City says Zamanand organiser alone decided to exclude Munich peace group from festival

Munich's Department of Climate and Environmental Protection says the decision to bar the Munich branch of the German Peace Society – United War Resisters (DFG-VK München) from the Zamanand festival on Ludwigstraße was taken by the festival's organiser alone, and that the city department does not influence the programme. The statement came in a reply to a query from Die Linke councillors Arif Haidary, Katharina Horn, Stefan Jagel, Liliana Parente and Christian Schwarzenberger.

The group had wanted to run an information stand on disarmament and conscientious objection at the festival on 20 and 21 June 2026. According to the councillors, the organiser refused, saying it examines content "particularly carefully" when it touches on "sensitive political conflicts or antisemitism". The councillors said the background was an August 2025 query from the CSU group on the city council, which accused the DFG-VK of antisemitism over a postcard reading "Arms deliveries to Israel? Not in my name". The DFG-VK rejected the accusation in a detailed statement on 13 August 2025, and the query was not pursued further.

The councillors said the organiser has since stated in writing that it does not equate pacifism with antisemitism, but has upheld the exclusion and referred to last year's query. The DFG-VK says it has taken part in the Zamanand and earlier Streetlife festival for more than ten years without any security-related incident, and that police checked its leaflets several times without objection.

In its answer, the department said it is a co-organiser of Zamanand, but does not fund the festival. As co-organiser, no administrative fees are charged for the permit and the city's Building Department does not charge for road signage. As with any event judged to be largely in the public interest, no special use fees are charged and the city provides vehicle barriers free of charge. Under council decisions from 2012 and 2016, the District Administration Department is instructed to approve the event twice a year. Zamanand takes place on Ludwigstraße between the Siegestor and the square in front of the Feldherrnhalle, including Professor-Huber-Platz and Geschwister-Scholl-Platz.

The festival is run by Zamanand gUG. Separately, the company currently receives project funding from the department for an educational project, the "En-ROADS climate simulator", which shows the effects of different climate protection measures and is presented at the festival, among other places. The department said this funding does not amount to support for the festival itself.

The department said it knew the DFG-VK had not been admitted to the June 2026 event, but that the decision was made by the organiser within its own responsibility. It added that, for events the city supports but does not organise, responsibility for the programme lies solely with the organisers.