Cologne, Germany: Some actions for the election boycott
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a report published by Dem Volke Dienen.
In the course of the preparation of the bourgeois State’s electoral farce for the new elections to the Bundestag at the end of February, various election events are currently taking place, on which the usually distant bourgeois politicians try to demonstrate their alleged closeness to the people in order to catch votes.
On Monday, February 3, the “Forum Civil Peace-Service”, which has its roots in the peace movement, hosted a panel discussion between various representatives of the bourgeois parties from BSW to the Left Party to the SPD, Greens, FDP and CDU.
The fact that the more than one hundred friends from the various spheres of the peace movement really took their right to freedom of expression serious was obvious in the dynamics of the event from start to the end. Across the event, on topics such as the imperialist aggression against Ukraine by Russian imperialism and the genocide in Gaza, the various bourgeois and opportunistic positions of the Bundestag politicians were interrupted and questioned by participants from the audience with boos, whistles and requests to speak.
After just a few minutes, this gratifying participation from the audience led to some bourgeois parties representatives to angrily and desperately threatening to leave the podium because they felt that questions from the audience about the militarization of German imperialism were “too one-sided” and “provocative”. At the same time, all politicians consistently earned malice for their support of the Israeli genocide.
A bit later, when a young man spoke up with the question of why he should take part in the elections and vote at all as a first-time voter, if no matter which party is voted for at the end of the day, there is more exploitation, oppression, more war, genocide and racism as a result, almost the entire hall applauded. Finally, following this question, when the bourgeois politicians were concerned with arrogant self-promotion and quarreling among themselves, an elderly worker took the word to denounce the bourgeois parties for their crimes in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Mali and other oppressed nations. The moderator and the various members of the Bundestag repeatedly tried to forbid the friend to speak.
Activists used this opportunity to denounce this attack on freedom of expression and to give the possible first-time voter a correct answer from the standpoint of the proletariat to the question of why one should vote at all. With a resolute denunciation, the crimes and hypocrisy of the imperialists and their political personnel in Palestine, Ukraine and the FRG itself were denounced, and propagated that the bourgeois elections between plague and cholera will not bring any improvements, peace or even liberation. When it was declared that we workers, pensioners, women and migrants do not need bourgeois workers’ parties, but a communist party that leads the struggles and throws the imperialist system on the heap of trash of history, applause and cheers rang out from the ranks of those present from the red youth movement and the peace movement. The activists distributed leaflets with the right slogans “Don’t vote! Combat and resist!”, “Vote out the exploitation? That never works! Boycott of the elections of the bourgeoisie” and withdrew.
We received also a video on this action:
The fact that this election event ended in defeat for the bourgeois politicians on that day is shown by the various interventions from the audience, which made it clear that the masses as a whole reject the various bourgeois politicians. Less than five minutes could one of these professional liars finish without being interrupted by the interventions from the audience.
At the end of the week, an event by the Red League was carried out in order to be able to discuss clearly and openly the necessity and strategic importance of the election boycott. On Saturday, February 8, more than a dozen people from Cologne and the surrounding area met. Some of them had even followed the call at the above-mentioned panel discussion on Monday.
The event opened with a lecture on the question of the election boycott, not as one of many tactics, but its strategic importance. In the lecture, special emphasis was placed on the exposure of several confusions in relation to the state. Afterwards, discussions were held in an open atmosphere and a emphasis was taken against legalism, passivity and economism. Supporters of the MLPD also took part in this lively discussion. Apparently, these points of view and those of the Red League are not compatible, as is also clear in a recent article in the “Rote Fahne News” [Translator’s note: MLPD’s newspaper] which referred to the article “On the spectacle in the pigsty” on demvolkedienen.org. The abstinence from the bourgeois electoral farce by the masses show their resignation, apathy and depression, furthermore supposedly imminent fascism and World War III and the end of humanity gave participation in the bourgeois elections an essential importance from the point of view of this friend. The arguments were taken seriously and discussed. It was a central aspect to oppose the fear-mongering with the aim of justifying the alliance with bourgeois parties.
In addition, wall paintings at the University of Cologne were also seen:
We think this was a good beginning to make, within our possibilities, the slogan true “Don’t Vote! Combat and resist!”
