Protest in Berlin: With Gandalf against Peter Thiel

If the right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel receives the Axel Springer Award in Berlin, it will not go without controversy. An alliance has announced loud and creative protests and a Gandalf costume contest against the awards ceremony.

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Next Thursday, Axel Springer Publishing will honor tech billionaire and democracy opponent Peter Thiel with the Axel Springer Award. Against the awarding of the prize to Thiel, who plays an important role in the surveillance company Palantir and its venture capital company Founders Fundhttps://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2026-09/covenant-ruestungsunternehmen...the defense company Covenant invested, protest forms.

An association of different groups wants to work with one under the motto “Thiel shall not pass”.https://thielshallnotpass.org">Rallyand a queer Gandalf costume contestprotest against the award. Background to the competition: Thiel himself likes to name his companies after names from the Lord of the Rings, including the company Palantir. The wizard Gandalf is the antagonist of the evil ones in Tolkien's epic - which is why hehttps://www.reutersconnect.com/item/activists-dressed-as-gandalf-protest...was used against Thiel in Argentinaand should now also become part of the protest in Berlin.

“If Thiel thinks he is Sauron, we will show him who is blocking his path,” said a spokesman for the protest alliance before the action. The rally is scheduled to start on Thursday, September 26th at 5:30 p.m. in front of the publishing building.

The activists criticize the fact that Peter Thiel, of all people, is now being honored for founding the big data and surveillance company Palantir as “one of the most valuable companies of our time and most important for the resilience of democracies”. “An award for democracy resilience to Peter Thiel is ridiculous,” says Elena Kempf, spokesperson for the association, in the press release.

“Thiel is openly against democracy,” said the group. Alreadyhttps://www.blaetter.de/nachrichten/2024/januar/staat-ohne-macht">2009Thiel had written, he no longer believes “that freedom and democracy exist”. Springer read that and awarded the prize anyway. The alliance's criticism is not only directed against Thiel's political positions and his companies, but also against the Axel Springer publishing house, which honors him.

opponents of democracy

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.

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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.”

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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web address: https://netzpolitik.org/2026/protest-in-berlin-mit-gandalf-gegen-peter-thiel/author/group: Markus ReuterTopics: Netactivismfeed date: Friday, September 18, 2026 - 3:42 p.m