Large demonstration in Berlin
“Never again war”: Peace movement sees itself at a new beginning
At the demonstration called for by the “Never Again War” alliance, thousands of participants marched through Berlin. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Thousands march through Berlin to demonstrate against arms deliveries to Ukraine and for negotiations with Russia. Sahra Wagenknecht again gets the biggest applause.
Peace doves, rainbow flags, red flags of the Left and the DKP, Palestinian flags and chants of “Free Palestine”: it was all there on Thursday afternoon at the “Never again war” demonstration at the Berlin Victory Column. “We see today, the The peace movement is alive,” shouted left-wing politician Gesine Lötzsch from the stage in the Tiergarten. The organizers counted “well over 40,000” people. The police did not want to commit and only spoke of a “lower five-digit number”.
Signs read “Create peace without weapons” and “Get out of NATO.” Almost like in the 1980s in West Germany. The organizers are hoping for a new edition. This could probably also get involved in the 2025 federal election campaign. “You are at the beginning of this great new movement that will hopefully make this country more peaceful and peaceful,” said co-organizer Reiner Braun. According to his own statements, he has already protested against the NATO double decision of 1979.
Wagenknecht as an icon of the movement
There were also protagonists such as the East Berliner Lötzsch and the former CSU politician Peter Gauweiler, who said he spoke for the first time at a peace movement demonstration. And of course the icon of the movement: party founder Sahra Wagenknecht, who also received the biggest applause here.
Wagenknecht spoke for peace and for diplomacy instead of weapons in both Ukraine and the Middle East. But she didn’t skimp on verbal attacks. The BSW boss once again vehemently criticized the traffic light coalition, which blindly does what someone in Washington tells them to do.
Against the “damned missiles”
She called Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin a criminal, but at the same time castigated US wars of aggression. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is a security risk. Politicians like Anton Hofreiter (Greens) or Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) belonged to a “battalion of war-fighting tough-talkers”. They should experience what war is really like at the front. And Wagenknecht also formulated the main goal of this new movement: “We have to prevent these damn rockets.”
This refers to the stationing of US medium-range missiles from 2026, which Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington in July. Scholz argues that Germany needs the weapons as a deterrent. There is a missile threat from Russia. Critics counter that the missile bases will make Germany a target. In addition, a new arms race is being initiated.
Stegner booed
Ralf Stegner, a member of the Bundestag from the ruling SPD party, is skeptical about the rockets. On the stage at the Großer Stern around the Victory Column, he still had a hard time getting through the whistles and boos. This began when Stegner spoke about Ukraine’s right to self-defense and the usefulness of air defense over Ukrainian cities. Shouts of “warmongers” could be heard. “Stop” and “blablabla” were comments from the crowd.
This left Stegner sitting very uncomfortably between all the political chairs. Because he also had to listen to accusations from his party. The SPD foreign politician Michael Roth criticized in the news magazine “Der Spiegel” that Stegner was contributing to a shift in the discourse.
“We allowed ourselves to be lured into a trap by the AfD and Sahra Wagenknecht. They and their nationalist-populist movement have hijacked the concept of peace,” said Roth. “The highly emotional debate has created a dangerous vacuum in which Ukraine’s supporters are being discredited as warmongers.” Arms deliveries are not an end in themselves, but should help Ukraine come to the negotiating table from a position of strength, said Roth.
At the end “We shall overcome”
Arguments like these were not heard at the demonstration. After Wagenknecht’s speech, there was a lot of talk from the stage about the “genocide” in the Gaza Strip and the liberation of Palestine. A speaker welcomed the fact that Nicaragua has sued Germany at the international court for complicity in the genocide in Gaza. Demonstrators chanted the Internationale and shouted “Hail international solidarity.” Towards the end the crowd sang “We shall overcome”. It was almost like back then.
Process of the demo call “Freedom for Palestine” information