+++ One year of Pegida will meet resistance + strategy conference still this year + How will Dresden react to Pegida? +++

Last Sunday, the alliance „Nazifrei! Dresden stellt sich quer“ (Dresden Nazifrei) used one of its alliance plenums to debate its future strategy against the recently growing numbers of Pegida demonstrators. The previous position on Pegida was critically examined and key points of a new approach in how to protest against Pegida were developed. As is customary, this happened in accordance with the principle of unanimous vote of the structures and individuals present.

Speaker of the alliance, Silvio Lang, explains: “The renewed growth of Pegidas numbers as well as the prospect of Pegida bothering Dresden for going on a year now caused us to reevaluate our previous alliance position. In April, following a period of inner radicalization, which went hand-in-hand with a decrease in numbers of their weekly rallies, Pegida was clearly on the descent. It was our aim not to interfere with this development (which even the visit of the Dutch right-wing populist and racist Geert Wilders could not stop) by providing Pegida with attention it otherwise wouldn’t have been able to generate. For some time, this strategy worked quite well: All through the summer, virtually no one took notice of Pegidas “strolls”, which took place first weekly, then biweekly, later moving from city to city. Since some time, however, the refugee crisis and the ever growing problems of adequately housing asylum seekers provided Pegida with growing numbers again. A development, which is ultimately attributable to the calculate failure of the saxonian government.

The alliance has decided to take part in a protest on the occasion of one year of Pegida-demonstrations. Any support from stakeholders from within Dresden or farther away are welcome to participate. Against Pegida, a broad consensus of protest by civil society is necessary.

“At the same time,” Lang continued, “radically new ideas are required. We need to come to terms with the fact that we managed to mobilize similar numbers as Pegida only on a few occasions during the entire Winter of 2014 – in stark contrast to the rest of Germany. This is why we will use the last months of 2015 to conduct a strategy conference in order to develop a comprehensive, long-term strategy of the entirety of the dedicated Dresdner civil society against Pegida and the associated phenomena of xenophobic attacks. To that end, we will approach other stakeholders in advance to jointly conduct the conference.”

In closing, the speaker of the alliance noted: “After a year of racist demonstrations on the streets of this city, the time has come for Dresden and its residents to show their true colors: Do they want to continue to project an image of a city that is open to right-winger and in which convicted criminals and racists can do whatever they want? Or do the hitherto silent masses rise and dedicate themselves to a society marked by a spirit of welcome and a clear rejection of racist propaganda? In short: Will Dresden continue to stand primarily for Pegida and attacks on asylum seekers? We will pose this question – and Dresden will have to answer.”