We are all Doğru!

Owing to the fact that freedom of the press and of opinion are being further restricted by the EU and by Germany, I have revived the song ASSANGE! with a new text and a new video. I had hoped not to have to play the song any more after the release of Julian Assange. Unfortunately the current situation forces me and us to take up the subject once again.

For days now my team and I have been working on the song and the video. There is no time to lose! We did not want to wait any longer and wanted to release „Bist Du Doğru?“ as quickly as possible, precisely now, when this unspeakable, mendacious EU advertising campaign has been launched, invoking how important freedom of the press and of opinion are. All lip service! Hüseyin Doğru has done nothing wrong. No more than Jacques Baud, Thomas Röper or Alina Lipp, who are likewise on the EU’s sanctions list. They all reported freely and independently, contradicting the government narrative, to be sure, but above all making possible a different view of the situation in Palestine and of the war in Ukraine.

This different perspective coincides with the reports of other journalists and, in the case of Palestine, also with the assessment of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, whose accounts in the USA have meanwhile been frozen. The EU’s offensive of exclusion proceeds without any judicial ruling. Hüseyin Doğru and Jacques Baud, who is being detained in Brussels, must now prove their innocence, which is a clear reversal of the burden of proof!

The goal is obvious: critical voices are to be silenced. The means grow ever more insidious, arbitrariness is in high season.

The fourth „Protestnoten“ album, which will be released in October 2026, takes up this theme as well.

The editors of the new book DEUTSCHLAND NEUTRAL! likewise declare their solidarity with the journalists and authors sanctioned by the EU — Jacques Baud, Thomas Röper, Alina Lipp, Hüseyin Doğru and all the others.

It is important to me to point out again and again that artists should always play a role when it comes to the struggle against warmongering.

Here is an excerpt from my contribution „Deutschland neutral? Aber mit Haltung!“

Let us recall the anti-Vietnam-War movement in the USA. The criticism, above all by artists such as Joan Baez, of the imperialist actions of the USA, and the empathy with the immense suffering of the Vietnamese civilian population, carried over to the German student movement. Woodstock! To this day the images of festival-goers dancing in the mud remain in our memory. The opening of the festival with ‚Freedom‘ by Richie Havens is legendary. Jimi Hendrix’s pain-contorted version of the American national anthem became a timeless memorial against war. ‚Love and Peace‘ was the motto! Even then the demand held: demilitarization, an end to imperial campaigns and American claims to hegemonic power. And precisely that still holds today. All the more important that we finally make common cause. The concern for the future of our children has the potential to weld us all together across borders.

Those in charge in the USA know about the looming loss of ‚sole rule‘. The BRICS states are breathing down their necks. Measured by purchasing power parity, they already have a higher gross domestic product than the G7. Turkey, a NATO partner after all, wants to become a member of BRICS – new international alliances are becoming a real threat to the American economy. During a session of the United Nations, the American UN ambassador Mike Waltz made it unmistakably clear that America could not allow enemies of the USA to have control over the largest energy resources. Article 2, paragraph 4 (prohibition of the use of force) of the UN Charter has, at the latest now, after the assault on Venezuela, quite officially ceased to apply. Once again it is the right of the stronger that counts. But even before, Article 2 was practically already suspended. In the last 30 years alone the USA carried out well over 200 international military operations.

If we, the civilian population, want to set something against this, we cannot avoid recalling wise approaches from days past. A neutral Germany could be an important building block. Diplomacy instead of arms exports – quite simple. Everything else has, on the one hand, entangled us in countless armed conflicts and, on the other, severely damaged the friendship with Russia.

Art can play a central role in this process. Tino Eisbrenner has been demonstrating for over 30 years how understanding among peoples can work on a cultural level. He sings for peace at concerts and rallies, performs regularly in Moscow, maintains contacts and talks with people. Instead of condemning him for allegedly spreading Putin propaganda, one should be grateful to him for building bridges and for being celebrated in Russia as an ambassador for peaceful coexistence.

‚Germany neutral‘ must not mean showing no stance. Precisely now, when one has to endure the unconditional solidarity with the state of Israel recited over and over like a mantra, it is more important than ever to speak a clear language and to name the situation in Israel as what it is – an ethnic cleansing of Palestine planned for decades, a genocide against the indigenous population.

But here too every diplomatic path must be pursued, no matter how hopeless a conversation may seem. ‚Lieber 100 Stunden umsonst verhandelt, als eine Minute schießen‘ (Helmut Schmidt).

Everything else dehumanizes us beyond recognition. Peace in Europe is possible only with Russia. Peace in the Middle East is possible only with a liberated Palestine and an Israel in which all people are equal before the law. All of this is possible only with words, never with weapons.

Today European citizens such as Hüseyin Doğru, Nathalie Yamb or Jacques Baud are affected by EU sanctions that deprive them of their livelihoods, and all of this without any court proceedings.

In the USA it is no different. The Trump administration has the green-card holder Mahmoud Khalil imprisoned because he campaigns for a free Palestine. On both sides of the Atlantic, censorship and arbitrariness prevail. The West betrays all the values it has been trying to export to other countries for decades. The Global South shakes its head – Germany has become a laughing stock. It is time for a fresh start!

Bist Du Doğru?