In protest of Bush's visit to Germany (he arrived Wednesday and leaves on Friday), peace demonstrations are already taking place throughout the country under the banner "Not Welcome, Mr. Bush" (as I wrote about in an
earlier diary). The largest demonstrations are expected at his
visit to the Baltic city of Stralsund on Thursday, but local protests throughout the country began this past weekend and will continue until the coming weekend. On Wednesday I attended a demonstration in Hamburg; pictures and more details about the protest below the jump.
The demonstration in Hamburg was organized by the
Hamburger Forum, a local peace activist group. Like many peace demonstrations here, it began at a Nazi-era war memorial that is pejoratively called the
Kriegsklotz (the "war block"). The
Kreigsklotz is an enormous and stupendously ugly block of concrete with images of anonymous marching soldiers sculpted into the side, along with the text "Germany must live, even if we must die!", a chilling reminder of the militaristic hysteria of that time. After the war, the memorial was left standing, to remind us all of that period (and, I presume, because the damn thing would be a bitch to destroy). A counter-memorial was built nearby, depicting the
Hamburg firestorm and dying inmates of
concentration camps. Ever since then, it's been the site of much public peace activism, including a
large demonstration against the Iraq war in 2003.
The demonstration proceeded down from the Kriegsklotz past the Gänsemarkt (an inner city square), over Jungfernstieg past the Alster lake, and down to the end of Mönckebergstrasse (the city's main downtown shopping promenade), just before the main train station.
At the end of the walk, peace activists gave speeches to the crowd. The first speaker raised various grievances against Bush, especially concern about an upcoming war in Iran, and she spoke at length about Guantanamo: She talked about the conditions in which the prisoners there live, discussed the legal issues and the potential for abuse, and even mentioned the Hamdan decision -- not by name, but she described how the Supreme Court had largely invalidated the Bush administration's legal justifications. The next speaker represented women living in exile from Iran, and was strongly critical of the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially the way that women are treated there, but was decidedly opposed to any war led by the United States.
Hamburg has a fairly large number of residents from places like Iran and around the Middle East, including Afghanistan and Palestine, and they were quite visible at the demonstration. Many of them live in Germany for a better opportunities to work or study, but not a few are here to escape the oppressive political conditions of their homes. These demonstrators made it clear that they do not desire US intervention and war to bring "freedom" to their countries. The protest was also attended by German peace activists both young and old -- the older demonstrators seemed to be having the most fun. And as always, Communists of various stripes were out in force -- Marxist-Leninists, Spartacists, what have you. This would probably be a jarring sight in the United States, but it is not at all uncommon in Germany and the rest of Europe, and they can always be counted on to attend every protest.
The demonstration in Hamburg was peaceful, low-key and relatively modest in size -- I would guess about five hundred people, maybe more. Quite a few of these will get on the bus to Stralsund tomorrow, as will thousands of others from throughout the country. So if you're interested, keep an eye on the news on Thursday. The media in the US and Germany are likely to report on Bush's visit, and the peace protestors might make for some loud, colorful, fascinating political theater.
Demonstrators at the Jungfernstieg
"Murderer go home!" New Democratic Youth
Yes: Peace. No: Bush. No: CIA. No: Cheney
Demonstrators on Mönckebergstrasse
Mr. Bush, please be honest, be fair, be human
May the POWERS OF LIGHT bring enlightenment to the people. May the SPIRIT OF FREEDOM spread across the Earth. May people of GOOD WILL join together everywhere in the SPIRIT OF CO-OPERATION. May FORGIVENESS be the guiding motive of all people in these times. May the EFFORTS OF THE GREAT HELPER be advanced wih strength. LET IT BE SO! Let us all work with all of our strength so that we may succeed!
There is war in Afghanistan! Afghanistan is occupied! Let us live in peace in Germany!
This husband and wife protesting team asked me to take their picture together.
No war, stop Bush
Demonstrators on Mönckebergstrasse
Mr. Bush asks, "Why do they hate us?" Violation of international law, state terrorism, mass murder. You are not welcome in Germany, Mr. Bush
Demonstrators listening to speeches
Demonstrators listening to speeches. No war, stop Bush
Freedom for Palestine, end the occupation
Peace now on planet Earth. World peace without Bush
Wanted: George W. Bush. For crimes against humanity and the planet
Demonstrators listening to speeches
Speeches at the end of the demonstration
No to war! No to the Islamic Republic of Iran! No to imperialistic intervention!
We the people want peace and justice
(Also at my blog. Full size images at my web site.)
UPDATE: Spiegel Online has a picture of Dubya planting a wet one on Angie, an image that may come to haunt her the way The Kiss has for Joe Lieberman. They also have a slide show of their official visit, another slide show of the protests and security measures, and yet another of demonstrators getting prepared for the day in Stralsund.