25-26. July 2024, Online

As organisers of the Palestine Kongress in Berlin, we invite you to support our upcoming online conference, "Palästina Kongress im Exil" on 25.-26. July. This iteration is focused on the international student movement and on condemning German complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. This conference is a continuation of the in-person Palestine Congress 12.-14. April 2024 which was shut down by the German government on its first day in Berlin.

Over the last eight months, Germany has proudly supplied diplomatic and material support to Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza and the occupation in the West Bank. If these international ties were not shameful enough, the federal government has been violently repressing the Palestine Solidarity movement in Germany. Recently, Palestine Congress 12.-14. April 2024 was shut down on its first day in Berlin with riot police storming the stage during the live stream.
On 04. May 2024, Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta was barred from entering France due to a year-long Schengen-wide entry ban imposed by Germany. This ban was an expansion of the prohibition on any political activity (“Betätigungsverbot”) placed on Dr. Abu Sitta for the weekend of April 12th that had prevented his participation as a keynote speaker at the Palestine Congress in Berlin, including the threat of a prison sentence if he joined via Zoom.

You can find reporting of the banning by Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Monde Diplomatique and Democracy Now.

Moreover, police violence and crackdowns on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, sit-ins, and camps have intensified. In the 22.06. 41 people were brutally arrested including 6 between the ages of 13 and 17 years old. These are not individual cases but rather recurring at every pro Palestinian demonstration. According to a report published by Amnesty International on June 8th, Germany is systematically restricting the right to peaceful protest.

These actions represent a serious and concerning erosion of fundamental human rights. The German state has shown a willingness to disrupt and ban conferences under the pretext that criticism of Israel might incite violence, and it has imposed international bans on renowned speakers for extended periods. This in effect shuts down any effort to archive, document or disclose the atrocities that have been committed by Israel since 1948.

This silencing of pro-Palestinian voices is deeply alarming, and results in criminalisation of Palestinians and their allies in Europe. Even when many of these charges, like Dr. Abu Sitta's travel ban, are later overturned in courts, the atmosphere of surveillance and prosecution in Germany is only becoming stronger. Fortress Europe has raised the drawbridge, and it is our responsibility to ensure that we do not remain silent within its walls. The “Palästina Kongress im Exil" is a student-led effort to resist the wave of authoritarian measures against Palestinians and their supporters, and to publicly accuse the German government of aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The Kongress will take place soon after the European Championship. The Championship is a month long sportswashing project built on nationalist sentiments.The federal government outlined the aims of this sports washing project in a Federal Press Conference on June 14th: "An open, diverse, inclusive and welcoming image of Germany should be carried into the world". We say no to sports washing during an ongoing genocide! It is crucial that we take a stand against such normalisation during genocide and against the patriotic flag-waving fanfare while our country supplies arms to the Zionist Entity!

Our focus must remain on highlighting the German government's complicity in the genocide in Gaza. Germany is Israel’s second most strategic ally after the USA and the most aggressive supporter of Israeli apartheid in Europe. This support spans diplomatic, economic, and military levels. Ideologically, Germany conflates Judaism with the state of Israel and equates antisemitism with anti-Zionism, and has turned to authoritarian, Orwellian measures to repress anyone who dares to criticise Israel.

They can brutalize our demonstrations, evict our occupations and ban the Palestine Kongress but we will find a way to answer Gaza's call. Join us online 25.-26. July 2024 for the "Palästina Kongress im Exil" for two days of panel discussions on the history of the student movement in Germany, international solidarity with Palestine and the role of the German state in the occupation of Palestine. The event will be live streamed on Vimeo and YouTube with the option for students to ask questions !

Palästina Kongress im Exil
Call for Participation Speaker