Statement on the "Boycott Siemens, Free Palestine" Demo in Berlin 10.2

At the demo, a few participants distributed leaflets conveying a narrative relativizing the ongoing colonial genocide in Palestine by condemning "both sides," namely the IOF and Hamas, as if this genocide had any symmetry to it and is not in reality the continuation of more than 100 years of imperial occupation, apartheid and settler colonial violence.
 
We explicitly distance ourselves as the organizers from the racist and colonial analysis reproduced in the leaflet. Israel is a settler colonial apartheid state currently in the process of committing genocide in Palestine -- resistance is justified when people are occupied. We also denounce the racism that is reproduced as these flyers were handed out to Arab-read people.
 
At the same time, we were made aware of an incident where a queer flag was stolen by people that were from outside the demo. We stand firmly against any form of queer or transphobia and sexuality- or gender-based violence.
 
We are outraged that our comrades experienced racism as well as anti-queer violence. Our fight is for collective liberation and cannot and should not be divided.  We recognize that as organizers, it is our collective and specific responsibility to reflect, be accountable, and do our best to prevent any discrimination taking place in our future actions.
 
We will continue to educate ourselves, advocate and fight for a world where everyone can live authentically and without fear of discrimination, and where all peoples have self-determination. Learning from what happened, we will take specific care to ensure our actions have an awareness concept that is as intersectional and as strong as possible.
 
These occurrences remind us that we are stronger and much more powerful when we stand together, supporting and uplifting one another on our fight against all systems of oppression, which are fundamentally connected.