Tens of thousands took to the streets for peace

The Friedenskooperative network, of which we have been a member for more than 17 years, writes to us after the conclusion of most of the Easter marches: "Tens of thousands took to the streets this Easter weekend to take a stand at the 2026 Easter marches and demand peace.
In light of the terrible wars in the Middle East, the Gulf region, and Ukraine, as well as the current federal government’s unchecked arms buildup and militarization, we need a strong civil society that shouts “Stop!” loud and clear. We have shown that the peace movement is alive, united, and will not be discouraged.
A huge thank you to all of you!"

The peace march from Freiburg to Berlin, covering over 1,000 km, is still underway; it started there yesterday.

From yesterday’s Easter March, co-organized by the Hamburg Forum for International Understanding and Global Disarmament, Andreas Grünwald — an activist in the peace movement and director of works council seminars — sent us the text of his speech, which we are happy to publish here.

Dear friends,
I am proud to be able to speak today before so many peace activists. After we sent a first signal of our resistance against this barbaric war by the U.S. and Israel against Iran on March 13, 2026, with our first demonstration to send an initial signal of our resistance against this barbaric war waged by the U.S. and Israel against Iran, and after the school strike against conscription brought thousands onto the streets in Hamburg as well, we are today sending an even clearer signal of our resistance against the politics of war, as pursued by the federal government in Berlin as well.

Our Resistance to the War Against Iran

We are currently witnessing a war waged by the U.S. and Israel against Iran. This war is a treacherous crime. Launched while negotiations were ongoing — just like the attack on Venezuela or this criminal economic war against Cuba — it is nothing less than an act of naked imperialist violence! Justified by an alleged nuclear threat from Iran. Yet even the U.S. intelligence agencies — all 16 of them — have concluded that there is absolutely no evidence currently pointing to an Iranian nuclear weapons program.

It is just as hypocritical to speak of a “liberating regime change” in connection with this war. Aside from the fact that this too violates international law, the truth is quite different: this war is being waged solely to eliminate — or at least weaken — a geopolitical adversary. An adversary that does not dance to the U.S. tune. Just as the U.S. and NATO have done before in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. They have left behind millions of dead and maimed people and destroyed countries — “bombing them back to the Stone Age” was already the U.S. goal in Vietnam. And it is a war over oil. One that also gives the Greater Israel fanatics new room to annex further territories. Now in Lebanon. And just as before in the Gaza Strip or across the border in Syria.

And this genocide in Gaza is not over. It continues every day. With hunger, misery, and death. Ceasefire? Since it was announced, there have been over 1,000 Israeli violations of this ceasefire. Israel wants — and this is also happening with the support of German policy — to create conditions in the Gaza Strip aimed at the physical annihilation of the Palestinians.

We must understand: all these wars are interconnected. They are part of the same imperialist agenda. An agenda that is now claiming lives through massive bombings of Iranian cities, killing thousands of people, including many children. We are appalled by the aggression against Lebanon, which is turning 1 million people into refugees. But what disturbs us most of all is the criminal complicity of the German government, which allows U.S. military bases on German soil to be used for the logistical and military coordination of these war crimes. Are the U.S. and Israel doing the “dirty work for all of us”? That is how Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz put it as recently as June of last year.

The German government is also deliberately continuing its economic war against Iran to exacerbate the plight of the population, so that an internal war can be added to the external one. That, too, is a crime!

We demand:

• an immediate end to this war against Iran, against the Palestinian people, and against Lebanon
• above all, an end to German complicity in this war. That is, an end to all arms deliveries to Israel,
• and second, an immediate ban on the use of U.S. military bases in Germany for this war. Just as the Spanish government has done.

But without our pressure and a stronger peace movement, this will not happen. Because it is the German government that is otherwise among the main warmongers. It is the government that wants to prevent peace negotiations to end this proxy war in Ukraine. Instead, it wants to continue this war indefinitely with further arms deliveries — even though hundreds of thousands have already deserted in Ukraine.

