The attack on Berlin Pride last weekend, in which a van was rammed into the crowd, was first and foremost an attack on queer people, not an attack on "all of us" as mainstream German politicians have claimed. One person was killed and 29 injured, some in life-threatening ways.
Politicians' Hypocrisy
Friedrich Merz, the conservative chancellor, made a statement that Pride-goers should not be intimidated, and that this attack was intended to divide society. Yet this is the same Merz who rejected flying a rainbow flag from the Bundestag during last year's Pride, remarking that "The Bundestag is not a circus tent." Similarly, Karin Prien, federal minister for education and family affairs, called the attack an assault on "the heart of our democracy," months after she banned gender-inclusive language from her ministry and cancelled "diversity" as a funding criterion for democracy projects.
The list of Christian-Democrat hypocrites goes on. The author, Fatma Aydemir, argues that their opportunism is obvious, and that the victims had simply gathered to celebrate visibly and joyfully in Berlin.
What the Queer Community Needs
Aydemir questions whether more policing is the answer. Journalist Mohamed Amjahid, who has researched police violence, says: "Given the amount of police we already have, adding more won’t increase security." Instead, she calls for restoring funding for queer youth organizations like Lambda, which lost government funding due to austerity measures after 36 years.
The attacker, later shot dead by police, was a 21-year-old German citizen born and radicalized in Germany. He had recently participated in a deradicalisation programme. Aydemir argues that the more urgent question is why young men become susceptible to violent extremist ideologies, and how the government can justify cutting prevention funding.
The far-right AfD is exploiting the attack for elections in three federal states, accusing the government of "catastrophic migration politics." But Aydemir notes that the attacker was German, and reducing the discussion to migration misses the point.
Broader Hypocrisy
Aydemir also points out that Christian conservatives and Islamists are similar in their hostility to queerness, differing only in methods. She criticizes a government that courts authoritarians like Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa while claiming to defend democratic values. The state's commitment should be measured by consistency of policy, not rhetorical tools.
