Marching for Peace

For the organizers of the Easter marches, times of crisis are good times. Military conflicts always lead to a higher turnout at the Easter-time peace demonstrations.

This year, the war in Afghanistan has revived pacifist sentiments among many Germans, as have the latest U.S. nuclear plans and the threat of a military strike against Iraq.

But marchers this year aren't just voicing their dissatisfaction with military campaigns and ideologies. They are also shouting out their protest against globalization and racism. And on their banners they are demanding more environmental protection and the integration of foreigners into German society.

"War is Terror"

Willi van Ooyen, spokesman for the committee coordinating the Easter marches, demanded Germany's armed forces should withdraw from the U.S.-led War Against Terror. "War itself is terror," van Ooyen said in Frankfurt. He added that the civilian population was hardest hit by this war.

Instead of "unconditional solidarity with the U.S. policy of war", the German government should aim to de-escalate and defuse the situation, van Ooyen said. Political problems could only be solved by political means.

The Easter march organizers criticized Germany for cutting social security benefits and at the same time increasing military spending. They claimed that Germany was in the midst of the biggest military buildup since the Cold War.

Born in Britain

The idea of the Easter Marches was born at the onset of the Cold War in Great Britain. In the 1950s, the philosopher Bertrand Russell started the Easter march campaign, demonstrating for nuclear disarmament. Since then, people in a number of countries have demonstrated for peace over the Easter holidays.

Germany saw the first Easter Marches in 1960. In that first year, only some 1,000 people took part in the demonstrations. Most of them were pacifists with a religious background.

But that changed as the 1960s unfolded – and with them the Cold War. In the following years, the Easter Marches got bigger and bigger. By 1968, some 300,000 people participated.

And as the students' movement gained in force towards the end of that decade, the Easter Marches became more political and more radical. Communist organizations began pulling the strings behind the scenes of the marches. From the 1970s, this deterred more and more people from taking part. They didn't want to demonstrate for a just cause taken hostage by the wrong people.

1980s peace movement

In the early 1980s, the Easter Marchers were back in. NATO had decided to station new Pershing II and cruise missiles on German soil. They were deployed to counterbalance Russian SS-20 missiles. But many Germans perceived NATO's step as a military threat. A massive wave of pacifist sentiment swept the country. In 1983, some 700,000 demonstrators took part in Easter Marches all across Germany.

With the end of the Cold War at the end of the 1980s, the peace movement also lost its driving force.

In recent years, military campaigns like the Gulf War and the Balkan wars only mobilized much smaller numbers of demonstrators.

Demonstrations across the nation

This year, the first German Easter Marches got under way on Thursday. But the main activities are scheduled for the Easter weekend. On Good Friday, cyclists started on a three-day bike tour for peace. It will take them from the eastern German city of Leipzig to Pirna and Sebnitz.

In western Germany's Ruhr region, Easter marchers are out both on bike and on foot. The route of their demonstration is taking them from Duisburg via Düsseldorf and Essen to Dortmund.

In Berlin, protesters are planning a number of events to show their opposition to global military campaigns and the U.S.-led War Against Terror. A large demonstration is scheduled for Monday.

The organizers have published a so-called "Berlin Resolution", titled "We're saying no to military campaigns worldwide".

But some of the demands the pacifists are putting forth in their resolution may just be a bit too idealistic to carry much weight.

Berlin's Easter marchers are calling for the immediate stop of all arms production, for an end to all arms exports and for world-wide solidarity instead of permanent war.