On repression
„I would rather die a lion than live the life of a dog“ – on the
repression against the 2nd international exchange against military
service and for the refusal of all militarism in Hamburg
„I’d rather die a lion…“ With these words, Emma Goldman in 1917
confronted the globally spreading militarism and spoke up against
conscription. More than a hundred years later, we are facing another
episode of massive militarization, hand in hand with new and ongoing wars and genocides.
Last weekend, 14th–16th November 2025, anarchists from different countries met for the second time for an international exchange to analyze, debate, and develop anti-militarist struggles. Contributions in person, via video, and in writing from comrades in the UK, Greece, Israel/Palestine, Italy, France, Finland, and Germany were presented. As we can easily understand, the enemies of freedom and their dogs are surely not fond of an international moment like this. Besides surveillance around our meeting, we want to make one incident known:
On Friday night, a group of five anarchist comrades arriving at the
airport of Hamburg, coming from Milan, Italy, were stopped by the German federal police right after leaving the plane. They were controlled, and later on, the dogs in uniforms tried to interrogate them, asking about the meeting and general questions regarding their anarchist activities.
After accepting the non-cooperation of our comrades and some hours of waiting, it became clear that they would be denied entry after §6. After a night in the police station, the federal police altered the reservation of their return flight and changed it to a morning flight.
Their papers were given to the captain, and they were sent back to
Italy, where the Italian police welcomed them and released them
afterward.
In the papers given to our comrades, the exchange against military
service and for the refusal of all militarism from last year was given
as the excuse for the repression. It was stated that a wild demo
occurred during the days of last year’s meeting, in which a banner was carried saying „Against militarism, no army,“ an office of the SPD
(Social Democrats) was smashed, the street blocked, slogans were
sprayed, and arriving cops were attacked.
We understand this repression as a message towards our international anti-militarist initiative, and we send our solidarity to the comrades who were stopped and denied entry and with this, also the participation in the meeting. Our struggles will not be stopped by their laws and borders, nor by those, in uniforms or without, who defend a system profiting from wars and genocides worldwide. With the upcoming struggles against militarization and the re-introduction of military service, more repression is expected. We have already heard of pupils being repressed
for resisting military propaganda in their schools.
We want to send, with these words, also our solidarity to the anarchist comrade Stecco in Italy, who joined the hunger strike of the initiative of prisoners for Palestine.
Freedom for all prisoners! Against all militarism!
Hamburg, November 2025
A few more words about the incident:
A sign of the times worth reporting
Although the following news may seem minor, we feel it’s important to report it, as it could be a significant indicator of the current
climate. On November 14th, several comrades (five to be precise) flew from Italy to Hamburg, Germany, where a three-day antimilitarist discussion was taking place. Arriving at the airport in Hamburg, they found themselves surrounded by about twenty police officers and then taken separately to a police station. Once there, they were taken to various offices and subjected to special interrogations. The questions went something like this: “Are you aware that there will be an anarchist demonstration in this city this weekend?”, “Are you part of any anarchist or far-left group?”, “Have you ever broken the law in Germany?”, etc. Once the farce was over, and the comrades’ “non-cooperation” was confirmed, they were held in custody overnight inside the station. They were then informed that they would not be welcome in the country and would be expelled (apparently based also on instructions from the Italian government). At dawn, the comrades were escorted, again separately, back to the airport, and then taken to a plane with a ticket to Italy already prepared. There, still inside the plane, they were picked up by the Italian police and then released (it’s
ironic that the police were wondering what explanations they would have to give to the Foreign Ministry). Regardless of whether this “operation” (as the German police called it) was legally valid or not, the relevant fact is that those detained were given no legal justification other than “being a threat to the state.” A sign of the times?
Un segno dei tempi che vale la pena raccontare
Seppure la notizia che segue possa apparire di lieve entità, ci sembra
importante riportarla, poiché potrebbe essere un sintomo non del tutto indifferente dell’aria che tira. il 14 novembre alcuni compagni e alcune compagne (cinque per la precisione) hanno preso un aereo dall’Italia per recarsi ad Amburgo, in Germania, dove si è svolta una tre giorni di discussione antimilitarista. Arrivati all’aeroporto della suddetta città, si sono ritrovati circondati da una ventina di poliziotti e poi condotti separatamente ad una stazione di polizia. Una volta lì, sono stati portati in diversi uffici e sottoposti a particolari
interrogatori.
Le domande erano più o meno di questo tenore: “Sei a
conoscenza del fatto che durante questo finesettimana ci sarà una
manifestazione anarchica in questa città?”, “Fai parte di qualche gruppo anarchico o di estrema sinistra?”, “Hai mai violato la legge in
Germania?” etc. Finita la farsa, ed attestata la “non collaborazione”
dei compagni e delle compagne, questi ultimi sono stati tenuti in
custodia per l’intera notte all’interno della stazione. Sono stati messi
poi al corrente del fatto che non sarebbero stati i benvenuti nello
Stato e sarebbero stati espulsi (a quanto pare sulla base anche di
indicazioni da parte del governo italiano). All’alba i compagni sono
stati scortati, sempre separatamente, nuovamente all’aeroporto, per poi essere portati fino all’interno di un aereo con un biglietto già pronto per l’Italia. Qui, sempre all’interno dell’aereo, sono stati prelevati dalla polizia italiana e poi rilasciati (ironico il fatto che
quest’ultima si chiedesse quali spiegazioni avrebbe dovuto dare alla
Farnesina).
Al di là del fatto che tale “operazione” (così definita
dalla polizia tedesca) possa essere legalmente valida o meno, il dato
che ci sembra rilevante è che ai fermati non è stata data alcuna
motivazione giuridica se non il fatto di essere “una minaccia per lo
Stato”. Un segno dei tempi?