Hi, thanks for talking to us. Could you start by introducing yourself?
Sure. My name is Nikodem Kaddoura. I’m part of the campaign Stop Nakba Now!. We’re a nationwide campaign that is confronting Germany’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza.
Today we specifically want to talk about the camp that you’re organizing in Hamburg, running up to Nakba day
Right. There is an action week from May 9 to May 16 in Hamburg. There will be a protest camp at the Moorweide throughout the week, and on the 16th, there will be a nationwide protest gathering near to the port of Hamburg.
Who’s gonna be speaking at the camp?
We’re currently still in the announcement phase on social media, but we’ve already confirmed a number of speakers. These include Yasemin Acar, Judith Scheytt, Fabian Goldmann, Fabian Lehr, Alena Jabarine, Elisa Baş, Hebh Jamal, Riad Othman and many more.
There will be many more speakers contributing to around 40 workshops and panels throughout the week. You can find the full and continuously updated program on our website.
Why a nationwide protest camp in Hamburg?
We have to look at the last two and a half years. There have been many protests and a lot of important organizing and a large solidarity movement gathered on the streets. Solidarity is important, but at the same time many of us are asking: what comes next? Solidarity isn’t the goal. It’s the first step that is necessary, but we need something after which we can hold on to, something that allows us to move from outrage to strategy.
That’s why we have to disrupt the complicity of Germany and the genocide in Gaza. It’s not enough to only address the complicity in the abstract. We want to make it visible through protests, political education and direct confrontation with all the structures that sustain the apartheid, the genocide, and all the systems in Israel.
When we look at Hamburg, we have to say that complicity isn’t only political. It isn’t just the government or Staatsräson. It is also economic and logistical. There are whole chains of complicity, and companies are profiting from the suffering of Palestinians, as well as from other people across the Global South.
In that context, the port of Hamburg is a central hub where these chains converge. In the last three years, 17,000 boxes of ammunition were shipped from Hamburg to Israel. And these are only the ones we know about. Because of the lack of transparency, this is probably only the tip of the iceberg. We don’t know about the technology and all the other military goods that were shipped to Israel.
This is a specific material complicity. Our question is not whether Germany is involved. We ask whether we are ready to confront the infrastructure through which that apartheid, settler colonialism, and genocide are maintained?
Our campaign is called Stop Nakba now. When we talk about the Nakba, we have to be clear that it’s not a closed chapter of history. The Nakba is still ongoing. It is a continuing process of displacement, ethnic cleansing and settler colonial violence against Palestinians.
What we’re witnessing today in Gaza didn’t begin two and a half years ago. It must be understood as part of a much larger history – includingf Zionist settler colonialism, forced displacement, oppression, mass killing, and now an act of genocide. This is why the Action Week is placed around the memorial day of the Nakba. We want to address the complicity to support the Palestinians.
Last year, we had the largest demonstration in Germany for Palestine ever. Six days later, the ceasefire was called, which we know wasn’t a ceasefire, but it demobilised the movement worldwide. How do you think we can win back the people who were demonstrating in September and are no longer on the streets?
I think it’s connected to the point I made earlier. We have to give hope to the people giving logical next steps. When we’re talking about the solidarity movement that wants to free Palestine, we will not liberate Palestine within German borders. But in Germany, we have the responsibility, at least, to disrupt the systems that enable apartheid, displacement, and genocide. If we’re serious in this solidarity, then we have to weaken these structures and oppression that make this violence possible.
On the other hand, it’s very important to combine our struggles. Our protest camp is being held under the motto Bridges of Resistance. The focus should be on the connection to other struggles, including international struggles and social struggles here in Germany. These struggles are not separated. They are deeply connected. That’s why we want to gather not only a big mass but also a diversity of people from different struggles.
Are there any specific struggles you want to talk about?
If we look at the austerity and the situation of social services in Germany, we can see this very clearly. We are constantly told that because of the debt break there is no money for housing, for education, healthcare, environment or social infrastructure. At the same time, billions are being forced into militarization.
How is it possible that Rheinmetall last year made a record profit while wages are under pressure, and more and more people are living under increasingly difficult conditions? How is it possible that there’s always money for war but never for people’s needs?
We also want to address the school strike movement because young people are facing climate collapse, militarization, austerity, racism and repression. But these aren’t separate issues. They are connected through a system that prioritizes profits over life. If we are serious about building resistance, then we have to build bridges between these struggles. They are part of the same system, and they have to be fought together to achieve the goals of liberation.
