More than 10,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Berlin on Aug. 3, to protest the proxy war in Ukraine, censorship in Germany, and anger at the prospect of a lockdown of the country due to the spread of a new epidemic. Though there were many signs present from the “Querdenker” movement, which grew as a protest against the government’s policies during the Covid pandemic—and media coverage of the event focused on this—there was a much larger emphasis from speakers on the danger of World War III and the Coalition government’s subservience to U.S. and NATO war policies. The predominant theme among speakers was that Germany must not be a party of a war against Russia, and most of the signs carried were anti-NATO, with many promoting friendship between Germany and Russia.
Most of the demonstrators were organized by the Alternative für Deutschland Party (AfD), but many participants from the “left” were also present. This was reflected in coverage by one Berlin paper which wrote of the strange alliance between the AfD and those who seemed to be moved by the songs of John Lennon!
As the large parade moved through the streets of Berlin, there were speakers on sound trucks, conducting “mini-rallies.” Harley Schlanger was a speaker on one of the trucks, along with AfD member of the Bundestag Rainer Rothfuß, who introduced Schlanger and translated for him. Rothfuß, a professor of geopolitics, gave a polemical attack against NATO and the war in Ukraine. Schlanger opened with greetings from the U.S. and from the International Peace Coalition organized by Helga Zepp-LaRouche. He said the war in Ukraine was not about “defending freedom and democracy,” but a defense of the collapsing Unipolar Order of the corporate cartels of the military-industrial-financial complex. The end of a 500-year era of colonialism is evident in the growth of the BRICS and the leadership of Russia and China, and emergence of nations of the Global South. His speech was well-received, receiving the loudest applause when he called on the people of Germany to mobilize against the deployment of U.S. nuclear-capable long-range missiles to Germany, and when he spoke of the threat to the City of London from a Russia-German alliance, which would be the natural outcome of the development of new security and economic development architecture. Schlanger was interviewed by two Russian media and several unidentified bloggers.
While the police estimated the size of the demo as 9,000, organizers said it was closer to 20,000. Many onlookers on the street and from apartments along the route came out and joined the demo.
