A coalition of peace movement, trade union activists, anti-racist groups, social initiatives and individual parties has called for a rally in Berlin on March 18 to protest the planned rearmament of the next federal government, comprising the CDU/CSU and SPD.
According to the organizers, the protest action, under the motto “No money and no people for their wars!”, is directed against plans by Friedrich Merz to invest hundreds of billions of euros in new armament programs, financed by a circumvention of the debt brake, made possible through a short-term amendment to the Basic Law. The federal government intends to suspend the debt brake for armament expenditures and enable a virtually unlimited debt for military purposes. The Bundestag is scheduled to pass the necessary amendments to the Basic Law in its current composition on Tuesday. At the same time, an additional 800 billion euros in weapons and military infrastructure is expected to flow in on the European level overnight.
The Junge Welt quotes Tabea Winter, a representative of the coalition, as saying: “This policy comes at the cost of the broader population: while the stock prices of armament companies explode, social cuts and declining real wages are looming. We need investments in education, health and social security.”
The organizers are calling for political pressure, as it can have an impact. Now, “massive protest” is needed to stop the war plans of the new federal government.
In Berlin on Tuesday, three rallies against the amendment to the Basic Law are planned around the Reichstag building, where the Bundestag is located. From 8 to 12 o’clock local time, a demonstration is scheduled to take place on the Platz der Republik in front of the Reichstag building, under the motto “No blank check for the military! Billions for people, not for weapons!”. From 10 am to 11:30 am, a rally is planned in the Paul-Löbe-Allee, under the motto “No to the amendment to the Basic Law in favor of rearmament”. From 12:15 pm to 2:15 pm, students are planning to protest on the Platz der Republik against massive rearmament.