The train station fire still lingers as we look ahead to another month of drought and our gathering is once again massively disrupted by the police and public order office at great expense and under the pretext of personal protection.
We recognize that the last year and a half can best be described as the story of a collision of two worlds. With potential for explosion. The attacks on the train station, which culminated in its burning down, the conflict site forest occupation, hotly debated and contested, yet sign of a political stalemate. The constant police presence and harassment, as an unwelcome consequence.
We see the need in the people for tranquility and social peace, yet vehemently oppose a mere “business as usual”. We want to change something positive in this region, to advance the confrontation with our destructive political and economic system and to create self-organized, alternative ways of living. We’ve made our point, persisting through the winter and the eviction to our position that we need to build sustainable solutions, rather than a new highway. But in the current moment, building bridges is just as bitterly needed. We don’t want to get “stuck” but to be part of a healing process that creates something positive out of a polarized situation. The forest occupation has always been a means of protest; as a place of political gathering, it must overcome its isolation.
Therefore, we strive for a transformation of the forest occupation.
In this context we refer to statements of the district administrator Patrick Puhlmann, who also asked the question what the forest occupants expect in return to leave the forest. We will not leave the forest, we want to transform it. This means that people will no longer be there permanently, but the place will remain in a different form.
In order to accomplish this process, we only expect the authorities not to put obstacles in the way of our efforts and to hinder the process through repression, unfulfillable regulations or bureaucratic hurdles.
We can imagine withdrawing from the forest in order not to further burden both the ecosystem and the social structure of the region. We want to respond consistently to the situation. In this way, we want to prevent further fires.
We are currently working out various scenarios for what could happen to the Moni. We do not want to make a final commitment yet.
Because one thing is certain, we will continue to engage ourselves in the region, against the highway and for the good life away from capitalism, patriarchy, domination and environmental destruction. For this we want to put our focus on other projects, such as the gradual reconstruction of the train station Seehausen. This is not an end but it can be the beginning of a new stage.
We want to promote mutual understanding and tolerance with the inhabitants of the region, unless they are fascists, (neo-)Nazis, AfD and their followers. In this case, our fullest rejection still applies!