Taking to The Streets Across Germany

It was a weekend of protest in Germany, as demonstrators took to the streets to send the German government various messages.

Organizers of the annual Easter Marches against war reported a more active peace movement this year than last, made evident by the thousands who took to the streets Saturday and Sunday in more than 50 German cities. Worker's union leaders had decidedly less people at their marches Friday evening, but warned that they were mere warning shots in the collective bargaining battle facing Germany in the coming weeks.

Germany’s unions are asking for significant wage increases this year, even as the country battles recession. Major unions like IG Metall, representing the country’s metal workers, have asked for increases as high as 6.5 percent over what their workers earn now.

German employers have already balked at the demands, paving the way for a bitter fight in which Chancellor Gerhard Schröder will get squeezed from both sides.

Warning of things to come

By April 12, the few thousand workers that stopped their night shift Friday night to protest will be expanded to about 120,000, according to Germany’s unions. The marches will involve employees from 250 different companies. And those are just what unions call "warning strikes."

Employers are already voicing concern. More than 30,000 jobs are endangered as a result of the warning strikes, Stephan Götzl the head of Bavaria’s Metal and Electronics Industry Association. The strikes would also take their toll on the separate firms and endanger commissions.

The strikes will also burden Schröder, who is facing a tough re-election battle this year. Union leaders have already announced they expect more jobs and a continued social democratic tradition in the job market from their chancellor in the next four years. Schröder will have to listen if he wants to keep his job.

Peaceniks reunite!

The government also faced pressure this past weekend from the peace movement, which organizers said is beginning to wake up after more than a decade of hibernation.

Thousands demonstrated in 50 German cities from Hamburg to Munich to Freiburg on Saturday. The demonstrators called on Schröder’s government to withdraw German soldiers from America’s War on Terror, and reduce military spending.

The marches a tradition in Germany dating back to 1960, when about 1,000 pacifists and demonstrated. The movement grew in numbers each year, reaching high points in the early 1980s, when Germans felt threatened by Pershing Missiles NATO had set up on German soil as part of the Cold War waged with the Soviet Union.

This year’s numbers reflected the downturn the movement has taken since its heyday. Still, organizers said the number of demonstrators was up from the year before.

"This is a sign of the liveliness of the anti-war movement," said Willi van Ooyen, spokesman for the Easter March organizers.

Hesitancy following Sept. 11

It still has a long way to go.

Marches organized following the beginning of US – and German – military involvement in Afghanistan last Fall failed to gain much public support. Peace movement historians said at the time that the confusion and shock of the Sept. 11 attacks had yet to wear off. Many earlier demonstrators also viewed the war against al Qaeda and the Taliban as justified and necessary.

But the weariness of America, and Europe, at war has begun to show. An overwhelming majority of Europeans and their leaders are against US involvement in Iraq. The peace movement has begun to tap into this vein of frustration as well.

How worthwhile it will be could be obvious as early as Monday. Organizers plan major weekend-ending marches in Hamburg, Berlin and Frankfurt.