Germany is to become ‘war-ready’

At the same time, our country is to become ‘war-ready’ by 2029. Five percent of everything this country produces is to be funneled into the military. If this goal is achieved, that figure is expected to reach up to 300 billion euros by 2035. That would be more than half of the current federal budget. At the EU level, rearmament plans ranging from 800 to 1,000 billion euros are also under discussion.

Most of it would be borrowed, which alone would cause the interest burden in the federal budget to rise from 6.5 to 15 and then to 25 percent. This can therefore only be financed if the achievements of the welfare state are dismantled. Goodness gracious: Just think of all the things we could finance with that money! The entire rail network could be repaired! Finally. Social housing construction could skyrocket. We could lift all pensioners living in poverty out of it. Add to that a student loan independent of parental income and free public transportation. And even all added together, that wouldn’t amount to half of what is supposed to be poured into the military every year in the future.

This shows: The question of war and peace is a class issue! But not just in terms of costs. No: It is our people who must die in such wars. They bear our names. It will not be the children and grandchildren of Friedrich Merz or those of the Rheinmetall CEO. It will be our children who are being sacrificed. Germany is supposed to be ready for war by 2029. Ready for war against Russia. In NATO circles, it is estimated that in the event of a war against Russia, 5,000 soldiers from NATO countries would die every day. And while we bear the costs of this military buildup, Rheinmetall’s stock price has increased tenfold.

But that’s not all. Germany is also one of the world’s largest arms exporters. Weapons shipped through the Port of Hamburg bring death and destruction everywhere, while a small class of unscrupulous capitalists makes a fortune off of it.

What are all these wars really about?

What are these wars really about? What is at stake when Germany is supposed to become “war-ready”? Is it about our freedom? That’s a lie! Freedom is restricted by war-readiness. In reality, it’s about sales and raw material markets. About profit interests. About Ukraine’s lithium. About Iran’s oil. About economic dominance in Eastern Europe. It’s about a shift in the geopolitical balance of power, and also about weakening China. That’s why NATO expanded eastward; that’s why there’s this arms race. That’s why there’s this complicity with the U.S. and Israel in the genocide of the Palestinians and now in the war against Iran. For that — and for that alone — there’s also supposed to be a new draft.

The students, who have gone on strike twice — a third school strike is being planned for May 8 — have understood this. They don’t want to die in the trenches. They refuse to be intimidated by repression as they defend their right to life. They say: Your fucking wars are not ours. And I say: for that, they have our unconditional solidarity!

Contradict the lie of the threat!

To push through their war agenda, those in power and some media outlets are developing a whole arsenal of propaganda myths. Russia threatens us, goes the daily refrain. But is it Russia, or is it the West that is now arming itself to such an extent? And how is Russia supposed to wage war against NATO when NATO is already many times superior to Russia in virtually every military domain? Russia does not threaten us. Studies by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London prove this exactly. To threaten us, Russia would need threefold military superiority. It does not have that. Quite the contrary. The European NATO countries alone already have twice as many fighter jets and three times as many battle tanks as Russia. And that doesn’t even include the U.S.

Arms races are underway throughout the West. But Germany’s plans surpass them all. The black-red coalition government aims to build the strongest conventional army in EU and NATO Europe. Added to this is the deployment of intermediate-range weapons, which hold strategic significance as first-strike weapons against Russia, but also make our country a target in the event of war. It is not yet clear whether this deployment will take place this year. But the issue is no longer just about U.S. medium-range weapons. The federal government wants to purchase 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the U.S., which would then be directed against bunkered targets in Russia. They are to be deployed on frigates, as well as from land-based platforms, starting in 2029.

That is why, dear friends, we must expose this threat lie in order to stop this arms race and this war policy.

To that end, a rally will be held on June 20 in Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate under the slogan “Russia is not our enemy. We will also remain active in Hamburg. And if there is another nationwide demonstration in Berlin on October 3 — before the budget deliberations in the Bundestag — organized by " “Nie wieder Krieg” and other groups, we will participate in it with all our strength.

We must grow stronger. This Easter March is a great start!

Read more https://www.hamburgerforum.org/

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