Politics · de.indymedia · · 1h
Creative protest: Hundreds demonstrate against the award ceremony to Peter Thiel
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Symbolbild · Leonhard Lenz / CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Berlin against the awarding of the Axel Springer Award to the right-wing oligarch Peter Thiel - one person even at the award ceremony itself. They criticized Thiel's role in building an authoritarian society and his companies' involvement in wars.
Hundreds of people demonstrated on Thursday evening against the Axel Springer Award, the authoritarian idea creator Peter Thiel and his companies in the surveillance and arms industries. The billionaire Thiel received a prize from Axel Springer Publishing in the evening.https://www.axelspringer.com/de/ax-press-release/peter-thiel-erhaelt-den...The publisher did thisAmong other things, Thiel's surveillance company Palantir is one of the most important companies of our time “for the resilience of democracies”.https://netzpolitik.org/tag/peter-thiel/">Thielandhttps://netzpolitik.org/tag/palantir/">PalantirHowever, they are widely perceived as a threat to democracy.
The highlight of the demonstration, in which numerous people protestedhttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/interview-ueber-ki-und-das-lavender-system-...of Thiel's company in the Gaza conflictprotested was a Gandalf fashion show. The demonstration in front of the Axel Springer House was held under the motto “Thiel shall not pass” – an allusion to a quote from the character Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings. The wizard Gandalf fights for good in this epic; Thiel, on the other hand, likes to name his companies after objects and characters in the book.
“Blank mockery”
Maximilian, spokesman for the demonstration, criticized netzpolitik.org for saying that Thiel “has nothing but contempt for democratic institutions and ultimately for human lives.” It is sheer mockery that he should receive such an award today. Products from Thiel's company are involved in automating killing in wars and in monitoring the population in this country.
“Security is not created by constantly giving the police new toys,” the spokesman continued. Security in societies would not be created by continually cutting back on the welfare state, but on the contrary by investing in it.
Lea, who was on the street at the protest against Thiel, says something similar: "Palantir is a system that undermines democracy. Coming here to protest creates a feeling of community. You realize you are not alone with this thought. Palantir and its influence on our democracy is not normal."
Even protested on stage at the awards ceremony
The organizers spoke of 400 participants at the rally in front of the Springer building. The Berlin police secured the awards ceremony with a large contingent and hundreds of meters of barriers. But even that couldn't prevent a protest at the awards ceremony itself.
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Apparently there was also an action in the Axel Springer House itself. According to a photo taken by thehttps://x.com/MichaelBroecker/status/2103181592340689045">Table Briefing...Michael Bröcker spread on X, a person can be seen on the stage in front of Mathias Döpfner and Peter Thiel holding a banner with the inscription “They know that we know that they lie”.
Springer's press department and the Berlin police have not yet responded to our short-term press inquiry about the incident.
DJV also criticizes the award ceremony
Even before the rally took place in the afternoonhttps://www.againstoligarchy.org">Teach-Inon the topic of tech fascisminstead of. Among those speaking were scientists from Karlsruhehttps://www.itas.kit.edu/kollegium_coenen_christopher.php">ChristopherCoenenas well as https://www.schader-stiftung.de/personalen/artikel/enno-park">Ennopark,https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/portrait/p/rainer-rehak/#page=1&t...RehakandKatika Kühnreich. They provided the intellectual, philosophical and theoretical background as to why Peter Thiel and tech fascism represent a threat to democratic societies.
Kühnreich told netzpolitik.org: “The fact that Peter Thiel, who explicitly speaks out against democratic forms of society, is awarded this prize must be publicly criticized.” It is also a scandal that Springer Verlag awards such a prize - and with it a media company that is looking for international influence, creates a mood with its publications and campaigns against it that is undesirable.
The day before, activists had already raised a bannerhttps://taz.de/Peter-Thiel-in-Berlin/!6215576/">beforethe Springer building against surveillance by Palantirprotests. A spokeswoman for the “Security without Surveillance” alliancehttps://sicherheit-ohne-ueberwachung.org/2026/09/23/pm-kein-preis-fuer-u...Technologies like Palantiras “deeply anti-democratic and aimed at comprehensive data-driven control of society”.
The German Journalists Association (DJV) also criticized the award ceremony. Thiel is one of the most important supporters of US President Donald Trump. He, in turn, has just excluded several media outlets from the White House, including Axel Springer's Politico. “It doesn’t fit together,”https://www.djv.de/news/pressemitigungen/press-detail/thiel-ehrung-pas...said the DJV federal chairman Mika Beuster.
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Thiel as a source of ideas for the right
The protest is not without reason: Peter Thiel is one of the most important sources of ideas on the American right, he supports Donald Trump and has massively promoted the career of US Vice President JD Vance. Thiel's worldview is like thishttps://www.zdfheute.de/panorama/peter-thiel-tech-milliardaer-antichrist...the historian Volker Weiß told ZDF, ultimately a fascist dystopia: a small elite of tech oligarchs, who also justify themselves theologically, have the technical tools in their hands to control masses globally.
Springer boss Mathias Döpfnerhttps://www.axelspringer.com/de/ax-press-release/peter-thiel-erhaelt-den...Thiel's role, however, is like this: “In addition to his entrepreneurial work, Peter Thiel has shaped the public debate about innovation, freedom and the future of Western societies.” Döpfner named the surveillance company Palantirhttps://www.zeit.de/news/2026-09/23/peter-thiel-umstreiter-unternehmen...about the dpaa “protecting force of democracy”.
The billionaire Döpfner is connected to the billionaire Thiel through family ties and networks. Döpfner's son Moritz worked as ahttps://www.capital.de/wirtschaft-politik/doepfner-sohn-bekommen-mehr-gel...of Staff at Thiel Capital, According to media reports, Thiel invested 50 million in Moritz Döpfner's “Döpfner Capital”. This in turn invested in the combat drone startuphttps://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark_Defence">StrongDefence, in which Peter Thiel also invested.
The Axel Springer publishing house, which has expanded significantly into the USA in recent years, is apparently seeking to get closer to the US oligarchs with the award. The publisher has won the awardhttps://www.axelspringer.com/de/ax-press-release/peter-thiel-erhaelt-den...awarded to many Tech Bros in the past, including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
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Become part of this unique community and support our public interest-oriented, advertising- and tracking-free journalismhttps://netzpolitik.org/spenden/?via=rss">nowwith a donation.
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Source: de.indymedia