On Saturday, May 18, the Socialist Equality Party (Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, SGP) in Germany will hold the central meeting of its European election campaign in Berlin.
Candidates and leading representatives of the SGP and its European sister parties will speak on the fight against militarism, war, nationalism and the rise of the extreme right, the defence of democratic and social rights, and the perspective of the United Socialist States of Europe.
Prior to the meeting, the SGP will hold a rally in front of the British Embassy in Berlin at 11:00 a.m. to demand the freedom of Julian Assange. Both the founder of WikiLeaks and US whistleblower Chelsea Manning are being persecuted for exposing the war crimes of the ruling elite. Assange’s arrest in London and his threatened extradition to the US represent an attack on the democratic rights of all. At the rally, speakers from around the world will take a stand against militarism and war and for freedom of expression.
At the central meeting, which starts at 3:00 p.m. at the Alte Feuerwache in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Peter Schwarz will address the acute danger of war against Iran and explain why only an international socialist movement of the working class against both European and American militarism can counter the danger of a Third World War. Schwarz is a leading member of the SGP and editor of the WSWS in German.
Chris Marsden, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in the UK, will speak in defence of Julian Assange and the importance of the current international campaign to defend the democratic rights of the working class.
Alex Lantier, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in France, will address the “yellow vest” movement and its significance for the international class struggle.
Christoph Vandreier, the SGP’s leading candidate in the European election and author of Why Are They Back? Historical Falsification, Political Conspiracy and the Return of Fascism in Germany, will explain why the far right is on the rise in Germany and Europe and why the struggle against such forces requires the building of a socialist movement in the working class.
The last speaker, SGP national secretary and European election candidate Ulrich Rippert, will explain why the struggle for socialism requires a thorough knowledge of the strategic experiences of the working-class movement over the past century—knowledge embodied in the history of the International Committee of the Fourth International.
The ICFI has carried out a decades-long defence of the perspective of world socialist revolution against Stalinism, social democracy and numerous pseudo-left currents. This has laid the foundation for politically arming the new generation of workers now being drawn into social and political struggles and for the building of the Fourth International as the new mass socialist party of the working class.
Rally in defence of Julian Assange
Saturday, May 18, 2019, 11:00 a.m.
British Embassy
Wilhelmstraße 70/71
10117 Berlin
SGP central election meeting
Saturday, May 18, 2019, 3:00 p.m.Alte Feuerwache
Axel-Springer-Straße 40/41
10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg