Protests against the German Meat Congress in Mainz

DSome want to use the two-day German Meat Congress, which is taking place until Wednesday in the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz, to exchange ideas, find out more and also think outside the box. The others, a regional alliance of animal and environmental activists, see the industry meeting as a recurring nuisance, which they are defending themselves against with, among other things, an online petition and protest actions on the town hall plateau. Critics argue that the meeting of animal farmers, meat producers and wholesalers is particularly inappropriate for a fair trade city like Mainz, which includes the district groups of Greenpeace and the Federation for Environmental and Nature Conservation, but also initiatives such as Christians and Students for Future the Hummingbird Collective.

Right at the start, some demonstrators rappelled down from the roof of the hall without permission, where they left a banner warning: “Don’t waste the future!” Those attending the event organized by the Conference Group represented an industry based on the “exploitation of people, animals and nature”; which is partly responsible for the climate catastrophe and the extinction of species; and which is primarily about profit maximization and greenwashing.

Petition against renting the rooms

Since the meat industry is “symptomatic of a variety of problems in our society,” its lobby should not be offered a platform in Mainz, where the congress is now being held for the third time. Almost 24,000 critics have signed a corresponding online petition, which, according to the announcement, will be handed over to Manuela Matz (CDU), head of the economic affairs department. It demands that no more rooms be rented to the congress.

In the Rheingoldhalle, where Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (The Greens) was also expected to speak on Tuesday evening, there were many lectures on the program during the day: on topics such as “Attitude matters!”, “Stop meat bashing!”, “The young customer” and “How credible are animal welfare products in discount stores?”.