Call to Action in Germany!

Today is the 80th anniversary of WW2 and the Nazi regime. "Never Again Means Now!"

Germany now has a new government. After the Traffic-Light-Coalition (SPD-Red, FDP-Yellow, Greens-Green) fell apart on November 7, 2024, with the removal of Christian Lindner (FDP) as treasurer, Germany has been semi-rudderless for 6 months. On May 6, 2025 Friedrich Merz (CDU) became the new chancellor of the German Parliament (the Bundeskanzler) and Lars Klingbeil (SPD), the new Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister. One can see this government as off to a rocky start, if one counts that at first Merz did not get enough votes to become Chancellor. Fortunately another vote later that day showed that two times was a charm, and Merz was safely in.

Right before Merz became the Bundeskanzler, an over 1000 page report was released from the Intelligence Division of the German Constitutional Court that says that the AfD is a right-wing extremist party and endangers the German Constitution. The activists at Campact, a German organization like MoveOn in the USA, immediately sent out a petition requesting that Merz closely examine this document and draft a petition to the German Constitutional Court asking them to ban the AfD as an extremist group that endangers our democracy. The pundits were also talking about what should be done.

There are those who feel that it will be more harmful to shut down a party that is growing in popularity. There are others who feel that it is anti-democratic to silence any party as well, and debate whether or not everyone in the party and everyone voting for them are right-wing extremists. I am sure there are more sides. The side of a coalition of groups all ending with Gegen Rechts, meaning Against the Right-Wing Extremists, believes that not to ask the court to follow the constitution which says that this any group that threatens democracy by being large enough to have an effect, so over the 5% required to enter their State or the Federal Parliaments can be banned.

In addition to Germans acting to support German Democracy, there are Americans Abroad acting to protect both German and US democracies. I fall into both categories. Today, Thursday, May 8, Democrats Abroad Global Environment and Crisis Committee is having a webinar about gardening, which I will probably miss since I am either going to be on the train or spending time with my daughter and husband when I arrive at my destination. However, they have said that if I cannot attend they will send me a copy of the recording. One of the reasons people here are moving more and more towards growing our own food, is because we see difficult times ahead. It is something we can do to both help ourselves, and our friends and neighbors. In addition to wanting to develop a garden in my backyard, once the rubble from construction work is removed, I have been shopping at the local farmers market. They tend to package things in paper which we recycle more easily than plastic wrap from the grocery store.

Today, May 8, Berlin is also having a city-statewide holiday to commemorate the end of WW2, and the Nazi regime.

On Saturday, May 10, my Regional Chapter of Democrats Abroad, Hamburg and Northern Germany, will be rallying in Hamburg, at a Stand Up for a Better America demonstration, and there will be one in the Cologne region as well as other parts of Germany. Our chapter is particularly focusing on standing up for Voting Rights after reading Freedom’s Dominion by Pulitzer Prize winning historian Jefferson Cowie, and hearing him speak to Democrats Abroad where he described the kind of populist elements that Democrats need in their campaigns to win, and he told us fighting for voting rights comes before all other fights.

On Sunday, May 11, Mothers’ Day in the USA, there are going to be Germany-wide protests against the AfD’s existence as a political party in Germany as a follow up to the Campact petition which so far has 344,008 signatures in 3 or 4 days. I will be traveling on that day, and will miss the demonstrations in Berlin and Bremen. I heard about it from Campact, and they said now the protest is going further, onto the streets. They said that the protest network is great. There will be protests in at least 20 cities. They are organized by the coalition Bündnis Gegen Rechts (Together Against Right-Wing Extremism) and the campaign Menschenwürde Verteidigen (Defend Human Rights).

On Monday, May 12, there is going to be a Hope, Resistance and the Rule of Law Rally, in Oslo Norway of Democrats Abroad and Norwegians, and Barack Obama will be speaking in Norway that evening. I won’t make it to that one either, but know that around the world, Democrats are making signs, planning rallies, creating communities and attending pro-democracy rallies in support of the countries in which they live and the USA.

On Saturday, May 17 there will also be a Democrats Abroad United We Run event in Zürich, Switzerland.

June 14, there will be Democrats Abroad Rally Against Trump in Oaxaca, Mexico.

I am also involved in Indivisible Deutschland, which is a countrywide indivisible group. I am going to be holding monthly rallies inviting Germans, Americans and anyone together around the arts with the theme of Supporting Democracy. They will start on Saturday, May 17. People are invited to share a poem, short story, original song, piece of music, creative poster, piece of art, performance piece in either German or English. All ages are welcome. We need to be forming alliances across countries with fellow democracy loving people. It is a small action that hopefully contributes.

There is much to do as a German, as an American, as a citizen of any country right now that wants to hold on to or develop their democracy.

In Solidarity!! ✌🏽