BDS activism in Corona times: BT3P event in Munich on 20th of March 2021

As expected, our event contributing to the "Israeli Apartheid Week" and the International Week of Action against Racism was heavily fought in advance. The city of Munich tried to ban the event for political reasons, explicitly referring to its own city council resolution against BDS. 

In contrast to previous verdicts in other cities, the BT3P were not able to enforce the right to public space in the second judicial instance. However, the Bavarian Administrative Court did not endorse the anti-BDS resolution of the Munich City Council, but solely ruled on the basis of the corona restrictions.

The event "Apartheid by the State of Israel - the ignorance of German politics" then took place as an online meeting with 100 participants. 

The meeting started with a commemoration of the recently deceased publicist and historian Dr. Reiner Bernstein. Christoph Glanz then elaborated the concept of Apartheid based on the historical situation of South Africa on the occasion of the anniversary of the terrible Sharpeville Massacre from 1960. Ahmed Abed presented the legal situation of the BT3P lawsuit against the German Bundestag. The Bundestag has to submit its defense to the court until end of March 2021.

The special guest, Fayrouz Sharqawi, from the organization "Grassroots Al Quds" reported live from Jerusalem and presented eloquently and unequivocally the severe effects of Apartheid on the lives of the Palestinian people. Lively discussions with the participants followed.

Immediately after the meeting, the BT3P held a demonstration in front of the Gasteig, the institution of the City of Munich, which prohibited them to speak. 20 protesters gathered to express their demand for justice with banners and short speeches. Both, the event and the demonstration, were supported by local Munich groups, including Women in Black, Salam Shalom and the Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group. 

One of the demonstrators was former member of the Bundestag and human rights policy spokesperson for the DIE LINKE parliamentary group, Annette Groth (Stuttgart):

"Apartheid is a crime against humanity that must be punished. In this respect, Apartheid committed by Israel must also be branded as a crime and punished…The Bundestag resolution portrays BDS as anti-Semitic. It is wrong and hateful to denigrate a human rights movement in such a way. Therefore, I wholeheartedly welcome BT3P's courageous complaint. This pseudo-legislation is contrary to democratic principles and must therefore be annulled by the courts."

The BT3P sum up:

"The city of Munich fought an anti-racist group during the anti-racism weeks- this says it all. We will return to Munich under more favorable circumstances. On the one hand, to address the strong interest in our content and, on the other hand, to uncover and abolish Munich’s anti-BDS resolution.

Overall, we take away a lot of positive aspects from this event: the large number of participants and the support of local civil society groups confirm the citizens’ desire for information and dialogue around Israel’s crimes against humanity and the BDS movement.

A highlight was certainly Fayrouz Sharqawi's contribution. She strongly explained the ugly realities for Palestinians in Jerusalem and thereby expressed the continuous need to amplify the Palestinian voice and to stand up against the conditions that oppress the Palestinians. 

In a few days, we will receive the legal defense from the lawyers of the German Bundestag. We will then inform the public about it in a timely manner and announce further events in other German cities in order to talk about the lawsuit.”