One of the interesting things about the last school strike, particularly in Berlin, was the number of demonstrators wearing kuffiyahs and carrying Palestine flags. This is new in Germany. What concrete links are you able to build with the school strike movement?
We will have students at the camp to give workshops, and we will try to directly address the school strike movement. As you said, in Berlin there was massive solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Even in Hamburg, there was a big solidarity movement.
We have to connect, because I have hope in our young generation. It’s time now to change something within the system, and to change the system.
If people come to the camp, what can they expect?
We will have plenty of political education, discussions and networking. And we will talk about direct action – How can we disrupt these chains of complicity? How is it possible for us to change something within our borders?
As I said, our responsibility here in Germany is to build a movement that is strong enough to disrupt the global war machine. We need to cut off the material support that is necessary to sustain apartheid and genocide. This is how we can create a ground for Palestinians to be able to continue their resistance against the Israeli regime and to liberate themselves We planned a whole action week to discuss these things and also to take some first practical steps.
The aim is to build a movement that can put real pressure on the structures enabling militarisation and violence, and to create conditions that support ongoing resistance.
How many people are you expecting at the camp? It’s during the week, so some people will be working.
Hopefully as many as possible, I hope that throughout the week hundreds of people will be at the camp, thousands at the protest. I hope we will be 10,000 and more. Who knows? It’s a very important campaign, and we have to gather in front of their doors. Hamburg is, as I said, a central hub for the maintenance of the Israeli structures, of their part in the genocide. So we have to go directly where it hurts them.
There’s a national demonstration being called for the day after Nakba day. Originally in Berlin, people said: we’ll do a Berlin demonstration on Nakba day, and then we’ll come to Hamburg. Now the Berlin demo is going to be at the same time as the Hamburg demo. This is a shame. What should we be telling people now?
It’s up to the people. But I can only address the last two and a half years. We’re protesting on the streets, addressing politicians, maybe in front of the Bundestag or Brandenburger Tor, but at the end, it’s only symbolic. We’re protesting and addressing politicians who will not change anything.
We have to be the change we want for our people, and we have to bring the change. We have to ask: who iscomplying with genocide? It isn’t just the politicians, it’s the companies. These are the value chains of goods being shipped to Israel. We have to address these people – and not only address them, but also confront them.
That’s why we have to go to Hamburg in front of their doors, because the biggest companies involved in this genocide are located in Hamburg. We have the German offices of Merz. We have Hapag-Lloyd. We have MSC. We have plenty of companies making billions of profits in the last two and a half years who are still doing their businesses without any disruption.
And there are also the ports from which the weapons are sent
Yes
There have been a number of camps recently –which is a welcome development – from organisations like Shut Elbit Down. Some of these camps have been shut down or attacked by the police. How likely is it that you’re going to have any problems?
Hopefully not. We have good enough lawyers who we’ve been working with for a long time. They are in solidarity with the Palestinian movement and our activism in Hamburg. We most probably will not face any repression, because at the end, if the state will try any repression against us, we know that we will win a legal process in court.
All of these repressions are an act of weakness from the state, because they are afraid of our activism. They know that our work can hurt the government and this capitalist system.
What’s going to happen after that? You say this is not just about having a symbolic demonstration. It’s not just changing minds but also changing practice. What do you think can happen as a result of the camp?
ther countries like Greece or Italy, have a big movement of port workers who have blocked shipments. This is where we have to start – first with this week, to make the complicity visible and create awareness for this topic, then to go on and try to disrupt them.
Every single Euro they make from the suffering of the Palestinian people, has to be revenged. It can’t stay like this. We have to shut down their business, like when you talked about Shut Elbit Down. We have to shut down all the companies which are making profits from the genocide in Gaza and throughout the whole Global South.
What can people in Berlin do to support the camp and demo?
We have two pages on social media. The one is the campaign account – Stop Nakba Now. The other one is the camp account: Bridges of Resistance. Stop Nakba Now also has a website. You can stay up to date from these channels. There are pickup points in Berlin, so people who want to join this campaign can pick up material, like posters or information sheets to share throughout Berlin.
Is there any transport organized from Berlin?
We have organised two buses that will bring people from Berlin to the rally in Hamburg. You find information about times and tickets on our website.
Is there anything we haven’t covered that you think we should talk about?This week will be expensive, and we are a grassroots movement, so we don’t have a lot of money. We have a crowdfunding campaign. We need every single euro or every single cent that people or organisations are able to donate. We listed the costs we have so that people can understand why we need the money and for what the money will be used.
