On Saturday, around 500 people demonstrated in Duisburg against the genocide in Gaza and the repression directed at those who express solidarity with the Palestinians. Following the demonstration, those affected gave testimony at a public tribunal.<\/p>\n
Demonstration against the genocide in Gaza, Duisburg, June 28, 2025<\/p>\n
As if to prove the point of holding the tribunal against the state\u2019s abrogation of democratic rights, the police hindered the course of the demonstration. From the outset, they repeatedly intervened to instruct speakers at the brief opening rally that\u2014contrary to the conditions imposed by the police themselves\u2014some statements and slogans were not permitted. Later, the police clarified: Shouting slogans such as \u201cYalla Intifada\u201d was not a criminal offence but could nonetheless bring a prosecution.<\/p>\n
On another occasion, a protester carrying a flag of the group \u201cThawra\u201d was pulled out of the march because the flag supposedly resembled the emblem of a banned organisation. Later on the tribunal platform, the young man was able to explain that this was pure harassment. The flag had already been the subject of two court proceedings, and ultimately the Berlin Regional Court had ruled that it could not be prohibited.<\/p>\n
Many people then described the repressive measures they faced. Several students spoke of the reprisals they had encountered at universities. Palestinians applying for asylum or citizenship in Germany had cancelled their participation in the event out of fear of reprisals. One anonymous voice message from an affected person was played to the tribunal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to be part of society; I worked and was involved,\u201d the speaker began. But when they had applied for German citizenship, they were summoned to a security interview where they were asked \u201cmany personal questions.\u201d \u201cThey questioned my identity. They wanted to know what I think about Israel\u201d and about \u201cthe Palestinian issue.\u201d \u201cI felt under pressure: I was afraid.\u201d The individual now believes that simply because they are Palestinian, they have no real chance of being granted German citizenship.<\/p>\n
Inga Matthes, a lawyer from Berlin, then spoke about the laws that the last government, a coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), Liberal Democrats (FDP) and Greens, had already passed. They were intended to bind all foreign nationals seeking naturalisation\u2014but especially those from the Arab world\u2014to the German state doctrine of support for Israel. But as she explained, this affects not only applicants but also German citizens. She recounted two cases in Regensburg and Halle in which people had their German citizenship revoked on the grounds that they had \u201cmade false statements in the naturalisation process.\u201d In reality, they had \u201cin another context\u201d\u2014at demonstrations or on social media\u2014rejected Israel\u2019s right to exist. \u201cYes,\u201d she concluded, \u201cthe repression is being further tightened. This is how the present course of foreign policy is being enforced domestically. All protest is to be criminalised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tribunal against the German government, Duisburg, June 28, 2025. From left: Melanie Schweizer, Leon Wystrychowski and Ahmad Othman<\/p>\n
Melanie Schweizer and Ahmad Othman reported on their dismissals. Schweizer had worked as a legal adviser at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in the department for business and human rights. She had supported protests against the genocide from the outset.<\/p>\n
When she was then nominated as a candidate for the Bundestag (federal parliament) by Mera25 (the political project of former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis), \u201ceverything happened quite quickly.\u201d She was smeared as an Israel-hater, with the tabloid\u00a0Bild\u00a0particularly prominent in the campaign. In a personnel interview, she was told she had breached her duty of moderation as a civil servant through statements such as: \u201cThe Greens are supporters of genocide.\u201d Because she did not recant her views and insisted on her fundamental rights, she was informed in a second meeting \u201cthat I was suspended with immediate effect and also dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to the WSWS, Melanie Schweizer explained why this amounted to a professional ban: \u201cI am now de facto barred from working in the civil service or in the judiciary.\u201d She had once planned to become a judge, \u201cbut of course that has now been shelved.\u201d \u201cI probably will never be able to work in a public authority again. I can still work as a lawyer and have now returned to practising law. So, I still have options.\u201d But the [democratic] space was \u201cgetting ever narrower.\u201d<\/p>\n From Berlin, Palestinian journalist Hebh Jamal, originally from New York, had travelled to Duisburg. She is currently working on a film about the \u201cGerman state doctrine\u201d of supporting Israel. She reported that Palestinians were using their mobile phones to document their own genocide in order to plead for help from the world. In contrast, the major German media spread the lies of the Israeli government and refused to correct or remove clearly debunked falsehoods from their websites.<\/p>\n As Hebh Jamal recounted, four of her husband\u2019s cousins were recently killed in Rafah as they queued for food being distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). An Israeli soldier has meanwhile confirmed in\u00a0Haaretz\u00a0that these distribution points are nothing but \u201ckilling fields\u201d for the Israeli and US governments. The food distribution is a cynical pretext to shoot starving and desperate Palestinians. They are therefore part of the genocide.<\/p>\n She accused the German media: \u201cThey are the propaganda wing of the Israeli government,\u201d making them complicit in the genocide in Gaza. She pointed out that even state broadcasters ARD and ZDF camera teams, when they show up at a demonstration like this one, had no intention of reporting objectively but only of rigging another accusation. \u201cThat is why they ask you about your position on 7 October\u2014but not about the 15 family members you have lost in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, a team from the ARD programme\u00a0Kontraste\u00a0was present at the tribunal, apparently with exactly such a mission. Participants told the WSWS that the reporter employed suggestive questions exclusively trying to provoke statements that could be used in a report against the protest and its organisers.<\/p>\n A Duisburg resident named Fikret listened to the speeches at the tribunal. Referring to Hebh Jamal\u2019s account of the genocide being broadcast in real time, he said: \u201cIn the Second World War, many Germans claimed they knew nothing about the Holocaust. Today no one can say we knew nothing. The Palestinians are documenting their own genocide. Everyone can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n His friend Emin added: \u201cThat\u2019s why I find it so sad that the organisations claiming to represent Muslim and Arab communities remain so silent. They say nothing about the crimes in Gaza. Obviously, they have interests other than standing up against this.\u201d<\/p>\n Mehring Verlag, the German-language publisher of the WSWS and Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) had a stall on site to inform people about the\u00a0closure of its business bank account<\/a>\u00a0and the personal account of its managing director by Deutsche Bank. Several tribunal attendees bought David North\u2019s book\u00a0The Logic of Zionism\u2014From Nationalist Myth to Gaza Genocide.<\/p>\n While the tribunal\u2019s organisers presented a powerful picture of repression and the legal struggle against it, discussions with participants made clear that opposition is growing among workers and young people.<\/p>\n Many supported the protests and demonstrations but stressed that more needed to be done. Many agreed\u2014or themselves raised\u2014that there must be an international movement against war and capitalism, in order to stop not only the Israeli government but also those backing it\u2014above all Washington, Berlin, London and Paris.<\/p>\n This was also emphasised by Petra, who reads the WSWS and supports the SGP. She had travelled from the Cologne area to attend the demonstration and tribunal.<\/p>\nMelanie Schweizer
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Tribunal, Duisburg, June 28, 2025. Centre: Hebh Jamal<\/p>\n
Petra<\/p>\n