According to the organizers, the demonstration for democracy on the Theresienwiese planned for Sunday in the form of a “sea of lights” is currently supported by more than 90 groups and institutions. The meeting is directed against hatred and agitation, racism and anti-Semitism and begins at 6 p.m. The keynote speaker will be human rights activist Düzen Tekkal.
The organizers – “Fridays for Future”, fairy lights, Bellevue di Monaco, Munich is colorful and “Tomorrow” – call on people to bring all kinds of light sources, but to avoid open candles due to fire safety. “We will not allow people in our country to be excluded and persecuted,” the organizers said in a statement. “We stand together against right-wing extremism and disgusting deportation fantasies.”
At the demonstration at the Victory Gate in January, anger and indignation were expressed. “We want to use the sea of lights as a broad society to come together and initiate debates. We all have to ask ourselves what our role is in the commitment to democracy.”
Meanwhile – as before the “demonstration against the right” three weeks ago – criticism of the organizer “Fridays for Future” comes from the ranks of the CSU. “For me, ‘Fridays for Future’ is out of place as an organizer of such important demonstrations,” says Bavaria’s Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich. “Fridays” tries to deliberately push the CSU and CDU into a right-wing corner and thus divides the solidarity of the Democrats in the fight against right-wing extremism. “Just a few days ago, Luisa Neubauer tried in a BR interview to defamatoryly bring the Union close to the AfD. That is unacceptable to me.”
From Eisenreich’s point of view, the relationship between representatives of Fridays for Future and the anti-Semitic world of Greta Thunberg is unclear: “In order to be credible in the fight against anti-Semitism, there is no firewall with Greta Thunberg.” Climate activist Luise Neubauer had differentiated herself from corresponding anti-Semitic statements: “The fact that Greta Thunberg has not yet said anything concrete about the Jewish victims of the massacre on October 7th disappoints me,” she said in October 2023.
“Dialogue for democracy and against right-wing extremism” in the Munich town hall
The town hall has announced who Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) has invited to the “Dialogue for Democracy and Against Right-Wing Extremism” on February 19th. In addition to the city leadership and the parliamentary groups, these include, among others, representatives of the migration advisory board, the large religious communities, civil society organizations such as München ist bunt, Lichterkette, Fridays for Future, Bellevue di Monaco, sports clubs such as Alpenverein, FC Bayern and TSV 1860, and municipal theaters and the largest employers in Munich, BMW, MAN and Siemens.
According to a town hall announcement, Reiter wanted to “start a conversation” and “network” the organizations. His main aim is to “have the broadest possible impact on our urban society and hopefully also in many areas that were previously difficult to reach for this topic”.
At the same time, he asks for your understanding that the number of invitations is limited to around 40 people in order to enable a discussion. He assures everyone who is committed to urban society and is not invited “that I support every civil society commitment that clearly positions itself against right-wing extremism.” He would be happy to accept suggestions on how the dialogue could be continued.
With the invitation, Reiter is responding to the demonstration at the Siegestor on January 21st, which was attended by around 200,000 people.