So here we are again. Could you just remind people who you are?
Hi, I’m Jara. I’m one of the press speakers and organizers of Besetzung gegen Besatzung (Occupy against Occupation), which is a Palestine Solidarity camp in front of the German parliament, the Bundestag. Two days ago, on Friday the 13th, we set up for a third time to protest Germany’s weapons exports to Israel and the ongoing genocide,
Could you also remind us what happened to the first two camps?
Gladly. The first time we set up was last year, April 8th, 2024. We set up our tents out of a random push for wanting to do something different, because the genocide in Gaza had been going on for six months. We had a wonderful 19 days of workshops and panels and protests and all sorts of people coming and having community space up until the 26th of April, where we got brutally evicted by the Berlin police .
The police gave us about an hour’s notice. They showed up on Friday morning with riot gear, locked down almost all of the streets coming to the camp, and proceeded to evict us very brutally, smash our stuff, and injure and arrest a lot of people.
Then we had a second camp in November and December of 2024 that lasted for six weeks. We packed that one up just before Christmas. And now we’re back.
Why now?
The right time to protest for Palestine is always — but specifically now we’re standing in solidarity with the Sumud convoys, the march to Gaza, and the Freedom Flotilla, which are all projects that are trying to break the 18 year long siege and and naval blockade of Gaza.
Gaza has been under a complete siege for more than 90 days now, which means that barely any aid, food, medical supplies, fuel have been let in, all things that are extremely necessary to the survival of the people there. Israel has been blocking all of it, and people are trying to break that siege.
How do you think that the camp is contributing towards breaking the siege?
Germany is the second largest weapons exporter to Israel, which means that our domestic protest here is incredibly important as part of a global solidarity movement to stop Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the ongoing occupation of Palestine. If we can stop the weapons getting delivered from Germany, that would be a massive blow to the Israeli war machine.
Some people in Germany like to think that they can’t really do anything, but Germany is one of the staunchest supporters of Israel. This is very much a protest in the belly of the beast.,
The camp is directly opposite the Bundestag. If people visit, when should they come and what can they expect?
Come anytime. We’re here 24/7. During the daytime, you can expect Community Care workshops, readings, and interesting conversations with people from all walks of life. In the afternoon, you can expect workshops, rallies, drumming, and then in the evenings we usually have a film screening.
Because it’s June, and it gets dark so late, the films start at 9.30. Tomorrow, (Monday 16th), we’re screening No Other Land and then having a discussion about it.
Where could people find a program of what’s happening when?
They can find that on our Instagram, our Telegram, or our Website. They all have the name besetzunggegenbesatzung.
How long do you expect to be there? You said you were brutally forced out the first time round, and last time you packed up for Christmas. Is there a plan for this time?
We have now registered for 10 days until 23rd June, and then we will see whether we continue or consider this a success, pack up and continue pressuring the German government in other forms. Even when the camp gets packed up, that doesn’t mean we stop.
What exactly are you protesting? You said you’re in solidarity with the Convoy and the Madleen, but as you were setting up, Israel attacked Iran. Is that part of your protest?
Our protest is against Israel’s ongoing settler colonial regime that has expansive ambitions all over the region. Not only is Israel attacking Iran, but it is also still bombing and killing people in Lebanon and Syria.
Our protest is against the entire Israeli war machine and the German complicity in it, because all of this would not be possible without German weapons, bombs, diplomacy, and finance.
Do you get a sense that things are changing in Germany? Now even Friedrich Merz and Annalena Baerbock are saying that Israel is going too far. Is anything practically changing in German politics, or are these just words?
So far, these are just words of a regime that wants to establish itself as the dominant military power in Europe. Germany strategically sees that more and more of the world’s tide is turning against Israel. It would be naive to believe that the German government has actually come to a moral awakening. As long as Germany benefits from this war machine, with all of its weapons production, this will continue.
But there is a narrative shift, and we do hope that more and more of the German people wake up to what’s happening and start protesting. It’s not enough to sit at home and quietly disapprove, which seems to be the case for most people in Germany. Now is really the time to get up and start doing something.
A friend of mine was at Camp yesterday, and she said there were more Germans there than she was expecting. Are you witnessing this too?
There were definitely more Germans than expected yesterday, because there was a protest around the corner that was co-organized by ver.di. I would say that proportionally there were definitely more old white Germans than at any of the Palestinian or diaspora organized protests that I’ve seen so far.
We do welcome and encourage that shift, but we don’t have people coming up to us and saying: “Oh, I’m so sorry. I should have been here a year and three months ago when you first set up”. If you want accountability, that means that people need to reckon with their own role. If they only wake up late, that’s cool. Good that you woke up. Now make up for it.
At least it’s good that some people are changing.
Some people, yes, but without a fundamental shift, that’s just window dressing.
