It’s war, and Germany is getting ready. Military, political, and economic associations have been gripped by a mania for military preparedness, and everyone is expected to go along with it. “Operation Deustchland” is supposed to make the country fit for war in five years, and camouflage is flourishing everywhere: Rheinmetall, KNDS, and others are snapping up one location after another, the civil clause is crumbling at universities, VW’s management is thinking out loud about getting into the arms business, hospitals and supply structures are being made ready for war, and the Bundeswehr is promoting service to Germany with glossy image campaigns in schools, social media, and billboards. Investment in armaments is becoming a principle of sustainability. Parallel to material and ideological rearmament, there is an authoritarian shift internally, as can be seen in the repression of Palestine solidarity or the anti-militarist movement. The turning point is also in full swing.
Even Friedrich Merz knows that capitalism is in a serious global crisis, and Germany’s “export world champion” model is also suffering as a result: “It was primarily the Americans who secured peace and our freedom, while we concentrated on the economy – and it ran brilliantly. Global markets, cheap intermediate products mainly from China, low-cost energy mainly from Russia, refinement in Germany and then out into the world – that was the German business model. All of that is now being called into question.”
So tough times are ahead, dear citizens. But if German capital wants to continue exploiting the world, making the rich richer and finally producing strong, capable men again, then we have to go through with it. And we have to do it together. This mindset is not one that is only fermenting in the depths of Blackrock’s brains. From all sides, the cry echoes through the republic: Prepare for war if you want to keep your prosperity and freedom. For the struggle for power in the 21st century is far from decided; it is entering a new phase.
The fact that we now have to prepare for World War III here at home brings home the reality of the world. For all the years that we were able to tell ourselves fairy tales of peace and prosperity, cannons were thundering elsewhere. War has been killing for years wherever there is still something to be gained: in Iraq, Yemen, Gaza, destroying societies in Mexico, Kurdistan, Brazil, and raping in Ukraine, Congo, and the Sahara.
But those who bet only on war are incapable of true peace. The fight against war is a fight against capitalism, which needs every crisis to generate new profits, just as it is a fight against patriarchy, which for millennia has drummed into us that there will always be rulers and ruled in this world. There is no place for humanity, community, and dignity in this logic. This will never be our war. It is a war of the rulers, dripping with destructive masculinity, delusions of grandeur, and exploitation. Neither Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping, nor Netanyahu are fighting for human values in this war.
We will not allow ourselves to be distracted by their games. A good life can only be achieved when people across national borders fight for a world that is not up for sale and in which human lives are not cheaply exploited. What we need is a peace movement that fights and lives up to its name. We need a whole flood of initiatives, networks, actions, and resistance to counter the impending conflagration. Our action is part of this, and we welcome everyone who comes together, organizes, resists, and seeks solutions.
Never alone, always together, always international! Yes, war and fascism are already at our doorstep, but together with all our fighting friends around the world, this can be our turning point. Because Lieutenant General Bodemann is right about one thing when he says: “The most important thing is that, in the end, every single citizen will matter in this war.” Mr. Bodemann, we agree on that.
So: Do what really matters!
Never fit for war—not today, not in 2029, never again!
Solidarity greetings to the Rheinmetall Disarmament Camp, which will take place in Cologne from August 26 to August 31!
Video: https://kolektiva.media/w/t6A7TcbcTS2f41GJ23Ma4f
Source: Kontrapolis
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