E96: BANNED from Germany for speaking out for Palestine – with Yanis Varoufakis

The long repression of pro-Palestinian voices in Germany reached a peak last Friday.

German police shut down the Palestine Congress, a vital event to unite activists around a ceasefire for Gaza. They detained participants, including Jewish activists; they deported a Palestinian speaker. And then they banned our own Yanis Varoufakis, not only from making political speeches in Germany, but also from doing so over Zoom (!).

These authoritarian moves make it clear: Germany is intent on silencing anyone who speaks out against its complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

So for our livestream this week, Yanis Varoufakis and colleagues who attended the Palestine Congress will be dissecting this brazen act of state repression against Palestinian solidarity. What lessons can we draw? How has the reaction been? And what could all this mean for the future of free speech and pro-Palestine activism in Germany, and around the world?

Do you want to be informed of DiEM25's actions? Sign up here

Europe Day 2025: Honour the past, say no to a militarised future

Eighty years after WWII, Europe risks abandoning the peace it once vowed to protect

Read more

Europe Day: The last chance to reject Ursula von der Leyen’s war agenda

DiEM25 would like to dedicate this Europe Day, May 9, to the person who best exemplifies what Europe has become: unaccountable, militaristic, ...

Read more

Israel’s open calls for genocide must be met with global outrage and immediate action

DiEM25 condemns the latest statements by Israel’s finance minister openly advocating for the ethnic cleansing and complete destruction of Gaza

Read more

Victory Day 80 years on: The fight against fascism continues

As we honour those who defeated fascism in 1945, Yanis Varoufakis urges us to recognise the fight is far from over

Read more