Dear Comrades, Berliners of every background and fellow resisters —
We gather today in Berlin — not just any city, but a city built on the ruins of war.
From the devastation of World War II to the walls that divided its people, Berlin is a living memory of what militarism does.
And yet — here we are again.
Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest weapons manufacturer, has announced plans to convert its plant in Humboldthain — right here in the Wedding neighborhood — into a military production site.
What used to make car parts will now produce components for tanks and armored vehicles — tools of war, machines of death.
Let’s be clear: this is not just one factory.
This is part of the largest rearmament campaign in Germany since the Second World War.
More than €100 billion will be funneled into the military by 2028.
And it’s happening fast — in budgets, in public discourse, in laws, in political decisions and in the propaganda of the media.
And we must remember what German militarism has meant in history.
It meant colonial massacres in Namibia and Tanzania.
It meant two World Wars, genocide, and entire cities turned to ash.
It meant tanks rolling into Poland, Yugoslavia, Russia, North Africa — death in the name of empire and order.
And currently it means fuelling and supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
With German military equipment!
With our tax money!
We have learned this lesson once. We will not let it be forgotten.
Right now, the media and political class are busy selling us a new fear:
“Russia might invade Germany.”
“We must be ready for war.”
Let’s be clear: This is pure propaganda and warmongering.
There is no scenario in which Russia — exhausted by its war in Ukraine, economically isolated, diplomatically weak — invades Germany, a central NATO state surrounded by U.S. military bases, nuclear weapons, and the most powerful alliance in the world.
But this fantasy of invasion is useful.
It justifies skyrocketing military budgets.
It justifies arms exports.
It justifies expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) reach from Eastern Europe to the Indo-Pacific.
It keeps the weapons factories full, and the public scared.
This isn’t about defending democracy.
This is about defending Western imperial dominance — U.S. power, NATO control, and profits for arms manufacturers like Rheinmetall and Lockheed Martin.
And who pays the price?
Not the politicians.
Not their children.
It is all of us!
It is our youth who will be sent to die in wars they didn’t start and never chose.
It is the working class, the migrants, the poor, the racialized — who are always told to fight while elites get rich.
It is the population of Ukraine and Poland, always caught in between the imperial power game.
We will not let our populations be used as pawns in their wars and geopolitical aims.
Our responsibility as people of any citizenship status in Berlin is NOT to blindly obey political decisions such as the current militarization just to “integrate” to German society or avoid “standing out”.
Our responsibility is to stay informed, think critically, take action against the processes that lead to war and destruction. And to remind Germany of its criminal military past.
We say no to NATO. No to brainwashing. No to war. No to militarization.
Today, Rheinmetall profits while people fleeing war — from Afghanistan, from Sudan, from Palestine, from Syria — are met with walls, prisons, and silence.
Refugees are criminalized. Deportations intensify.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
With that money, we could:
Build a Berlin of welcome — and we mean for all, not just for white Europeans.
But that future will not be handed to us.
It must be fought for.
Because militarization is not waiting.
It is moving quickly — into schools, into law, into policy, into culture.
And the longer we stay silent, the louder the war drums get.
So we must act. And we must act now.
We — the people of this city —
Germans and internationals.
Workers, renters, students, refugees.
We have a responsibility in this historic moment.
To stand up.
To speak out.
To organize from the ground up — in our neighborhoods, our classrooms, our cafés, our mosques, churches, synagogues, our unions and workplaces.
We must expose Rheinmetall.
Pressure the politicians.
Interrupt the war economy with people power.
And make one thing clear:
Berlin will not build war machinery.
Berlin will not fund genocide.
Not in our name.
Not in Wedding.
Not in Berlin.
Berlin is not a weapons hub.
Berlin is a city of memory and solidarity. This is our city! And we will not be silent!
Let’s organize. Let’s resist.
Thank you. Danke. Shukran. Teşekkür ederim. Gracias.
Solidarity forever.
