German troops out of Afghanistan

[Communist]

‘German troops out of Afghanistan’

Published Feb 28, 2010

http://www.workers.org/2010/world/germany_0304.jpg (http://www.workers.org/2010/world/germany_0304/)


More than 4,000 people from 70 different German cities came to Berlin Feb. 20 to demand that German troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan.

Following a rally at Bebel Square, they marched past the Brandenburg Gate to the Reichstag or German Federal Parliament, where they laid down their placards.

Among the demands displayed were “Afghanistan for the Afghans, Troops Out” and on the big banner of the Left Party, “German Army out of Afghanistan.”

— Report and photo by Gabriele Senft





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[chebol]

Entire Die Linke delegation expelled from Bundestag over anti-war protest:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/grossman280210.html
http://www.youtube.com/user/linksfraktion#p/a/u/0/WDTcL2_SUO4
http://www.linksfraktion.de/

[Communist]

.
A Bit of Bustle in the Bundestag (http://www.zcommunications.org/a-bit-of-bustle-in-the-bundestag-by-victor-grossman)

Victor Grossman
Berlin
February 2010


There was unusual excitement in the otherwise so
dignified Bundestag on Friday, February 25th. Of
course, everyone knew the Afghanistan extension bill
would pass. The ruling parties, Angela Merkel's
Christian Democrats and their rightwing Free Democrat
(FDP) partners, had a majority. Add on the Social
Democrats. True, they were now in the opposition, but
in such questions a very loyal opposition. After all,
sending troops and planes to Afghanistan had begun when
they headed the government. Their slogan at the time:
Germany's security must be defended at the Hindu Kush
mountains. As for the Greens, they had also been in the
government then and were thus equally responsible for
doing battle 3000 miles away, in renewed defiance of
the German constitution restricting the armed forces to
the home country. But many had become uneasy. How would
it go?

The planned extension, for one year, meant sending 800
more troops, thus raising the number of Germans in
uniform to 5350, fewer than US generals had called for,
and still limited to northern Afghanistan. But it
involved many more thousands at home and abroad, cost
billions, and represented one more precedent for using
militarily force in far-off lands with deaths and
injuries for Germans and Afghans. Where and when would
it end? What new countries would require troops to
either defend freedom, or women's rights, or democracy
or, less publicly, strategic and economic advantages
and prestige for military brass hats only too eager to
show their mettle, test their weapons, and win some
bright new medals in the long tradition many of them
clearly admired.

Despite the obvious odds, the fight against the
extension seemed important to its opponents. One tragic
event strengthened their resolve. On September 4th last
year, near Kunduz, a German colonel ordered the bombing
of two gasoline filled tank trucks seized by Taliban
forces but then mired in the sand at a river crossing.
The colonel called in an American plane to bomb the
trucks without the usual warning for the people
clustered near the trucks. The explosion killed over
140 people, many of them civilians, not a few of them
children. The military and then the government tried
to cover up the extent of this disaster, but item by
item it leaked out to the public.

A majority of Germans had not been convinced by the
media that their troops in Afghanistan were beneficial
to anyone or were helping to keep terrorists out of
Germany. On the contrary, they heightened the danger.
The Kabul government was viewed as corrupt, the war
lords powerful. Dead and wounded German soldiers,
though not yet numerous, increased the doubts, and the
disaster at Kunduz helped explain why about 70 percent
in Germany wanted out. Those circulating petitions
against the war found almost no one supporting it.

On February 20th, a week before the vote, people came
to Berlin from all over Germany to demand a No vote.
More had been expected - a strong mobilization a week
earlier had successfully prevented a Nazi march in
Dresden to there but had cost immense energy among left
wingers and many were simply tired out. It was a good
march all the same, it was generally agreed, with
people from a wide variety of organizations bringing
lots of color to wintry Unter den Linden boulevard, the
Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building. The big
news that day was that the Labor Party in the
Netherlands, its Social Democratic party, had quit the
government in protest at keeping Dutch troops in
Afghanistan. Could that win over some in the
equivalent German party, despite its leaders? And what
about the Greens? The pressure from their anti-war
grass roots was always strong.

The debate started with a bang. The entire fraction of
Die Linke, the Left Party, stood up quietly as most of
them unfolded signs, each with the black-bordered name
of one of the Afghanis killed at Kunduz. Briefly there
was shocked silence, but then the session chairman, a
man from the Christian Democrats, ordered the whole
delegation to leave the chamber, the first time this
has ever happened. They filed out quietly, but they had
stolen the show. This was something the media could not
ignore!

The other parties and the media fumed and scolded. One
leading Social Democrat said the Linke should have
obeyed long-standing rules and stated their views in a
normal speech during the debate. But experience had
shown: the TV news and other media would have quoted an
obligatory half sentence or so and given the rest of
the time to the other parties. In this way the Linke
got scolded and lost its chance to make a speech but
made its point instead. It argued that the lives of
many civilians were worth more than parliamentary
rules.

The chairman, more than aware of popular feelings about
the war, then got the approval of the other parties to
let the Linke come back in to take part in the vote.

This was almost an anti-climax. Two Christian Democrats
had the courage to buck the very strong party
discipline which rules the Bundestag. 226 voted Yes.
Only one FDP man voted No, three abstained, 7 didn't
vote at all, the other 82 voted Yes. As for the Social
Democrats, after the party spokesman dramatically
insisted that the increase was only for one year and
"we'll be watching carefully" 113 ignored the Dutch
rebellion and voted tamely Yes. 16 Social Democrats
had the courage to vote No, 8 abstained, 9 refrained
from voting. This was no big improvement but it was an
improvement.

As for the Greens, 8 voted to extend, 21 voted No, 35
abstained and 4 didn't vote. In other words, they were
split as usual.

As for the Linke: 71, all those who were present, voted
No! This was, after all, a central plank in their
program!

The sum: 429 Yes, 111 No, with 46 abstentions. A better
result than in earlier votes, but in no way
representative of the wishes of the people. Thats
nothing new, but is reflected in the growing
unpopularity of the present government.