Attendees observe the main stage
HUNDREDS gathered in eastern Berlin over the weekend for a conference demanding an end to German militarisation, freedom for Palestine and resistance to the government’s attacks on democratic rights.
Denied access to the large Dortmund park in which German Communist Party (DKP) weekly Unsere Zeit traditionally held its press festival, party leader Patrik Kobele said organisers determined to take the message of peace to the heart of the German capital.
But such is the climate of repression around the peace movement that he was unsurprised to be warned against public chants of “Free Palestine” or “Viva Palestina” by representatives of German left party Die Linke when hiring the venue, and told observers would be monitoring the sessions.
NICK WRIGHT returns to Berlin and finds a city in darkness and political turmoil
In an address to the Communist Party’s executive at the weekend international secretary KEVAN NELSON explained why the communists’ watchwords must be Jobs not Bombs and Welfare not Warfare
In the first half of a two-part article, PETER MERTENS looks at how Nato’s €800 billion ‘Readiness 2030’ plan serves Washington’s pivot to the Pacific, forcing Europeans to dismantle social security and slash pensions to fund it
In part two of May’s Berlin Bulletin, VICTOR GROSSMAN, having assessed the policies of the new government, looks at how the opposition is faring