Germany: Alyona and Leonard acquitted – how to successfully fight repression!

In November 2023, comrades Alyona and Leonard of the Revolutionäre Kommunistische Partei (RKP) were investigated for holding up a banner with the slogan ‘Freedom for Palestine! Intifada until victory!’ After a months-long campaign, our comrades were acquitted in the final court proceedings before the Munich Regional Court in July. The verdict is now final: the slogan ‘Intifada until victory!’ is not illegal. This victory holds important lessons for the entire Palestinian and labour movements in dealing with repression!

[Read the full article in German at derkommunist.de]

Defamation and intimidation

We defend the First Intifada of 1987 because, as a revolutionary mass movement of the Palestinians, it had the potential to spread to the surrounding region and, had the revolutionary councils formed during the Intifada taken power, would have been the gateway to a socialist federation of the Middle East. Even today, Palestine can only be liberated through class struggle methods and the revolutionary action of the masses themselves.

From the outset, the prosecution attempted to connect our slogan to 7 October, even though this had nothing to do with the First Intifada. They wrote: “Similarly, the content of the banner (...) also deliberately referred to the events in Israel from 7 October 2023 [...].”

This was intended to associate our slogan with terrorism. This is the height of cynicism. The real terrorist is the Zionist regime, which is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians, and the German state, which is enabling Israel to do so. The public prosecutor's office is itself an organ of this state.

But, on closer inspection, it quickly became apparent that the public prosecutor's position was legally untenable. The purpose of these penalty orders against our comrades was primarily to intimidate activists.

Die Linke and Palestine

We are not the only ones being targeted by the German establishment in this way. They are also launching a smear campaign against pro-Palestinian voices in Die Linke. Most recently, they targeted the Neukölln district association and LAG Palestine Solidarity, which had organised a neighbourhood event against genocide, occupation, arms deliveries and racism. Springer – the media empire behind Bild, Die Welt and Politico, among others – insinuated in a vicious smear campaign that the comrades were linked to Hamas. This was a political attack aimed at justifying further repression against the movement and demoralising the activists.

Instead of brusquely rejecting these scandalous accusations, Die Linke’s leadership in Berlin dropped the Neukölln district association like a hot potato. In doing so, they lent credibility to the bourgeoisie’s attempts at slander. It should be the task of Die Linke to expose this as a political attack, instead of supporting the intimidation tactics that the movement has been fighting against since day one.

Die Linke's approach is damaging the struggle against militarism and the Merz government's cuts. It covers for the government instead of exposing it. Moreover, it accepts attacks on democratic rights instead of fighting them. This will lead to more and more democratic rights being attacked: business associations and parts of the CDU are already calling for restrictions on the right to strike.

On the Palestinian question, the reformist leaders of Die Linke ultimately support the German state’s supposed raison d'étre: to support Israel. After all, they do not want to fall out with the ruling class and their parties. This is because they have no confidence in the power of the working class to change society. They cling to the bourgeois parties in the hope of being able to make deals with them instead of relying on class struggle against them. But in truth, the struggle against rearmament and cuts can only be waged against the bourgeoisie and not with them.

How do we fight against repression?

Our victory in the case of Alyona and Leonard shows that there is another way. Our success in repelling the repression proves that we are not helplessly at the mercy of the ruling class’ political attacks! We were only able to achieve this because we have a communist programme that is based solely on class struggle and the power of the working class.

Socialists and communists should clearly identify slander, intimidation and repression as such and resolutely reject them; they should use them to clearly show who the real terrorists and criminals are. They should not give in unnecessarily and should resolutely defend the democratic rights of workers and youth, relying on their own strength, that is, on the strength of the working class and youth.

This is exactly what we did as the RKP: we did not back down or apologise when there was nothing to apologise for. We used this attack to launch a major political campaign at universities, and in the Palestine, peace, and workers' movements. In this way, we exposed Germany's role in Israel's genocide.

Furthermore, we relied solely on our own strength and that of the movement. We owe this victory not only to ourselves, but above all to the youth and workers of the Palestine movement: their solidarity and their desire for a genuine revolutionary party enabled us to raise €9,000 in donations to cover the court costs. This will not be the last attack. But now we will face the next ones with our reserves built up through donations and win further victories.

A victory for the movement

We could’ve accepted the public prosecutor's penalty orders instead of appealing. Or we could have stopped using the ‘Intifada’ slogan – in other words, we could’ve accepted a restriction on our freedom of expression and engaged in political self-censorship. When it became clear that we would not back down, they offered to drop the case in exchange for a cash payment. But we did not accept that either.

The consequence would have been to demoralise our activists and others. We would have set a precedent that would allow the police and public prosecutor's office to simply send more and more penalty orders with fines to activists as a ‘precautionary measure’ (they are already trying to do this). And had we accepted the penalty orders, it would’ve also meant accepting the public prosecutor's interpretation to a certain extent. This de facto illegalisation of the ‘Intifada’ slogan could, in turn, have provided the basis for future media smear campaigns.

Had the public prosecutor's office prevailed, this would have enabled those in power to exaggerate the case and use it as a bulwark to defame and intimidate the entire movement. Such defeats, in turn, give the bourgeoisie a freer hand in the broader class struggle. Giving in would have meant squandering our credibility for future struggles. In short, the path of apparent least resistance would have weakened us and the movement, and put us in a worse position.

But we decided to fight this battle to the end. In doing so, we achieved a victory not only for the activists of the RKP, but for the entire Palestinian movement. Now it has been established in court that the ‘Intifada’ slogan is not illegal and that, with reference to previous rulings, freedom of expression cannot be so easily restricted by criminal law. We believe that this approach must set a precedent throughout the Palestinian movement, the entire labour movement and the political left in Germany! This attempt at intimidation will not be the last.