Morning Comrades.
Ever so often events take place here in Germany that are relevant enough to mention them here - I know, lots takes place here that I could explain in ways that would be relevant to have in here but for reasons explained in the past often enough I usually keep my opinions and involvement off the internet.
With that, I am unsure how much international attention the last week here in Germany has garnered and I am going to assume that most of you don’t know what has been happening here. Yes, the events are local but the implications, reactions and projected realities are relevant for all of us.
For the full picture, here is an article in English that explains what has been going on and I do recommend reading it before continuing with the below.
Briefly, both the federal and state government, specifically with the help and actually lead by the German Green Party, cut a deal with RWE, a German based Energy company, the company is Europe's most climate threatening company1 to create yet another open coal pit mine, in itself a crime against humanity made worse by the fact that according to a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) — not exactly a hotbed of radical leftists — showed that the coal from beneath Lützerath is not needed to keep the electricity grid running. This is all about shoring up RWE’s profits. In the midst of an energy crisis, RWE made over €5 billion last year!
Entire towns were bulldozed and 1000s of people forcibly moved by the government for, well, truthfully, nothing but securing and increasing RWE’s bottom line. Again, according to the above study, the coal that will be dug up in that region is not needed to maintain energy needs, is incredibly damaging to the environment and the governments mask-off corruption is so blatant that a response was logical. Now, the various climate movements here in Germany have been consistently radicalized over the last few years, not by themselves but by the seemingly disproportionate reaction of all the capitalists means, from the state, the mainstream media to the police. If anything, the shit storm that the climate movement here has encountered over the last few years towers over pretty much all I have seen in my 30 some years of calling their bullshit out. Radicalization, was thus a logical response.
Cue to the beginning of last week, where several hundred climate activists started arriving in Lützerath, a ghost town that was evicted a while back to place for said open pit mine.
The state, in a very public “partnership” with RWE, where, coincidentally, a lot of politicians end up working here once they are done with hiding their corruption, called up the countries special police forces to evict the squatters and activists and for the last week, up until the point of writing, several thousand riot cops are trying to evict the protest. By any means necessary.
I will avoid stating the obvious, but the violence was and is brutal, the polemic employed by the state and their media organs equally so the silence, especially, by the Green Party, of the politicians is deafening. Well, apart from half of them that are all deep brown as we say here, a reference to the Nazi Brownshirts, they are all frothing at the mouth calling for all climate protests to be rounded up and thrown into jail. No surprises there. These wilful idiots from the centre to the far right do what they are paid to. Froth at the mouth and control the mainstream narrative with their corporate fascist doublespeak.
There is one specific point I want to make though. Yes, encountering state sanctioned physical ( as well as other ) violence is horrible. There is a difference in having your nose broken in a bar fight and having your entire body be used as a punching bag by cops in riot gear. Both physically and emotionally. No matter your radicalization, especially for us privileged white people here in Europe, being beaten to a pulp by cops when you damn well know that no consequences will ever take shape, is something to experience it. Personally, the first time that happened was in 2000 and yeah, it did shock me more than I had thought. It’s one thing to spray ACAB on a pub wall and have 20 horse mounted robocops batter you to a pulp from horses. The point is this though - this concerted and focused violence is the basis of our so called democratic freedom and the rest of the world and everyone not as fortunate in the genetic lottery by being born white has been at the receiving end of for as long as we Europeans, have been colonizing the rest of the planet.
With that, let’s not be shocked by this most vicious of both corporate and state brutality, but awoken to the fact that if any of us, all of us, decided to get in the way of the rulings class bitter desire for quarterly profits no matter what, the state and its masters will employ highly trained fascist robocops to move you out of the way. Plainly, oppose Capitalism and Capitalism will oppose you. Alone, we do not stand a chance, together, all of us, we will have them running quicker than we can say ACAB.
Without wanting to continuously repeat myself, but the point of resistance begins in organisation. At home, in your house, in your street, in your neighborhood and so on. All of the drivel we are being sold for consumption and told to appreciate it as freedom are capitalistic by-products to occupy us, drown the alienation out of our souls, all the culture wars we are being force-fed by hollywood and the mainstream media exist to stop us all from organising and starting a class war that they know they cannot win.
Lützerath and the Climate Protest are a small example of what reality is. It is important to highlight it, to hold the literal and morally corrupt political class, their thugs and their pay masters accountable, of course. Importantly, let it be a moment for us to realize that without working class solidarity, in all its vastness, we stand no chance against the militarized arm of profit, that their rule is based on violence and violence alone. Most importantly, that they are nor have either the majority nor morality.
We do.
Yours, forever in rage against the capitalist destruction of light,
V.