the not too distant future when they step out of the line of thought set by the authorities, as the history of this very country has taught us.

The German state is overstepping too many democratic boundaries in repressing solidarity with Palestine and crossing over into authoritarianism. The right to assembly, demonstration, freedom of speech and press are being attacked and diminished in its frantic and erratic fight against antisemitism. In this desperate struggle to make amends for its genocidal past, Jewish activists and associations are being cancelled, arrested and criminalized, while far-right anti-Semitic politicians like Björn Höcke of Alternative for Germany are invited to TV debates, where he claims that antisemitism is imported and that borders must be closed. His discourse is resonating with a large part of German society, which has decided to make amends for the Holocaust by shedding Palestinian blood.

This repression and antisemitic mass hysteria has the German government and a good part of society in its grip – a part that ignores and/or whitewashes the horrors and atrocities that Israel has been committing in Palestine for 76 years. The hysteria culminated yesterday with the boycott of the Palestinian congress in Berlin on Friday, April 12th, the day it was supposed to begin. Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, rector at the University of Glasgow and a surgeon in Gaza who was invited as a speaker at the conference, was barred from entering Germany and after the police raided the conference hall. Three people were arrested, two of them Jewish. The disproportionality of the action borders on the comical, as the police entered the room, cut the electricity and banned the attendees from live streaming their actions, just a couple of hours after forcing the organizers to allow the Zionist press to enter in the name of freedom of speech.

On Saturday, after Friday’s events, far from backing down, the German government has banned all political activity in Germany in person and by zoom to the former Greek Minister of Economy and member of Mera25, Varoufakis. Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser declared about the congress that never happened, “Anyone who spreads Islamist propaganda and hatred against Jews must know that he will be prosecuted quickly and consistently.” In the same vein, the police today in Germany are thought police, criminalizing ideas that are uncomfortable to them before they are even expressed. Germany does not seem to realize how ridiculous it is making itself on a world level, becoming the parody of the authoritarian regime of the last century that the world has in mind when this country is mentioned.

The police presence in the capital during the weekend of the congress, with troops brought from the rest of the country makes clear the position of the authorities: any criticism of Israel, its policies or German complicity with the genocide will be criminalized and silenced at all costs. But the costs are not only the rights and freedoms in this country, it is the international image of Germany that is showing the world its true racist, white supremacist and genocidal face. Germany’s position as the cradle of humanism and defender of human rights is being tainted not only by its Nazi past, but also by its authoritarian and repressive present.

No, This is Not the Same

We don’t feel sorry for Hunter Thompson, so why would we feel sorry for a guy we don’t know?


15/04/2024

This is a story about how another guy in Ukraine took his own life because of forced mobilization. But first, let’s talk about how the texts that bear such news come to be.

Depending on the font, one book page equals approximately 300 words. As a writer, I can write 6-7 pages of quality fiction in a day.

But it’s not that simple. Despite being from Ukraine, my native language is Russian. Since in both Russia and Ukraine I face imprisonment, I am forced to translate all my texts into English. Quality translation takes no less and sometimes even more time than writing the text itself.

After I’ve translated the text, I need to send it to the editor. The next step is collaborative work on the structure of what’s been written.

Only after that does a native speaker proofread the text and correct sentences that don’t sound natural. Then it’s necessary to reread the written text again to make sure that the improvements haven’t accidentally distorted the meaning of what was written.

So, the process looks like this: writing + translation + working with the editor + error correction + double-checking. This means that in order to write 6 pages of fiction, I will have to work with at least 30 pages.

Over the past one and a half years – approximately the time since I miraculously escaped from Ukraine – I have written 3 books. Damn it, 3 books! I’ve completed 3 translations. I’ve written a set of anti-war essays. On average, the length of one of my books is 80,000 words.

Now you can calculate how much time it would take on average to write 3 such books. But when calculating, don’t forget to add at least another half of the total time for interruptions in inspiration, which is crucial to writing.

Why did I decide to let you in on these calculations? The fact is that today, March 28, 2024, my friend sent me news – in Ukraine, a guy took a gun from a policeman and shot himself in the head. First, he was taken to the military registration and enlistment office. He was 32 years old. For the past year and a half I have been trying to convey to society that forced mobilization is a crime. It turns out that I do this extremely ineffectively.

Book business moves slow. I hope that by the end of 2024 or early 2025 the novel THE MINING BOYS, which I wrote at the end of 2022, will be published. This is according to the most optimistic forecasts. All the while, men who don’t want to take part in the war continue commit suicide in Ukraine. They are dying today. Right now, while you are reading this. This is a sacrifice that society, however, looks to have made peace with. A guy dies in Ukraine – is this what we call collateral damage?

Initially, my position was that any country should only have a contract army. The military is a profession like any other. Therefore, I believed that everyone should do what is in his power and, not least important, in his competence, to end the war. That’s why, as a writer, I sat down to write anti-war books and essays.

But the reality is that war takes lives faster than the book market publishes books. I concede the death of the guy who shot himself with a police officer’s gun as a personal failure. You need to understand that news about suicides in Ukraine due to forced mobilization is hidden. That’s why we can’t even imagine the scale of conscription-related suicide in both Russia and Ukraine.

While citizens of both countries prove to each other that their relations are no longer fraternal, their governments are quietly and methodically killing them. In context, 80,000 unpublished words look pathetic. Even if you multiply by 3 manuscripts and 3 translations. That’s the death math.

It is important not only to understand the problem, but also to be able to spread news about it. When war is on the table, it is important to understand that supporting a country and supporting its people are not always the same thing.

 

 

This piece is a part of  a series, The Mining Boy Notes, published on Mondays and authored by Ilya Kharkow, a writer from Ukraine. For more information about Ilya, see his website. You can support his work by buying him a coffee.