Towards the end of the year, the government announced plans to introduce even more drastic austerity measures, on the recommendation of international institutions such as the IMF. Working people have already been massively hit by all sorts of cuts and the commercialization and privatization of many social services. This has all cut financing from the public sector, adding additional costs for the use of basic services such as health care and education, making them unaccessible for large portions of society.
Added to this are new plans to reform the pension system, which would raise the retirement age to 67 and eliminate early retirement options for different categories of workers. ZSP has announced it's intention to campaign against these changes and will make this issue one of the central themes of the demonstration.
We also expect to have a block of tenants activists on that day as it will mark an important point in the struggle for public housing and against evictions. Legislation allowing evictions into the street was rushed through the Parliament in a shady way right before elections and on March 31, the „protection period” runs out. The ZSP, together with the Tenants' Defense Committee, have been physically blocking evictions, organizing direct actions and have vowed to help people access unused housing in case they are homeless.
March 31 is also the 5th anniversary of the founding of the ZSP. In connection with this, we will be organizing a series of events on that weekend.
On this date there will also be mobilizations in other cities against the policies of social cuts and capitalism in general. Among them will be a demonstration and other actions organized by our sister organization, the FAU and other libertarian organizations in Frankfurt/Main.