On January 16, 1969, Jan Palach, a young Hungarian student, decides to set himself on fire to protest against the occupation of the soviet arm in Praga and “against the lack of freedom of speech, press and everything else” in Wenceslas Square. After him, at least seven others including students, followed his example and took their own lives in the silence of the media.

I have always wondered what one is willing to give up to support an ideal.

There is a strong beauty when human beings struggle together against the power of a few, against injustice or for rights of all. 

Often this beauty comes from the consciousness and ardor of youth. After months of silent struggle, many are the students and youth who are occupying, creating Peace Camps, protesting around the world in support of the Palestinian cause.

In our highly individualistic society, the ability to believe and the willingness to risk one's life for the life of another represent hope for change. 

After the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, because of the difficulty for international journalists to enter Palestinian territory and to share real news, many Palestinian and pro Palestinian activists have started to share stories from and for Gaza, using social platforms like instagram or Tik-Tok, to denounce. What does it mean to be an activist today? How do they live their daily lives and what moves them? Who are these accused, discriminated and dehumanized activists??

Mohammed, Yasemin, Salah, Khaled, Manar, Nemer, Alaa, Abdullah are part of a group of young activists who have been denouncing violence and discrimination against Palestinians in Berlin for months on the street and online.

 

Mohammed (Mudi), 25 years old, a nurse from Jerusalem who has lived in Berlin for several years, has been followed on several occasions by the criminal police right to his doorstep. Mohammed is one of the most active voice for Palestinian in Berlin, always live at every event for his 35,000 followers.

Many pro-Palestinian activists have been physically attacked by police during peaceful demonstrations, sit-ins or inside protest camps in the last months in Germany. 

Each of these Berliner Activists has been arrested 1 to 50 times each, for many different reasons, often related to publishing content on their profiles defined as “dangerous” or unjustly “anti-semitic”. Pro-Palestinian Activists in Berlin continue to declares of being discriminated, insulted, threatened every day.

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC), an independent legal organization that defends and supports the Palestine solidarity movement, states that between 2017 and 2022 there were 53 incidents in Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom in which individuals, groups, an organizations were accused of anti-Semitism. Most of these accusations of anti-Semitism were dismissed after legal challenge. 

What increase there has been in discrimination from October 7 to the present? Is it expressing one's opinion still an unquestionable right in Germany? Has guilt over the Holocaust influenced the German government´s stances with respect to unconditional support for Netanyahu? Is democracy and freedom of protest peacefully currently in danger in Berlin?