Today there’s also a protest for Veteranentag against German militarization. Are you finding ways of linking up with this? Is this an opportunity to address young Germans who are worried about conscription, but are not yet necessarily thinking about Palestine?
There’s obviously a big connection between Germany gearing up for war, changing its economy to produce more weapons, and now edging closer to reintroducing enforced conscription. We are linked up with the organizers of the Veteranentag protests. We absolutely support them. We mobilize people to go there and then afterwards come to the camp.
We do hope that this is something that we can address within the camp for young Germans, or older Germans who are worried that their kids are going to go to war. All of these things are connected.
Back to the camp. You say you’re organising workshops. Who is running these workshops? Can someone just turn up and offer their own workshop?
Absolutely. Anyone who is in solidarity with Palestine and wants to offer a workshop, a panel, anything, they are very welcome to come. This is not organized by a closed group. It’s very DIY organizing. Yesterday, we had someone do a yoga workshop that was relatively spontaneous.
If people want to get involved, there’s a daily plenum at 12 noon. But also join the Telegram, chat, text us and just come by. We’re here 24/7.
Last time you had some bigger events with people like Michael Barenboim speaking. Is there anything on that level planned this time round?
We’re working on it. We do hope that we will get that. Stay tuned.
Do you think there’s a chance of getting people from the Freedom Flotilla along?
Two members of the flotilla were just deported back to Berlin after they were illegally abducted to Israel. We do hope that we will get them here to the camp, but obviously being abducted by Israel and then deported is a little bit of stress. We admire and honour their commitment. They may first need a couple of days to rest.
[Editor’s Note: Yasemin Acar, who was on the Flotilla, will now be speaking at the camp at 6pm on Wednesday, 18th June]
People can camp as well. Do you have spare tents? Or should people bring their own?
We do have some spare tents, but we also have a great amount of campers right now. So we encourage everyone to come and camp with us, and bring your tents and sleeping bags. If you don’t have any, we do have stuff here.
And if you’re in Berlin and you have camping gear, but you can’t camp, drop it off. We do our best to give this stuff back, unless the police destroy it again.
What about people not in Berlin? People in Berlin should come to the camp and get involved. Is there any way people outside Berlin can support you?
People outside of Berlin can share the message. We have some events that we’re going to be live streaming. They can also reach out. We’re happy to do a Skillshare for how to organize your own protest camp.
You are more than welcome to come here on 21st June, when the United for Gaza march is mobilizing people to come to Berlin. We very cordially invite anyone and everyone who is traveling to Berlin for that march to bring your tents. Come camp with us.
You talked about being attacked by the police. We are currently sitting in the camp and can see a number of police looking at us. What’s the likelihood that the police will try and break you up again?
I think for now, it’s rather low, because after the first brutal eviction, they did get a lot of bad press, and we are now very linked with international organizations that have an eye on us. If something happens, we can scandalize it.
But of course we do see the absurd administrative obstruction of the police. Yesterday, they put up these metal barricades which mean that the entire front side of the camp is now locked off. They told us that they would just be there for a march which was passing by. We said: this amazing march was pro-Palestine. You don’t need to protect us against it.
We asked the police if they’d take them down. And they said, no, these will now stay. This is what we see from the German police and the Berlin police especially. As soon as the repressive measure is in place, it will stay. It’s completely absurd.
It’s obviously intended to make us harder to reach, to make us appear like criminals, to make us feel caged in, fenced in from 2 sides. We hope that we can get the police to take it down, seeing as this is completely absurd and unnecessary. But we’re also not going to be intimidated.
I know some people with precarious residency status who say that they’re not sure whether they’ll come here, because if they’re arrested the repercussions are much more. What would you say to them?
Unfortunately, that is always a risk. At the moment, we have had three arrests. But there are very low risk ways to get engaged. There was never a situation where the whole camp got kettled and everyone was arrested, or we couldn’t get out anymore.
We do have people here with precarious residency status, and the people with the European and German passports are aware of that and have the solidarity to then put themselves on the line a bit more.
Is there anything we haven’t talked about that you’d like to say?
On June 21st there’s also an open house at the Rotes Rathaus, close to Alexanderplatz. We all know that our mayor, Kai Wegner, is very complicit in the genocide in Gaza. He has said that there is no genocide in Gaza full stop. So this is a good opportunity to go and confront him.
Apart from that, the Camp is just a really nice place to come and meet people and talk strategy. We have to reaffirm that, even with everything going on, the focus is always Gaza. The last internet cable in Gaza has just been bombed by Israel. They have a complete communication blackout. And that is the people we are fighting for, because those are the ones who are in most danger.
If you do close down the camp, what happens then?
Then we move on to other forms, and we might be back. We always have our tents in the back of our minds. Many of us who are at the first and second camps are really happy to be back here. Germany, you’re not getting rid of us until you stop supporting genocide.
