German communists call to end sanctions hindering fight against COVID-19 pandemic

The German Communist Party (DKP) initiated a petition on March 26, Thursday, calling for the end of sanctions against Russia, Venezuela and Cuba, to strengthen the fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus

March 27, 2020 by Peoples Dispatch
German communists-COVID-19
DKP chairman Patrik Köbele had earlier called for the immediate termination of US war exercise "Defender 2020", to avoid the risk of conflict and check the uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus.

On March 26, Thursday, chairman of the German Communist Party (DKP) Patrik Köbele initiated a petition calling on the Bundestag (German federal parliament) and the federal government to lift all sanctions that restrict or hinder the global exchange of medical devices, healthcare equipment, medicinal supplies and scientific information.

In the petition, Köbele said that “the sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela, and the Russian Federation hinder the exchange of medicines, aids, and specialists, they are insane in a time of the necessary common fight against the corona pandemic. Cooperation with the People’s Republic of China must also be intensified. In times of ban on contacts, we consider such a petition to be an opportunity to put pressure on the federal government to end this madness.”

Köbele had earlier called for the immediate termination, and not just a “freeze”, of US war exercise “Defender 2020” to avoid the risk of conflict and check the uncontrolled spread of the COVID-19 infection.

Leftist and other progressive sections in Nuremberg had staged a protest at the Nuremberg Airport against the Defender Europe military exercise on March 12. Several organizations including the German Communist Party (DKP), Die Linke (The Left), Socialist German Workers Youth (SDAJ), among others, participated in the protest demanding peace, not war, and disarmament instead of further militarization.

The Nuremberg Airport was a key transit point for troops who would be part of the US-EU joint military exercise DEFENDER-Europe 20. Tens of thousands of US troops, its allies, and warheads were planned to be moved further east through Germany in order to conduct the military exercise in Poland and the Baltic region.