Communiqué and pictures about the anarchist block during the school strike and social protests in Leipzig

The school strike movement against compulsory military service seems to be stagnating across Germany in terms of numbers, but we were very pleased with how high the proportion of students was in contrast to left-wing radical activists. We are fundamentally satisfied that we were able to show a visible presence from a non-Marxist-Leninist corner and hope that the politicized students had the chance to get to know us as allies in the common fight against conscription and rearmament.  Those interested also had the opportunity to engage with anarchist values ​​through flyers and discussions.  

On Saturday we found ourselves in the middle of the parade of the remnants of the left-wing activist movement. With 5,000 comrades from various initiatives and political organizations, we demonstrated through the city center for about an hour and then joined the 5,000 DGB union members at Simsonplatz for the main rally. 
Through lucky coincidences and a pinch of audacity, our block was able to form the front of the demo right after Lauti. He tried to drown us out with tasteless music selection. However, we couldn't be ignored through loud slogans and attempts to sing a song. What was noticeable, but not surprising, were the cops, who of course only personally looked after our block and the "Red Wende" block. Despite their presence, Mehnschen from the block managed to light plenty of smoke pots when they arrived at Simsonplatz, which made our arrival obvious. 

When we arrived, Elke Hannack was just starting to give her speech. Elke Hannack is a member of the CDU, the governing party that is actively working to make our lives worse and to secure the profits of capital. It is a disgrace that at a time when all the achievements of the last decades are to be taken away from us, a CDU woman is presented to us as a speaker! And then also one of the officials who are trying to fool us with the theater of social partnership. They and their fellow campaigners at the top of the DGB are only there to make the social cuts bearable for us, to let every mess of the government go unnoticed and to let every anger of the grassroots come to nothing. This was also noticeable in the way this rally took place: a bouncy castle for children, a bratwurst stand and a beer bar were intended to pacify the people. Of course, the DGB is structurally incapable of doing anything other than managing our power as workers and mitigating it for the benefit of the economy (i.e. returns for those who have property), because nothing else is social partnership.
Nevertheless, we believe that it makes sense to stand on the streets with the DGB as part of the social protests and stand up for our anarchist perspective. But if the DGB doesn't even manage to hide its bullshit, we can't hold back: Elke was consistently booed by us with slogans that made it clear which party this official actually stands for. Some rally participants were surprised that a CDU politician was speaking to them. Occasionally they joined in with our booing. We also gave an alternative speech through a megaphone, which was viewed negatively by bystanders and led to discussions. Finally two DGB organizers came to us and tried to stop us from disrupting Elke's speech. After a lengthy discussion, they agreed to the criticism we had leveled against them, the union's official system and this false spectacle of protest. We should still please let her speak, but when we refused, it was agreed that we would stop after her speech. That was a matter of course for us, simply because the comrades said much better things afterwards and were not delegated by Merz to keep us quiet.

All in all, we had the feeling that we were able to make our positions strong and were visible as opponents of current politics. At times we seemed a bit like a foreign body in the elevator. However, we did not sufficiently meet our requirement to talk to people. Whether there are ways in which things can go better next time and what anarchist/anti-fascist participation will look like in the future needs to be discussed further. But a start should be made. The basis for further interventions within the (hopefully) expanding social protests has been created. 

Some anarchists

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