WEBVTT
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My name is Faye, I work
in the social sector
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with people who have few
resources.
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The reason I am here is
that it directly affects me, and of course
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also the people I work with,
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because the money that is put into
rearmament, into militarization
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is of course missing,
particularly in the social sector
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and is then missing for the people
who already have few resources.
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And what I notice is that there is
very little awareness among my colleagues
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of the connection between militarization,
rearmament and social welfare cuts.
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As a workforce, you hardly notice anything,
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because everything is glossed over
with the issue of disaster control.
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It's not explicitly stated that we are
now preparing for a case of war,
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but rather disaster control exercises
are taking place,
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where, however, topics such as
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gunshot wounds and the like are
increasingly becoming part of the agenda.
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A year ago, the Berlin Senate,
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the Berlin Hospital Society and the Army
invited people to an information event,
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advertised only on a small scale,
to inform employees in the Berlin
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healthcare system about
the civil defense of hospitals.
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The fact that the Berlin Senate
had called upon
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the Hospital Society
and the Army to do this
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made me sit up and take notice
back then, me and a few colleagues.
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And we went there and were
actually relatively shocked,
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how detailed some of
the plans already were,
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how clearly
the Army colonel
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who spoke there had constructed
the enemy image, Russia.
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And how enthusiastic the head
of the Berlin Hospital Society was,
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because: "finally money is
flowing into hospitals again"
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It's still in my ear.
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So it was frightening.
I was glad
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that colleagues from
IPPNW were there,
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because I was so paralyzed,
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I couldn't express
my protest at all.
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They interrupted the event
and made a clear statement.
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I am very grateful
to them for that.
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I'm Vincent, I'm one of the co-initiators
of the Red Trade Union Meeting
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in Waiblingen in the Stuttgart
region and Ludwigsburg
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and I work in the healthcare
sector in nursing care.
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Right, I'm Nikki and I'm also part of the
circle that
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co-initiated the Red Trade Union Meeting
back then.
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Well, I think the basic insight
into why this meeting
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was necessary and still is
and will continue to be,
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is sort of the state of the
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German workers' and
trade union movements.
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In our view, there's simply a lot that
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could be going better and where things
have been better in the past.
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We have never before seen such an
attack on the welfare state.
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Factories are to be closed or jobs cut
left, right and center.
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Prosperity through arms spending is
a specter that's haunting everywhere.
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All of this comes with
fatal consequences for
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our class, for the proletariat.
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Yes, at the same time it's a kind of door
opener and perhaps also inspiration for
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Marxist leftists, communists,
class-struggle leftists.
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Exactly, a way one might perhaps
practice Marxist education or
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hold discussions together
with actual workforces
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about Marxist classics or
current struggles or such.
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Exactly, and in that sense,
I think, we have already
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inspired a few people with it,
or at least I hope so.
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So what is still prevalent everywhere
is a bit of this fallacy.
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That all this has to happen now because
it's about our security.
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And the question we would pose there
and what, I think, is the starting point
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for concrete resistance in the
interests of our class,
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is the question: who is "we" and whose
security is this about?
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Is there a common togetherness
of us and our
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bosses, and is there a security
that concerns us all?
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Or is it ultimately, perhaps
unsurprisingly, more about
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the economic-military
influence of the FRG?
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Well, I think people have simply unlearned,
to some extent, how to fight.
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Shining examples,
which lie far in the past,
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are constantly being cited regarding
escalatory strikes, wildcat strikes,
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which were often successful too.
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And now we're also encountering a
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generation that may have
never been on strike.
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And it's simply about
gaining experiences and
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really considering all levels
of this confrontation.
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And if need be, when
the capital side
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won't back down, to concretely
think about
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actually using such means,
such methods.
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And not, top-down, to
not even allow workforces
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or to even put the word
strike in their mouths.
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We observe
that often too.
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I think we'll stick with the
unified trade unions for now.
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I wouldn't want to point at
any one in particular.
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But I observe, both with Verdi
and with IG Metall,
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that they often don't ask
themselves uncomfortable questions.
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And I think that's where we need to start
and change that.
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Yes, definitely.
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Well, I think one thing is confidence
in one's own strength, which you
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also have to have experienced in order to
be able to assess
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how strong you actually are, what
means you might have at your disposal.
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I think the social climate isn't
always necessarily pro-strike,
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especially when it affects
public transport, for example.
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And the capital side, or the press which
is to some extent guided by them,
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I would say,
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talks about extremes, about strikes,
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which we aren't actually observing
at the moment.
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Or about a certain irresponsibility that
labor disputes currently have.
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We don't share that assessment.
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I think the concerns that
the workforces want to defend
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in this case are completely justified.
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And I think we need to be
militant there.
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Yes.
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Hi, I'm Emile.
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In November, along with some other
people, I occupied the port of Hamburg
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against the weapons deliveries
originating from Germany.
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Because the port of
Hamburg is a hub
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and a focal point for
imperialist warfare.
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And yes, that's what we
committed ourselves to.
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Or rather, that's what we
demonstrated against.
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And yes, it's really over
the top how they
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are now trying to make us
out to be terrorists somehow.
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Even though we're actually
doing the only right thing.
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Opposing them.
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And that's why I'm
also here today.
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And I've already been able to learn
and take away an incredible amount.
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And I'm curious and
happy that a huge
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networking is taking place and
hopefully a big movement will happen.
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And I don't think it's right that now
our youth are used as cannon fodder for
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their wars, just to gain more
power and land again and again,
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and to increase capital.
This is not our war.
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And yes, I encounter this
again and again in everyday life.
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And I'm also afraid that, well,
I'm trans myself.
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And I've now decided
not to change my
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my gender marker, because otherwise
I would be conscripted.
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And something's wrong with that.
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I'm Tobias.
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I'm a father of three children.
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Basically, I simply don't want my
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children to have to
die in a war for this state.
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For them to become the human
material on the battlefields.
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That's why we're organizing ourselves
here and making sure that as families, as
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parents, we fight against
conscription and rearmament.
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I believe that we must
overcome the divisions
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that have existed
in the movement so far.
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That we should bring together
many different forms of action.
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And that we should create
a powerful anti-war movement.