Interview by Amien Essif

On May 18, Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), unveiled his institution’s new headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany before a group of about one hundred guests in what the Deutsche Welle described as a “low-key ceremony.”

That same day, for every one guest at the grand opening, there were over one hundred people in the Frankfurt streets protesting the austerity politics the ECB helps enforce throughout Europe — most severely in Greece.

Organized by Blockupy, an Occupy Wall Street–esque network of organizations that formed in Germany in 2012, the day of action included a blockade of the bank’s new skyscraper, a march of over ten thousand people, and a protest in front of a shopping mall where workers were on strike. It concluded with a pitched battle between blockaders and police, who tried to clear them out with water cannons; protesters set police cars and tire barricades on fire.

The day’s events and photos — depicting Europe’s financial capital suffused with smoke and tear gas — called into question the narrative that Germany is Greece’s opposite, that it’s a country where the euro has accomplished everything promised and has won over every layer of the population.

So what is the state of the German left, especially in relation to the anti-austerity struggles across Europe today? Late last month, journalist Amien Essif spoke with five activists from the German left to explore what it means for Germans to stand in solidarity with the Greek people, the connections between anti-austerity and antiracist struggles, and how to build a movement against the “Europe of capitalism and borders.”

The participants are as follows: