EASTER MARCH IN
GERMANY PROTESTS VIETNAM WAR
Frankfort
In spite of pessimistic forecasts, even in left circles, over the chances of building the Easter March movement up to the level achieved last year, the turnout this year proved to be even larger. More than 150,000 persons participated in one way or another in the campaign for disarmament and against the war in Vietnan.
The appeal for the march was signed by more than 15,000 persons, including 1,507 teachers, 1,416 clergymen, 1,378 trade-union militants, 1,008 representatives of youth and student organizations, 981 artists, 577 writers and journalists and 486 professors and scientists.
New devices were tried in order to reach the maximum number of people. Besides 11 marches in various cities there were 20 mass meetings, 200 rallies and various actions like “Hyde Park" discussions and doorbell ringing to collect money in homes for the antiwar struggle.
A leaflet denounced the war against Vietnam “by the huge military machine of the biggest industrial country in the world against a small nation fighting for bare existence." The leaflet called such a war "genocide." In behalf of peace and the interests of the Vietnamese and American people, the leaflet urged support for the following slogans:
-- Stop bombing north Vietnam.
-- Stop using gas and chemicals.
-- Recognize the Front for National Liberation as the other partner in negotiations.
-- Stop all military activities in south Vietnan.
-- Negotiate on the basis of the Geneva agreement of 1954.
-- Withdraw all foreign troops.
-- Independence and neutrality for Vietnam as a whole.
A declaration was issued at the close of the Easter March. This stressed five points:
(1) The Federal Republic of Germany should stop opposing the treaty for the nonproliferation of atomic weapons.
(2) In the face of an economic and financial crisis, the federal government increased the military budget by two billion deutsche marks $500 million]. But only by reducing the military budget can the government make credible its proclaimed policy of peace.
(3) The campaign for further "emergency" laws should be given up and the laws of this kind already passed should be repealed. The passage of laws in anticipation of total war, coupled with the militarization of society through these same laws, is incompatible with a policy of peace.
(4) Military. disengagement in Europe can be achieved only by negotiating with all European countries. In accordance with the real situation, the Bonn government should represent the Federal Republic, and the East Berlin government the German Democratic Republic. Bonn should drop its claim to represent Germany as a whole.
(5) The Federal Republic should stop backing the U.S. war against the Vietnamese people. Our claim to freedom is invalid unless we are also for the freedom of the Vietnamese people, who are fighting for their freedom against the USA.
A particularly impressive speech was given by Dr. Martin Niemoller, the former U-boat commander in World War I who became a Protestant clergyman and was held in a concentration camp for many years under Hitler. Recently returned from a visit with Ho Chi Minh, Dr. Niemoller told a crowd of some 10,000 in Frankfort: "The American government declares it can't afford to lose face in Vietnam. Let them look in a mirror to see how much face is left. I learned in Southeast Asia that the U.S. loses face with each day the war in Vietnam continues."
Even more than last year, the main theme of the Easter March was the fight against the U.S. war of aggression in Vietnam. Thousands of young people joined the movement this year for the first time. In Berlin and other cities, some clashes with the police occurred and some arrests were made but in general even the forces of "law and order" did not intervene in a brutal way and some of them even seemed to sympathize with the marchers.
The international character of the march was underlined by the participation of thousands of foreign workers and students from Italy, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Yugoslavia and Iran. Delegations were present from Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, France, Italy, Great Britain, the United States, Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Two members of the British parliament were present (Frank Allaun and Stanley Orme).
MARK LANE