Hanfparade2005 | Slogan 2005

Slogan 2005

One of the most difficult questions every year is the one about a new slogan.

Not only should it be appealing to as many of the more than 5 Million German hemp-sympathizers, but it also should transport a clear message. It should clarify to a broad audience the prejudices, dangers, and legal problems of those who chose hemp. And it should adress some of the many contradictions and misunderstandings so obvious throughout our society.

So YOU can find yourself in the slogan of the next Hanfparade, we asked you to tell us your ideas and to vote for the propositions.

Well, the decision has been made: Following the historical call "We are the people!", on the 13th of August 2005, the centenary of the contsruction of the Berlin Wall, we proclaim:

In 1989 the German Democratic Republic went through a peaceful revolution. In the months before, in the very beginning, just a few thousand people met in churches to silently express their discontent. Only little later the churches were overcrowded and the people started to gather in the streets of their cities all over the GDR for the "Monday Demonstrations".

The movement consisted of people of all ages and all professions. Very different characters were united by the wish for more freedom and an end of the daily injustice they experienced. For many of them it was hard to clearly speak out their rage and disgust, as they had been taught to stay "inconspicous" to stay out of trouble with the authorities.

Nobody can really say where and when the process started. It went for months, until at some point the silent masses found their voices again and they began to rise: "We are the people!". This slogan went around the world when the wall fell in November 1989 and with it the whole Eastern Bloc in Europe. It had to surrender to the pressure of the people in the streets.

On the 13th of August 2005, exactly 34 years after the beginning of the construction of the wall around Berlin, the Hanfparade moves through the streets of this city again. "Wir sind das Hanf!" ("We are the hemp!") shall be a slogan to pick up this chapter of history and show its parallels to the situation of hemp-activists and hemp-consumers today. They, too, live in daily fear of legal prosecution, they experience hassles and injustice, social trouble, or even the loss of their job when it comes to hemp and its usage. We need to unite to our "Monday Demonstration" once a year and show our discontent with this legal grievance! Without legalization information becomes difficult and without information a sensible and reasonable application is very improbable.

The German and most of the European Drug laws are characterized by missinformation and prejudice instead of facts and open disussion. The Hanfparade Association strives for a rational and reasonable legal framework which accepts hemp as a ressource, medical drug, and stimulant. Stop legal arbitrariness - stop hemp prohibition!

Support us in our efforts for better drug politics! Help us to make the Hanfparade2005 a big, colorful, and powerful political event! Only those who rise will be seen, only those who speak up will be heard!