Published on https://wunschnachfreiheit.wordpress.com/2018/10/30/call-the-wish-for-freedom-cannot-be-banned/ – German translation
After 25 years of failure – to snuff out the dream of democracy, freedom
and peace – the German and Turkish governments are still among the
leading countries fighting globally against democratic protests and
emancipatory struggles. 25 years ago, the PKK was banned in Germany, yet
throughout this time the PKK and its project of Democratic Confederalism
have only grown in significance and appeal. It is no wonder that the Taz
in September 2014 headlined ‘the PKK belongs to Germany’. On December
1st we will take to the streets of the German capital to affirm the
strength of this freedom struggle and the failure of the German-Turkish
front against democracy – together, as democratic activists, feminists,
anti-fascists and internationalists.
For 25 years the German government has used the PKK ban in order to
silence a vital democratic force on its own soil. After thousands of
trials, hundreds of arrests and numerous raids, one thing is clear: more
people are inspired today by the ideas of the PKK and its leader,
Abdullah Öcalan, than ever before. The resistance in the northern Syrian
regions of Kobani and Afrin has brought countless more in Germany to
identify with the project of Democratic Confederalism and its everyday
living praxis in the Democratic Federation of North Syria. The public
acceptance of the PKK ban in Germany is crumbling. Millions in Germany
know that it was the armed action of the PKK against the Islamic State
in Summer 2014 that prevented the completion of the genocide against the
Yazidi population in Shingal. With our demonstration on the 1st of
December we aim to remove one more stone from the wall that is built
between Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish and German democrats.
Our demands for the German government are clear: It must immediately
lift the PKK ban. It must cease its appalling anti-democratic policies
against this freedom movement. However, it is even more important that
Germany society itself reject the legitimacy of the PKK ban. And that is
exactly what we have seen: whether during the Kobani protests, the G20
protest in Hamburg or the nationwide demonstrations against the Police
Laws (‘Polizeigesetze’), in each case there has been a strong connection
to the PKK’s engagement for democracy, peace and freedom. We are on the
right track. No matter how many raids of homes, nor how many
demonstrations forbidden, nor how many books are seized – the PKK ban
has long lost its legitimacy in the eyes of many people.
On December 1st let us send out a powerful message against the
anti-democratic policies of the German government and its cooperation
with the dictatorial regime in Turkey. Both the increasing state
repression in the form of Police Laws and the PKK ban, and the growing
influence of right-wing forces in Germany are based on the same
undemocratic, racist and nationalist mentality. Against the Leopard
tanks, the export credit guarantees (‘Hermesdeckungen’), and the Police
laws of Germany, we struggle for an alternative dream of a democratic,
feminist and ecological life – in Germany, Kurdistan and everywhere in
the world.
Rise together against ‘Polizeigesetze’, the PKK-ban and nationalism!