This Saturday (31 August), the demonstration "Enough is Enough - OPEN YOUR MOUTH" will take place in Berlin. It is directed against the Russian "anti-homosexual law", which criminalises any neutral or positive speech about homosexuality. The consequences of this law have been visible on the internet in recent weeks: Young people being humiliated, tortured and exposed on the internet because of their sexual orientation.
We spoke to Alfonso Pantisano, one of the initiators of the demo.
How did you come up with the idea of organising a demo?
At a games evening with 7 good friends. That was on 31 July. I remember very well how the conversation turned to the developments in Russia. And the video of Barbie Breakout, who sewed her mouth shut in protest in front of the camera. A friend said she would do something immediately if she only knew what. We were all quiet for a while. Then the idea of organising a demonstration came up. We immediately started collecting ideas. For example, the thing with the Coca-Cola logo and the slogan "Don't drink Coke with Putin". We also have the picture on our Facebook page. We spent the rest of the evening collecting ideas. To be honest, when I went to bed at night, I thought that was it. We had our ideas about what to do couldbut nothing more is coming.
But there was more...
Oh yes! The next morning I was sitting in front of my computer. At around 10, a chat window popped up labelled "Russia". A friend had created a group chat and immediately asked the question "Where did we leave off last night?" From then on, we started working on our idea every day. A few days later, our first video was ready, in which we called for a demo. A few days later, we also had it translated into Russian so that friends from Russia could see what we were doing and that they weren't alone.
A few weeks have passed since then, but a lot has happened...
Yes, we made more videos, printed flyers and advertised the demo on Facebook. We got more and more "likes" on Facebook. People have called us from all over Germany wanting to come to the demonstration in Berlin. But it's difficult for us to estimate how many will turn up in the end. We're all just looking forward to Saturday. But we knew from the outset that seven of us would turn up and demonstrate.
Well, there are sure to be a few more. After all, you are now also receiving support from unexpected and prominent people: for example, the English director and actor Stefen Fry has wished you good luck for the demo on Twitter...
Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps again. Honestly. That was a great surprise. He wrote that a signal would go out from Berlin on Saturday and mentioned our demo. That was a great moment.
What about German support? We are in the middle of the German parliamentary election campaign. How do German politicians react to your demo?
We wrote to a lot of politicians. Many of them cancelled with a reason. Which really shocked us a bit: Today we received a cancellation from the office of Governing Mayor Wowereit. Two or three lines, without any explanation. We were and are speechless.
We have asked Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to speak today as a representative of the government. Now with a petition. We are curious to see if there is an answer.
With or without celebrity support: the demo seems to be a big thing. At least you have well over 5000 supporters on Facebook. Where exactly are the participants of the demo supposed to go on Saturday?
So, we're meeting at 12 noon at the corner of Kurfürstendamm and Bleibtreustraße. We will be preceded by a truck with placards with our demands to Putin and the motto of the demonstration. From there, we'll go via Potsdamer Platz, past the Bundestag to the Russian embassy on Unter den Linden.
Isn't there much to do before Saturday? How can I help you if I want to?
Bring rainbow flags! Or make signs saying which city you come from. It would be great to see that demonstrators have come from all parts of Germany. We want to light grave candles in front of the Russian Embassy to show how many Russian lesbians, gays and trans* are affected and threatened by this inhumane law. And of course: Pack your friends and families! So that we can send a clear signal.
