On Saturday, the traditional Düsseldorf Easter March took place, organized by the Düsseldorf Peace Forum. With the motto “Not Armed for War!” around 700 peace activists participated in the Düsseldorf Easter March, including supporters and members of the Palestinian Alliance NRW, the Assange Group Düsseldorf, the DKP, the Alliance for Sahra Wagenknecht, the German-Palestinian Society and especially many young people from the SDAJ (Socialist German Workers’ Youth) and the newly formed socialist party MERA25. Representatives of the anti-Corona measures criticized group, the Peace Alliance NRW, were also seen among them.
The first speaker was the former Düsseldorf mayor Thomas Geisel from the BSW. He called for an end to the sanctions against Russia and for a good neighborhood with the country. Geisel reminded everyone that it was the Red Army and the Soviet Union who had to pay the “highest blood price in history” during World War II. He criticized the German government for not inviting the Russian ambassador to the commemorative events: “It is sacrilegious that the German government did not invite the Russian ambassador to the commemorative events.”
Wa’el Jaber, the spokesperson of the Palestinian Alliance, called the Israeli violence against the Palestinians as dehumanization: “If the suffering of a people is ignored, relativated, or dismissed as ‘self-inflicted’ – then it is dehumanization. A person who is dehumanized may be killed, deprived of rights, expelled and tortured – without outrage, without mourning and without justice.” Germany should not stand behind the condemned war criminal Benjamin Netanjahu and the Israeli government responsible for this suffering.
The lawyer and peace activist Michael Aggelidis, a member of the NRW-based party Die Basis and a spokesperson for the NRW Peace Alliance, warned of a “hallucination of a war against Russia” by the upcoming federal government, which would openly incite war hysteria among the German population. This war propaganda, along with the simultaneous decline of the German infrastructure and the decline of the German middle class, gave the impression of “a whole country being given the green light for demolition.”
Also, in light of the drastic restrictions on democracy agreed upon in the Berlin coalition agreement, it was high time for resistance. History has shown that unbearable living conditions were always ended by courageous people. Only if enough determined people come together will anything change.
Over the ban of the Palästina-Solidarität Duisburg (PSDU), Shabnan Shariatpanahi from the Committee against the Ban reported. The PSDU was banned because its engagement for the right of the Palestinians to live free from occupation, expulsion and colonial oppression did not correspond to the prevailing political opinion of the German state, “the so-called German state reason. absolute loyalty to Israel at any price.” The German government has concluded Rüstungsdeals worth 300 million euros with Israel alone in the past two years. Shariatpanahi criticized the German arms industry: “It are again German weapons that are mowing down the world. And Rheinmetall from Düsseldorf is one of the biggest beneficiaries.”
Against division and for a broad peace movement
Alina from the Socialist German Workers’ Youth (SDAJ) spoke at the closing rally against the division of the peace movement and for a broad alliance. She first reported on the economic hardships facing young people in society. “While young people are being squeezed for breath by ever higher rents, ever higher food prices and ever fewer training opportunities, the rulers are discussing the reintroduction of military service.” Young people should be used as cannon fodder in the trenches for the profits of the arms industry and trained on the weapons against their will.
The military reorganization of society was justified by the Ukrainian war. We had to defend ourselves against an allegedly “aggressive Russia” that wanted to attack us. But, according to the young woman from the SDAJ, the youth would not be deceived. It was not Russia, but the NATO, that had started this war. Alina explained: “The Ukrainian war has a long history and we know exactly that it was the NATO that started it. The NATO wanted to draw Ukraine into the Western sphere of influence at any price.”
Neither the NATO nor Germany had an interest in a diplomatic solution to the conflict. On the contrary, we had to stand up against the warmongers and show them that we would not give in to their wars. In this situation, the peace movement must not divide itself but must form broad alliances, the SDAJ spokesperson declared:
“Here we must not be divided. All those who genuinely want peace must pull together if we want to achieve something. We must again form broad alliances, unite peace forces wherever possible and get as many people as possible onto the streets.”
Friedensaktivisten aus der Bewegung der Kritiker der Coronamaßnahmen wegen angeblich rechter Gesinnung ausgeschlossen
After the demonstration, RT DE spoke with Hermann Kopp, one of the spokespersons of the Düsseldorf Peace Forum, about the ongoing division of the peace movement and the background of this year’s exclusion of the Düsseldorf Easter March from the Rhine-Ruhr-Easter March movement.
This year, the Düsseldorf Easter March was excluded from the Rhine-Ruhr-Festival of Easter Marches, because the forum had invited the lawyer Michael Aggelidis as a speaker. Aggelidis, who used to be a member of the Left Party, is now engaged in the NRW Landesvorstand of the party Die Basis and in the NRW Peace Alliance. The NRW Peace Alliance emerged from the protests against the Corona measures and has been a thorn in the side of the Rhine-Ruhr-Peace Movement because the “Schwurbler” cooperate with Nazis.
The party Die Basis has been labeled right-wing since its protest against the Corona measures, just like the new NRW Peace Alliance. However, according to the Rhine-Ruhr-Festival of Easter Marches, no speaker from the proposed list of speakers by the Düsseldorf Peace Forum should have been allowed to speak at the Easter Marches if the forum wanted to be re-admitted to the festival. Specifically, the persons Michael Aggelidis, Jürgen Schütte and Mona Aramea were named.
However, the entire Friedensversammlung Rhein-Ruhr rejected this condition and wanted to re-admit the Düsseldorf Peace Forum. However, the two full-time organizers of the Friedensorganisation DFG-VK had not complied with this condition and had excluded the Düsseldorf Easter March from the common flyer and website of the Rhine-Ruhr Easter Marches. The Network of Peace Cooperatives, which allegedly lists all Easter Marches nationwide, had also omitted the Düsseldorf Easter March.
The Communist Hermann Kopp, who is accused of cooperating with “Nazis” these days, knows exclusion all too well. As a victim of the West German Radical Decree against Communists, the teacher with degrees in German and History could not work in the public service.