Berliners took to the streets en masse on Saturday, November 4, to show their support for the Palestinian people and their struggle.

Among them was DiEM25 communications director Lucas Febraro, who delivered an inspiring speech as a reminder to what is at stake for the people of Palestine but also any other oppressed group struggling for liberation.

And needless to say, European leaders who allow this genocide to roll on were also called out for their cowardly calls for “humanitarian pauses” rather than an outright stop to the situation.

Lucas Febraro’s speech in full:

Why are we standing here?

Why, in 2023, are we compelled to flood the streets—globally, across Europe, and in Berlin of all places – to demand an end to a genocide that our governments willingly support?

Not only that, why did we have to worry that we might be silenced today, prevented from standing here and speaking out? Why does this government criminalise our solidarity and stand in solidarity with war criminals?

This is merely the latest, horrendous chapter in a nightmare that our countries unleashed upon the Palestinian people 75 years ago. The killing may intensify, but let’s be clear: it never truly stops.

How many innocent lives have those 75 years claimed? How many Israeli missiles have delivered death and destruction since we woke up this morning? How many children have been maimed or killed since we gathered here?

Our leaders speak of “humanitarian pauses”.

A “pause” in the massacring of innocents.
A “pause” in the erasure of entire families.
A “pause” in the ethnic cleansing of over two million people.

You don’t ask for a genocide to “pause”. You demand a genocide to stop.

Remember, let not only the brutality of the Israeli government enrage us. Let also the resilience of the Palestinian people inspire us. One side has every tool of mass destruction at its disposal. The other has nothing, except the determination to live in peace and freedom.

It’s this determination that will outlive oppression. It will outlast injustice. It will deliver peace and freedom.

Not just for them, because this will also mean peace and freedom for people of all creeds and ethnicities in Palestine. It will renew inspiration for the oppressed around the world. Because if the Palestinian people can persevere and win, so can others, and so can we.

So today, we link arms around the world and demand an end to genocide, occupation and apartheid. Together, we will bring freedom to the land of Palestine. Palestinians will be free. Israelis will be free. People of all creeds and ethnicities will be free.

Palestine will be free. Long live Palestine.

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