Peace Missive from Freiburg, Germany

 

By Luke Brooks-Shesler

 

Today [August 12] I participated in a Freiburg peace protest, organized by “Frei Sein Freiburg,” or “Be Free Freiburg.” Instead of a peace march, today’s protest was a “peace ride” on bicycles. (See video links at the bottom!)

 

Approximately twenty people gathered in front of Freiburg’s city concert hall at 2pm. Shortly before we met up, a thunder and lightning storm blew over. A protester named Antonio told me that fewer people than usual had turned out because of the storm.

Two protesters, whose names I did not catch, led the peace ride. One of them hauled a speaker on a bicycle trailer, which pumped out German-language peace songs while we were on the go. When we stopped, the lead protester used the speaker and a microphone to give brief speeches that encouraged people to demand peace between Ukraine and Russia before it was too late.

 

Toward the beginning of our route, a man with a shaved head and long beard said that he had heard that I was American. I said yes and we spoke for a few minutes. He had a microphone and a cellphone and I assume that he recorded me. About half-way through our route, he unfurled a banner that said “Antiverschwurbelte Aktion,” which I think means “Anti-conspiracy Campaign.” He had given the impression of being a peace protester but it turned out that he was not.

 

Our route wound through the Freiburg Altstadt, the “old city center,” which was packed with people. Two police officers on motorcycles escorted us. The protesters told me that they were grateful for the police officers. Indeed, at one point when we were stopped at a red light, a middle-aged man accosted the two lead protesters. He physically blocked a protester from proceeding through the intersection when the light turned green. He got in the protester's face and chest-bumped him repeatedly. Another protester signaled to a police officer, who resolved the situation so that the protest could proceed. After the peace ride, a protester named Johannes told me that physical altercations, like the one at the traffic light, were rare. 

 

 

 

When we stopped at the main intersection in the center of Freiburg’s pedestrian zone, a woman spoke to a protester aggressively. I could not understand her, but I pulled out my phone to record her. When she saw me recording, she approached me, told me to stop filming and called me an idiot. She followed us for a couple more stops.

 

Our peace ride lasted approximately one and a half hours. We must have passed hundreds of people, many of whom were seated outdoors at restaurants located on cobblestone pedestrian squares. Most people looked at us impassively, perhaps annoyed by the lead protester’s speech that reverberated off the buildings. Maybe ten or fifteen percent of people waved to us in support.

 

Among the Freiburg protestors, I sensed despair and disbelief that so many people in their personal lives and in society at large support the war in Ukraine. A protester told me that she simply cannot understand how her children and so many of her friends support the war. She said that she feels like there are taboo topics, such as this war, that we are not allowed to discuss.

 

I asked a protester if he believed that the USA blew up the Nord Stream pipelines, and he told me that of course the USA did that.

 

That was a summary of my first peace protest in Freiburg. On Sunday, August 13, 2023, I’ll be attending a “peace picnic” in a park in Freiburg.

 

Footage of riding through Freiburg: https://youtu.be/rAjK9yNuh7k (The video is wobbly because I was filming while riding my bike over cobblestone streets!)

Footage of the peace speech at one of the stops: https://youtu.be/8yewNAZcZMo (The red sign on her bike says “Peace is the way!”)

~ Luke lives in Waterville, Maine and is with his family in Freiburg for the next year.