A year of “extreme brutality” against Palestine solidarity – interview with German activist

Palestine 2023-24

Rachael Shapiro, an anti-Zionist Jewish socialist and revolutionary in Germany, spoke to Tomáš Tengely-Evans about state repression and how it weaponizes the Holocaust.

Rachel Shapiro

This has been a year of some of the most extreme brutality I have ever seen – and it is only getting worse.

We took to the streets every week – I mean literally every week, sometimes several times a week. The police were extremely aggressive and sought to incite violence. These protests have been largely peaceful.

They were really just demonstrations. Many of them have been vigils. Regardless, the police use various intimidation tactics to break into the crowd and start beating people up.

There have been numerous cases of sexual harassment and assault, tons of racial profiling, and anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim violence. On a purely physical level, it is very dangerous. If you go to protests, you must be prepared to go to the hospital.

This is part of the broader context of the repression against Palestinian solidarity, which is particularly extreme in Germany.

Germany’s support for Israel comes from its geopolitical and strategic interests in the region. It supplies about 30 percent of Israel’s arms imports.

But the state’s discourse around the “culture of memory” and the Holocaust makes it a manufactured fight against anti-Semitism. Of course, this has nothing to do with actual anti-Semitism; it has to do with the fight against anti-Zionism.

The violence against anti-Zionist Jews has been similar to that against anyone else in solidarity with Palestine.

What types of arguments do you come up against in Germany? It is not just the right that adheres to the idea that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.

Israel and its supporters spread propaganda all over the world – it’s certainly present in the United States, where I’m from.

But in Germany there is such extreme propaganda. At its core, it’s based on a real fear of saying anything that might smack of anti-Semitism and they call it “German guilt.” This really has nothing to do with “German guilt” – it has to do with intimidation.

When people are confronted with the crimes of the Zionist regime, they react instinctively. They really have this extreme “you can’t say that” reaction. It ranges from a kind of docile fear to really extremely violent reactions. This includes groups of people who call themselves left-wing, but who claim that anti-fascism means solidarity with Israel.

These “anti-Deutsche” are very aggressive on this subject and in reality constitute a channel through which the German state can act.

They will prevent people from getting a room. The Palestinian Congress, which Socialist Worker wrote about, was closed even though it was a private room. The police were not allowed to enter.

So there really is this narrative across the political spectrum.

Is support for Israel in Germany passive or active?

The culture of memory is extremely anchored in society and we see it in people of all ages. When I moved to Germany, I made many German friends and they identified deeply with it.

People don’t want to be called anti-Semitic because that’s the worst thing you can do in Germany.

But in terms of concrete support for Israel, people don’t really have a deep sense of it. In reality, people are not taking to the streets – there are no mass mobilizations for Israel.

How far back does this “culture of memory” go? What was the purpose?

The official discourse says that Germany must atone for its past, but that is not the real reason.

After World War II, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer declared that Germany must “make amends” to the Jewish people. He said that Jews had power, especially in the United States.

So you have this narrative about atonement, but it ultimately came down to economic interests and alignment with the United States. The state and ruling class were able to exploit the horrors of the Holocaust and the real guilt to support Zionism and pursue their interests in the region.

What future for the movement?

People are tired but there is a group of people who go out every Saturday. I would say it varies between five hundred and a thousand people who are in the streets.

It is difficult to achieve mass mobilization as is the case in Britain. It is very easy to criticize yourself. And I would say that what we’re seeing in Germany is really the purest evidence of a challenge to the narrative from the belly of the beast.

The more we systematically defend our own arguments, I would say, the stronger the movement becomes.

You have a core group of people who are fighting very hard and who I think are making significant progress. I’m proud to be part of the movement here.

We publish daily analysis and interviews with Palestinians and members of the solidarity movement on the first anniversary of October 7. Stay informed of our latest articles by visiting Palestine: one year later