A statement by the organisers of the event with Francesca Albanese on February 18 in Berlin “Reclaiming the Discourse: Palestine, Justice and the Power of Truth” (DiEM25, Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East, Eye4Palestine & Gaza Komitee)

Despite all the difficulties and repression we faced with the organisation of the event, we were able to raise €4,702 with generous donations from participants for Medico International’s Emergency Middle East Aid. And of course our joint struggle for free speech continues, including by challenging the Berlin police in court for their illegal actions. You can help us cover our legal costs in order to achieve that.

What actually happened? In a predictable yet nonetheless outrageous move, Berlin authorities were putting intense pressure on us, the organizers of the event on February 18 featuring the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, along with many other high profile guests.

Events with Ms Albanese had already been cancelled in recent weeks by universities in Berlin and Munich. Prior to the start of our event the Berlin Police was threatening us with having to preempt possible “antisemitic” statements by Ms Albanese, as well as informing us that there would be a police presence inside the venue. As we had already witnessed during the Palestine Congress in April 2024, the Berlin Police have no scruples about violently terminating peaceful events in a manner more reminiscent of authoritarian states than democracies. 

The police would not have behaved in this way, of course, without the corresponding directives from above. After the termination of last year’s Palestine Congress, both Kai Wegner, the Mayor of Berlin, and Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser praised the anti-democratic methods of the police. “We do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or hatred against Jews,” Faeser stated. With these loaded, inflammatory terms, Faeser slandered an entire movement of people exercising their legal right to free speech in defense of human rights—completely unrelated to either Islamism or antisemitism. Not even the UN Special Rapporteur is spared. What an international embarrassment and a danger to democracy!

Credit: Junge Welt

Credit: Junge Welt

The original venue for the event, the Kühlhaus, had received phone calls urging cancellation and gave in under the pressure – a shameful assault on freedom of speech, of assembly, of culture, and of science – all freedoms to be protected by any means in a democracy. As so often, the intense repression by the German state makes it very clear that pointing out the crimes of Israel, in which Germany is profoundly complicit, is an intolerable assault on its so-called “reason of state”, which by now amounts to supporting a genocide.

Needless to say, we refused to yield to police intimidation and did whatever necessary for the event to take place, with the invaluable help of our hosts at the replacement venue, belonging to the newspaper Junge Welt. Visitors could witness the police presence at our venue and their attempt to shut us down. But this attempt did not succeed, and we thank each and every person who helped us. We resisted successfully together, and the title of our event proved well-chosen: “Reclaiming the Discourse: Palestine, Justice and the Power of Truth”.

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