No War Conference in our City!
Military Teardown instead of Social Austerity!
DEMO Wednesday 29.11.2023, 6 p.m., Frankfurter Tor
On November 29 and 30, the Berlin Security Conference (BSC) will take place for the 22nd time at the Andels Hotel at Landsberger Allee station. The BSC, according to its own statement the „largest European event on security and defense policy“, brings together politicians, high-ranking military officers and representatives of international defense companies every year.
As a congress fair, the BSC creates the necessary framework for civilian, military and political officials to exchange ideas informally, in addition to formal lectures and presentations. At the buffet, they can chat together and take a closer look at the latest war drone at the exhibitor next door.
In recent years, the BSC has gained political importance, and under the impression of the Ukraine war, the meeting now seems to finally take on a similar status as the Munich Security Conference (SIKO).
The BSC was and is supported by the Who’s Who of the German and European defense industry, including Heckler & Koch, Rheinmetall, Diehl, Taurus, Siemens, Hensoldt and ThyssenKrupp. In addition, there are various tech companies with offerings such as tap-proof communications, spy software and surveillance technology.
This year, in addition to numerous industry and lobby associations as well as German and international (NATO) military leaders, the German Minister of War Pistorius, Chancellor Scholz, EU Council President von der Leyen, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg are among those invited.
Their so called change of times means social dismantling! On December first, the federal budget for 2024 will be passed. We will be confronted with extreme cuts in education, health and social affairs and a massive budget increase for the so-called defense budget. Armament and technology companies earn more every year from warlike conflicts and the gigantic armament. The business with death is booming. Rheinmetall, for example, has been able to increase its profits by 27 percent in 2022 despite general economic stagnation.
The Berlin Security Conference stands for a militarized world in which economic and political interests are enforced by brute force and war. Capitalist pressure for profit leads to the struggle for new markets and trade routes. Wars are patriarchal and racist and intensify exploitation and oppression. Human rights do not play the slightest role, neither for the corporations involved nor for the attended politicians – neither in foreign missions of the Bundeswehr or at the external borders of Fortress Europe, nor in the main recipient countries of German arms exports such as Ukraine, Egypt or Turkey. Germany is as well arming itself internally to protect itself from social uprisings. The fact that the armed state institutions are riddled with fascists does not contradict the state, since they defend the same power, property and production relations worldwide.
Enough is enough! No war, no military, down with the Bundeswehr!
Smash the arms industry! Sink the BSC!
Smash the arms industry! Sink the BSC!