As of: 04/18/2022 4:20 p.m
The organizers see this year’s Easter marches as a strong signal against the Russian attack on Ukraine – people in more than 120 cities followed their call. But there was also loud criticism of the peace movement.
Against the background of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, according to the organizers, slightly more people took part in the Easter marches of the German peace movement than last year. The Bonn Peace Cooperative Network reported that the number of participants had increased “moderately” compared to previous years. According to this, there were corresponding events in more than 120 cities over Easter. In Hamburg, for example, around 1,700 people also demonstrated on Easter Monday.
Decentrally organized events
The alliance did not provide information on the nationwide total number of participants in the marches, which are traditionally organized decentrally at local and regional level. However, it drew a “positive balance sheet” from this year’s campaigns, which mainly took place on Holy Saturday and Easter Monday. The Easter marches, which were shaped by pacifism, became established during the Cold War and reached their peak in West Germany in the 1980s.
“The war in Ukraine drove many people onto the streets over Easter who do not want to follow the news in a faint, but want to actively fight against the war, for diplomatic solutions and against rearmament,” said a spokesman for the network.
criticism of the peace movement
In view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, there were considerable debates this year about the markedly NATO-critical orientation of the marches and their sweeping demands for disarmament. “Peace can and will only come if Putin stops his war of aggression,” Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck told the newspapers of the Funke media group on Saturday. The FDP politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff wrote in a guest article for “Die Zeit”: “The Easter marchers are Vladimir Putin’s fifth column, politically and militarily.”
Former Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse explained that the motto “make peace without weapons” is currently an arrogance towards the people of Ukraine. “Pacifism at the expense of others is cynical,” he said Bavarian radio. The former chairwoman of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Margot Käßmann, defended the NDR the critical attitude of the peace movement. In their view, more weapons will not end the war.
Increase in the German defense budget is rejected
The organizers rejected criticism of the marches. The Peace Cooperative Network explained that the call for an end to the Russian war against Ukraine was a central message of this year’s Easter marches. According to a spokesman, “Ukraine’s right to self-defense against Russian aggression” is “completely out of the question”. However, “many peace activists are concerned about plans to supply heavy weapons to war”. The increase in the German defense budget is completely rejected.