March for life

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
March for Life 2012 in Berlin

The March for Life is a demonstration of the rights movement in Berlin . The organizer is the Bundesverband Lebensrecht . It is directed against abortions and practices of euthanasia , stem cell research and pre- implantation diagnostics .

The demonstration took place for the first time in 2002. This was followed by marches in 2004 and 2006. The march has been held annually since 2008. The number of participants in the march has increased over the years; According to the police, 6,000 people took part in 2016. By 2006, the march was named 1000 Crosses for Life .

The march has been accompanied by counter-protests since 2008. Every year, left and left-wing extremist groups call for blockades on anti-abortion demonstrations.

Content and supporters

Content base of the march is that of the Federal Association of the right to life wrote Berlin declaration on the protection of unborn life . The core thesis is that human life and human dignity begin with conception. In this sense, an abortion is a killing of the unborn and should be viewed as a grave injustice. The legislature is required, "to subject the existing abortion laws and practice a thorough and comprehensive review and correction." Other requests include a ban on pre-implantation diagnosis and the criminalization of all forms of assisted suicide ( euthanasia ).

The demonstration, designed as a silent march, begins with a prelude rally in front of the Federal Chancellery and then moves through downtown Berlin. During the demonstration, 1000 white crosses are carried, symbolizing the aborted fetuses that will be mourned during the demonstration. The number of crosses is based on the assumption, which is widespread in the right to life movement , that around 1,000 abortions are performed daily in Germany  . Another visual feature are green balloons and prefabricated signs in the appearance of the organizer. The demonstration ends with an ecumenical service.

The march for life is organized by the Bundesverband Lebensrecht, an association of 14 organizations of the life rights movement in Germany. These include a. Aktion Lebensrecht für Alle eV (ALfA), Christian Democrats for Life eV (CDL), European Doctors' Action in German-speaking countries. V. and the White Cross eV

Individual politicians from the CDU / CSU and the AfD also support the march through participation or greetings. The former chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Volker Kauder, had sent greetings several times. The AfD member of the European Parliament Beatrix von Storch wore the front transparency in 2014 and led the march in 2015 together with Martin Lohmann . Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen , Die Linke and the Working Group of Social Democratic Women take part in the counter-protests in the Alliance for Sexual Self-Determination . The governing mayors of Berlin have regularly supported the counter-protests with greetings since 2014.

The march also receives support from the Catholic Church. In 2014, Pope Francis and Cardinal Reinhard Marx sent greetings. The relationship of the Protestant regional churches to the March for Life is inconsistent. While some Protestant bishops continue to send greetings, he has met with criticism in the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) in recent years. The EKBO emphasizes the "difference in content" to the organizer, the Bundesverband Lebensrecht. This consists mainly in the fact that the church advises pregnant women "openly", while the Federal Association of Right to Live is fundamentally opposed to abortions.

The Frankfurter Rundschau reported that in 2018 again AfD representatives - mobilized via Facebook under the motto “Stay steadfast” by the party association “ Christians in the AfD ” (ChrAfD) - were among the march participants such as their chairman Joachim Kuhs and the Bundestag member Martin Hohmann and Thomas Damson, deputy district chairman of the AfD Mayen-Koblenz. The former deacon, right-wing extremist and Holocaust denier Ralf Löhnert , who also took part in “memorial marches” for Hitler's deputy and war criminal Rudolf Hess in Berlin in 2017 and 2018, was among the participants repeatedly - according to apabiz, “often in the front rows”. Against this background, the Berlin regional bishop Markus Dröge said that the march had been " infiltrated by right-wing populists ", and the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia refused to support the 2018 march in advance. Hartmut Steeb , Secretary General of the German Evangelical Alliance , regretted this; in his estimation, the event was not infiltrated by right-wing populists; you could "not avoid that people also take over our positions in the protection of life who otherwise have positions that you do not like."

criticism

In the book »Germany drives off« Organized «Protection of Life», Christian Fundamentalism and Anti- Feminism from the Anti-Fascist Press Archive and Education Center Berlin (apabiz eV), the march for life is described as the most important public form of action of the right-to-life movement . On the basis of this, the campaigning ability of the right to live movement, especially under the umbrella organization Bundesverband Lebensrecht, becomes clearest. Liberal and reactionary parts of the spectrum stand here, undisputed, side by side on the stage and could proclaim their respective messages.

According to the historian and former federal chairman of pro familia Gisela Notz , the motto “Yes to life - for a Europe without abortion and euthanasia”, under which the March for Life 2011 took place, equates euthanasia, euthanasia, abortion and murder. In particular, she criticizes the rhetoric of the organizers of the marches in various countries. For example, the statements of the Protestant pastor Philipp Vulff, who organizes the French “Marche pour la vie”, or Bryan Kemper from the True Ministries stand , who speaks of the “Abortion Holocaust ”. The international representatives of the right to life movement would relativize it with their references to National Socialism . In her argument, "the woman's right to self-determination about whether she wants to bear a child or not is equated with the Nazi crimes that were fed by the Nazis' ideology of extermination," said Notz.

Critics also point out that the number of abortions claimed by the organizers but not proven (1000 per working day ) differs significantly from the information provided by the Federal Statistical Office (approx. 328 per working day).

Counter-demonstrations

Since 2008 there have been regular protests against the marches for life. In 2014, around a thousand people took part in two counter-demonstrations. The march was repeatedly used by counter-demonstrators and others. a. disturbed by sitting blockages . The protests were organized by the alliance for sexual self-determination and an alliance of feminist and anti- fascist groups. In 2014, a few days before the march, there was a paint attack on the office of the Bundesverband Lebensrecht in Berlin's Herz-Jesu-Kirche . In 2015, around 1,700 people demonstrated against the march and blocked it for the first time for a long time. In 2016, 1,500 people took part in the counter-demonstrations.

