Anti-war and anti-imperialist activists during a gathering at the Coop Anti-War Cafe Berlin. Photo: Coop Anti-War Cafe Berlin/File photo.
Caracas, January 8, 2023 (OrinocoTribune.com)—During the final quarter of 2022, the German regime launched a lawfare campaign against socialists and anti-imperialists in Germany who questioned the propaganda campaign against Russia. Those who have dared to question the West’s narrative and express the opinion that the US and NATO were the main instigators of the Ukraine crisis are facing prosecution.
Among those organizations is the Coop Anti-War Café Berlin. One of its organizers, Heinrich Buecker, now faces criminal charges that could result in a punishment of up to three years in prison or fines. This is a regular intimidation strategy implemented by countries that respect the so-called rules-based order—a euphemism for the global capitalist dictatorship run from Washington, DC.
Orinoco Tribune is reproducing below a statement made public by Heinrich Buecker to explain the nature of this intimidation campaign aiming at restricting freedom of speech in Europe, already heavily curtailed by the conflict in Ukraine, especially in Western Europe.
This is also a call to action to demonstrate solidarity with these activists in Germany who have shown constant and coherent solidarity with anti-imperialist causes around the world, particularly in Latin America.
Journalists Who Challenge NATO Narratives Are Now ‘Information Terrorists’
Statement on the investigation against me by Heinrich Buecker
On the occasion of the attack on the Soviet Union by the fascist German Wehrmacht in June 1941, the Friedenskoordination (Friko) Berlin organized the commemoration event “We will not forget!“ on June 22, 2022, at the Soviet memorial in Treptower Park.
Due to my speech, which I gave as part of this commemoration, and a statement on the Russia-Ukraine conflict on my website, investigations have been initiated against me. According to a letter from the Berlin State Criminal Police Office dated October 19, 2022, a Berlin lawyer has accused me of having committed a crime. One refers to the § 140 StGB “Reward and approval of criminal offenses“. This can be punished with imprisonment for up to three years or with a fine.
In Germany, we are currently experiencing a narrowing of the space for debate and massive restrictions on freedom of expression – caused by one-sided reporting in the mainstream-media. In particular, also through legal requirements, such as the newly added paragraph 5 of § 130 StGB (incitement of the people), with which non-state-conforming views, for example on the war in Ukraine, can be criminalized and prosecuted and legally placed on the same level as Holocaust denial—as can the already existing § 140 (“Reward and approval of crimes”).
There are now a number of individuals who are in the crosshairs of the German criminal investigation authorities. Similar tendencies are also being reported from other EU countries.
First of all, about the speech that is the basis of this specific case and the allegations against me: the speech referred directly to Operation Barbarossa, i.e. to the war of plunder and annihilation that fascist Germany began against the USSR on June 22, 1941, in which around 27 million citizens of the Soviet Union lost their lives.
In that war, the Nazis destroyed either in whole or in part: 15 cities, 1,710 towns and 70,000 villages, nearly 60 million buildings, 32,000 industrial plants, 10,000 power plants, 60,000 km of railway tracks, 100,000 km of highways, 40,000 hospitals and medical centers, 64,000 schools and colleges, 43,000 libraries, 44,000 theaters, approximately 3000 churches and 400 museums. (Figures from the book Fathers of Destruction by Professor Brian Easlea, London)
In this speech at the Soviet memorial, I explain that today the successors of those right-wing extremist and Russophobic forces in the Ukraine, with which fascist Germany cooperated very closely during the Second World War, are again being supported by the german government.
Then I addressed the level of hypocrisy in propagating an even stronger arming of Ukraine and making the completely unrealistic demand that Ukraine must win the war against Russia, or at least that Ukraine must not lose this war. At the same time, more and more sanctions packages are being passed against Russia.
And I explain that it seems incomprehensible to me that German politics should again support the same chauvinistic and especially Russophobic ideologies on the basis of which the German Reich found willing helpers in 1941. The SS and Wehrmacht used Ukrainian national-fascist organizations as repressive and murderous squads against their own countrymen, including millions of Jewish men, women and children.
As vehemently as we oppose right-wing populist and right-wing extremist movements in Germany, we must also vehemently reject the war rhetoric emanating from the neo-fascist formations in Ukraine. We Germans must never again be involved in a war against Russia in any way.
All this should now serve as a basis for criminal proceedings.
My crime: I publicly referred to historical facts, namely the involvement of Ukrainian organizations (UPA and OUN) in pogroms against Jews, Poles and other groups, as well as other police and military operations in Nazi Germany’s unprovoked war of aggression against the Soviet Union Today, nationalist, neo-fascist successor formations in Ukraine have a massive influence on politics, warfare and society. But that hasn’t stopped Germany from providing massive military and financial support to Ukraine since the Russian army invaded. Ukrainian soldiers are even trained in Germany. Conditions in Ukraine after the bloody coup in 2014 are now taboo here. In previous years, however, it was repeatedly reported in detail.
But anyone who continues to report comprehensively on the facts and the history of the conflict in Ukraine can expect rejection, disparagement and censorship.
We must oppose this restriction of freedom of expression.
• As Germans in particular, we should openly and honestly try to understand the Russian reasons for the military intervention in Ukraine and also why the vast majority of people in Russia support their government and president in this.
• Personally, I can and want to understand the view in Russia and that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. I don’t distrust Russia either, because the renunciation of revenge against Germans and Germany has determined Soviet and later Russian policy since 1945.
• In the Coop Anti-War Cafe I opened in Berlin Mitte in 2005, I have been increasingly confronted with hostilities since the Russian invasion. There are always provocations, on the Internet, by email and during the times when the café was closed, there is also graffiti and damage to the front door. In the guest room itself it is peaceful. We discuss with people with different opinions, also on the subject of Russia.
In the statement I published in March 2022 on the war in Ukraine, which is mentioned in the complaint against me, it says explicitly: “We are deeply concerned about the dramatic events in Ukraine and advocate a peaceful solution.“ The statement was signed by hundreds of organizations and individuals from Germany and other countries.
We support the same arguments together with many international friends in a joint call for peace and an anti-imperialist position on the crisis in Ukraine.
–Heinrich Buecker
Orinoco Tribune special by staff
OT/JRE/SL/FV
