On May 17 our Party responded to an urgent request from the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) and sent a solidarity message to the festival organisers. We congratulate the MLPD and its youth organisation REBELL on their defiance of reactionary authority.
The MLPD has sent fraternal organisations the following report on the anti-fascist, revolutionary festival:

 

 

23.5.18

 

Congratulations for the successful conducting of the 3rd Rebellious Music Festival!

A win on points against the shift to the right and state repression!

We warmly thank you for the international support!

Dear friends,

A great 3rd Rebellious Music Festival in Truckenthal (Thuringia) ended late Sunday night. With about 1,500 mainly young participants it was well attended. The Rebellious Music Festival was attractive through its atmosphere of solidarity and a high cultural level with various music styles, from Rock, Ska and Rap to revolutionary singers and songwriters and the navy choir from Saint Petersburg. Impressive was the self-financed and self-organized conducting with the help of hundreds of volunteers.

In the evening the festival management already took stock very positively at the beginning of the last program block with the slogan “Revolution is not a crime”: “What we achieved here with united forces is a great accomplishment of solidarity, team spirit, resistance and unyieldingness against the attempted criminalization.” said Wanja of the festival management.

We had informed you that the state police inspection Saalfeld and its head Dirk Löther, based on instructions of the state security apparatus and presumably of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, banned the performance of the well-known Turkish music group Grup Yorum. They threatened to disband the entire festival in case this would not be accepted, as well as with preventive detention and confiscations. Here Grup Yorum was only the occasion; basically it was directed against the whole rebellious and revolutionary character of the festival and the core organizations like MLPD and REBELL. Of course the organizers did not accept this. A political counteroffensive was started. Within 24 hours 10,000 flyers were printed, thousands of conversations were conducted, countless solidarity messages from Germany and from the whole world arrived … The opinion leadership in favor of the festival was obtained in the region. On this basis a number of court decisions agreed with the festival organizers. Hundreds of police, who had still surrounded the premises on Friday, had to be withdrawn. All this of course inspired the atmosphere at the festival, and it became a thrilling event! The overwhelming solidarity of democratic forces, immediate international protests and the participation in the festival from at least 17 countries contributed to the great success. Many thanks for this! Gabi Fechtner, Party Chairwoman of the MLPD, said: “Congratulations to all participants. We have seen - we do not have to submit to this shift to the right. But we have to take it seriously. They are preparing for greater oppression. They are militarizing society. We also have to get prepared and get ready for revolutionary times. This is the purpose of the Internationalist Alliance. It already comprises 21 organizations. It has to be further strengthened.”

 

With revolutionary greetings of solidarity,

Monika Gärtner-Engel

CC MLPD responsible person for internationalism