Germany saw its second real mass mobilisation for Gaza on Saturday. Robert Dale was there.

The Gaza solidarity movement has had it hard in Germany with a harsh clampdown scaring off organisations and prominent individuals. Their absence made it hard to mobilise against repression, which created a vicious circle. So Saturday’s big demonstration represents a fantastic step forward.

It was larger than the breakthrough mobilisation in June. About 100,000 attended, in the main under forty. Many people of colour, many people of Middle Eastern extraction. Very many participants without obvious organisational affiliations, mobilised largely by (social-media) word of mouth.

The formal presence of the Left Party was new. For two years, they have been completely Awol, with prominent leaders openly attacking the movement (honourable exceptions apart). Anyway, the Left Party had a very large block on the demo, with many party flags. In fact, it seems they actually organised the day’s protest themselves. But the way they did it meant that most participants were largely oblivious to their role (more on that later). Anyway, it is very good that they finally turned up. Better late than never.

The second big step forward was the trade-union block appearing for the first time on a Gaza demo. It was not huge, but visible with flags. Were these branches/collectives or individuals who had a union flag handy? That was not clear to me. There is certainly networking going on there, and the rank-and-file organisation in Berlin’s main hospitals put out a call to participate.

The story of how the demonstration came about is rather murky and complex, but seems worth looking at. My understanding is as follows: It was initiated by the Left Party after hard debates within the leadership. However, it was felt advisable to keep the whole thing at arm’s length (panic over so-called antisemitism). So they put the organisation in the hands of a dozen prominent individuals, who proceeded to organise a more radical protest than the party leaders had envisaged.

By the time it all happened, the Left Party’s name was not widely visible in the mobilisation, although the party’s members will have known about it. Parts of the publicity material were deliberately ‘moderate’. Or craven, depending on your perspective. By this, I mean it highlighted the fate of the Israeli prisoners and condemned the Hamas breakout in October 2023. The speeches at the rally and concert were clearer and harder, and very well received.

And again, as at the smaller combined pro-Gaza/anti-Nato rally a fortnight ago, the crowd listened with striking attention. I certainly came away with a sense that the participants stood to the left of the Left Party on this issue. And that the day’s events will provoke discussion and debate within the Left Party.

The big demo was too soft for some. Many of the small core of activists who have sustained the movement at great personal cost over the past two years called a separate protest. It was attended by between 1,000 and 2,000 and brutally broken up by the police. Their excuse? Forbidden slogans. So much for free speech.

A very strong statement was made from the stage at the big protest, condemning the police action and acknowledging the crucial contribution by those who built the movement from day one. The speaker’s assertion that ‘we will not allow them to divide us’ got a roar from the crowd and a chant of ‘All of Berlin hates the police!’

The rally ended with a concert by a string of fairly prominent German rappers. That’s another step forward, to see parts of the music scene nailing their colours to the mast. This ship is sailing on.

Robert Dale lives in the Berlin region, where he has been active in socialist politics since the 1980s.