Saturday 22 June, the Red League (Roter Bund) organized a street party in Bremerhaven's Goethe district. Thanks to the lively participation of the neighborhood's residents, the festival was successfully held jointly with the residents and quite a few of them actively lent a hand.

At a food and drink stand, there were homemade waffles and a hot meal prepared with the help of local residents. At an information stand, issues of the Rote Post and Klassenstandpunkt were available to buy and leaflets with the multilingual appeal for the street party were on display. These included demands such as “Against the lack of daycare places!”, “Against the closure of the Ameos clinic in Bremerhaven!” and “Against police arbitrariness in the Goethe district!”.

Through various progressive, folk and anti-imperialist music in different languages – mainly Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbian and Arabic – as well as cultural contributions from neighbors in the form of guitar and singing, a good atmosphere was ensured throughout. The music was also used to dance collective folk dances. Over a waffle and coke, the residents were able to exchange ideas and network, as well as discuss the political situation in the neighborhood – but also internationally, especially with regard to Palestine.

Flags of the Palestinian National Resistance Front, as well as red flags and banners with various slogans adorned the stands and the street. One of the banners was dedicated to June 19, the Day of Heroism, which had its anniversary for the 38th time last Wednesday – “Long live the Day of Heroism! Glory to the fallen Heroes of the Revolution!”. In addition, various signs were hung in proletarian-internationalist solidarity with various revolutionary and anti-imperialist struggles around the world, including in Brazil, Mexico, India and Ecuador.

Two other banners and several signs denounced the increasing militarization, especially in view of the fact that Germany's first homeland security company is to conduct a military exercise in Bremerhaven's city centre and port facilities in September, during which more than 70 bourgeois militias in the service of German imperialism want to practice the emergency and play war in the city.

For the families who came with children, there was the opportunity for the little ones to decorate the place with chalk and self-painted pictures, true to the motto “The walls belong to the people!”. The children also painted their own banner with the words “Free Palestine”. It should be noted that both the choice of slogan and the motif of the Palestinian flag on their pictures were the result of the children's own initiative. During games of throw cans, some skills could be practiced at an early age that could be useful later on. The children also had a lot of fun putting up the stickers of the Red League.

Proletarian culture and politics are a thorn in the side of the state, and the authorities have furiously lashed out, trying to prevent this street party. They tried to deny the street party its festival character, allegedly because it was a political gathering – pure mockery, especially after all the recent street festivals of the bourgeois parties during their mobilization for the EU election. The state obviously only wants street parties to be held to lull the masses, not to politicize them and organize them for their interests. Rightly so, did the children feel uncomfortable every time the police drove up.

The visitors and participants were delighted with the festival and the opportunity to be part of it. Some had already gotten to know the Red League at other activities in the area and remember the various demonstrations on May 1 or March 8. There will certainly be more demonstrations and street parties held in Bremerhaven in the future – under the red flag!