Comparable marches

In addition to the March for Life in Berlin, similar demonstrations are regularly held in other cities in Germany. Organized by the Christian fundamentalist group EuroProLife in Munich , Fulda and Münster , organized by the Pius Brotherhood in Freiburg and organized by the Christian Democrats for Life in Annaberg-Buchholz . In Switzerland there has been the march for life since 2010 , in Vienna the march for the family .

Large demonstrations with the same name and thematic focus take place annually in Washington ( March for Life since 1974), San Francisco ( Walk for Life West Coast since 2005), Paris ( Marche pour la vie since 2005), Lima ( Marcha por la vida ) and Warsaw ( Marsz dla Życia i Rodziny since 2006).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thousands of participants in the “March for Life”. rbb , last seen on September 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/klimastreik-in-berlin-hier-wird-am-freitag-fuers-klima-demonstriert/25029874.html
  3. ↑ Berlin Declaration, quoted by Gisela Notz: The new radicality of anti-abortion opponents (2012) p. 49.
  4. ↑ - ( Memento from October 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ A b Anne Wizorek: Because an outcry is not enough . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-596-03066-8 , p. 42 ff .
  6. ↑ Anti- abortionists protest with a silent march . In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 20, 2008.
    Hartwig Hohnsbein: Influence and activities of fundamentalist Christian self-proclaimed life protection organizations . In: Kirsten Achtelik , Familienplanungszentrum Balance (ed.): The new radicalism of anti-abortion opponents in the (inter) national space: Is the sexual self-determination of women in danger today? AG SPAK books , Neu-Ulm 2012, ISBN 978-3-940865-32-8 , p. 31-37, here p. 34 f.
    Oda Lambrecht and Christian Baars: Mission of God's Kingdom: Fundamentalist Christians in Germany . Ch. Links Verlag , Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-512-6 , p. 83 f.
  7. ↑ Supporter list . In: Bundesverband Lebensrecht . Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  8. ↑ a b Controversial “March for Life” - anti-abortion opponents demonstrate in front of the Chancellery , RBB online, September 20, 2014
  9. ^ Demo by anti-abortion opponents: Greetings from the CDU , taz.de from September 22, 2013; accessed on September 28, 2018.
  10. ↑ Strange Alliance March for Life ( Memento from September 29, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), fr-online from September 23, 2018; accessed on September 28, 2018
  11. ↑ Kaja Klapsa: "Welcome culture for babies too" . In: Die Welt , September 19, 2015.
  12. ↑ Gunnar Schupelius: Dröge distances itself from anti-abortionists , BZ , September 18, 2014
  13. ↑ With wooden cross and imperial flag, apabiz.de of September 21, 2018; accessed on September 29, 2018
  14. ↑ Simon Berninger: Strange Alliance Marching for Life ( Memento from September 29, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), fr-online from September 23, 2018; accessed on September 28, 2018
  15. ↑ Eike Sanders, Ulli Jentsch, Felix Hansen: "Germany drifts off". Organized "protection of life", Christian fundamentalism and anti-feminism . Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-89771-121-1 , p. 48 f.
  16. ^ Gisela Notz : Every year again: The marches of the anti-abortionists . In: Kirsten Achtelik , Balance (ed.): The new radicalism of anti-abortion opponents in the (inter) national space: Is the sexual self-determination of women in danger today? AG SPAK books , Neu-Ulm 2012, ISBN 978-3-940865-32-8 , p. 49 ff.
  17. ↑ 99,237 terminations in 2015 based on an assumed average of 302.6 working days; Abortions . Destatis, accessed September 26, 2016.
  18. ↑ Hartwig Hohnsbein: Influence and activities of fundamentalist Christian self-appointed life protection organizations . In: Kirsten Achtelik , Familienplanungszentrum Balance (ed.): The new radicalism of anti-abortion opponents in the (inter) national space: Is the sexual self-determination of women in danger today? AG SPAK books, Neu-Ulm 2012, ISBN 978-3-940865-32-8 , p. 31-37, here p. 34 f.
  19. ^ Oda Lambrecht and Christian Baars: Mission Gottesreich: Fundamentalist Christians in Germany . Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-512-6 , p. 83 f.
  20. ↑ Stefan Lauer: Anti-abortion opponents, fundamentalists, homo-haters . In: Vice , September 22, 2014.
  21. ↑ Call for the March for Life 2009 ( Memento from September 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ Eike Sanders, Ulli Jentsch, Felix Hansen: "Germany drifts off". Organized "protection of life", Christian fundamentalism and anti-feminism . Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-89771-121-1 , p. 50.
  23. ↑ Kristiana Ludwig: Entirely patriarchal worldview , taz , September 21, 2014
  24. ↑ Timo Kather: Activists disturb demo of anti-abortionists , Tagesspiegel , September 20, 2014
  25. ↑ Simon Brost: Living and Loving Without Paternalism , Neues Deutschland , September 20, 2014
  26. ^ Investigations into the attack on the church , BZ , September 25, 2014
  27. ↑ Malene Gürgen: “March for Life” in Berlin: The Bible study does not help. In: taz.de . September 27, 2015, accessed September 28, 2015 .
  28. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: “March for Life” Much counter-protest at the anti-abortion demo in Mitte , September 17, 2016
  29. ↑ Eike Sanders, Ulli Jentsch, Felix Hansen: "Germany drifts off". Organized "protection of life", Christian fundamentalism and antifemism . Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-89771-121-1 , pp. 49, 73.
  30. ↑ Website march for Läbe
  31. ^ Christian demonstration under police protection. Der Bund , September 15, 2016, accessed on September 15, 2016 .