CALL TO RALLY ON THE 55TH ANNIVERSARY OF SAFEGUARDING THE BORDER OF THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

Saturday, August 13th, 2016 · 14:00-17:00 Uhr · Pariser Platz, Berlin

»This border was torn down, so that together we can go to war again«

On 13th of August 1961, »the wall« was built around West Berlin. Antifascist – that’s what the GDR called her border. Today they say, this antifascism was not real. But anti-fascism was so much more alive then than these days, with AfD and Pegida, burning asylum homes. If GDR-style anti-fascism still prevailed today, the 200 people murdered by fascists since 1990 would not have been possible.

Today we hear, that the people in the GDR were poor and unhappy. Of course there is happiness and unhap- piness in every society, but at least there was less wealth inequality. There was enough for everyone, and not just enough to barely survive, as it is today. There was also enough for the 25 % of children that have to live in poverty today.

In the mainstream media we are constantly reminded: »At least everybody can travel everywhere now«, as they cry for the hundreds who died at the »german-german border« during its 40 years. Such tears are only for Germans. No tears flow for the hundreds of people drowning at the »borders of Europe« each month. The Mediterranian sea – a mass grave, dug mainly by Germany. There they die silently, anonymously, without the pompous ceremonies commemorating »the Wall«.

That the border helped keep peace in the world, was especially important for the GDR. Today they say, that this peace was not real. But it was so much more real than nowadays. Then there was a Yugoslavia, a Ukraine which had space for everybody who wanted to live there. It gave states such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and others the right to exist, all those places that, since 1990, have been thrown into war, where millions die, which fuels reactionary movements such as the IS.

Germany wages war anew. This new era of a bellicose Germany begins with the demolition of the border wall. The wall was built in order to ensure that war would never rise from german ground again. For the GDR, the border was a renunciation of war made of stone. After this renunciation was dismantled, no 10 years had to pass before german bombers bombed Belgrade for a third time in german history. The GDR proved to have been right.

The opinions which prevail in the media today are the opinions of the now ruling warmongers and impoveris- hers – as it is their opinion about this border, that had been built to trim their freedom.

We say: It is urgent time for an unconditional renunciation of war!