Institutionalisation from below: A testimony from Exposing Zalando

On 10 September 2025, a protest was held in front of Zalando HQ in Berlin against the company’s aggressive repression of Palestine solidarity and its hosting of an Israeli propaganda event by the “Department for Research & Information on Antisemitism” (RIAS). Described as a “shitshow for the company’s management” by an inside source, the protest was widely regarded as a milestone for a campaign that stood out in the Berlin activism ecosystem. While many factors contributed to our campaign’s impact, and many people deserve credit for it, we want to zoom in on one particular aspect that we believe sharply distinguished it from its surroundings: focus. 

The genocide in Gaza is, at this point, the worst crime we have witnessed in our lifetime. Needless to say, the precursors to this crime are countless. From the vilification of Arabs and Muslims in the West after 9/11, to the normalisation of Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, to the gradual codification of anti-democratic measures in the West (such as anti-BDS legislation and what is generally referred to as the “antisemitism bureaucracy” in Germany), the conditions that enabled the Israeli genocide in Gaza were laid meticulously, patiently and systematically over decades. Which is to say: neither we, nor anyone, were ever going to dismantle this entire structure on our own; nor are we meant to. 

Knowing what we were not 

As a group of non-activists -mostly current and former Zalando employees- we decided from the early beginnings on a narrow, concrete and tangible mission: Exposing Zalando’s anti-Palestinian repression and censorship campaign. While this may sound mundane, we attribute whatever success observers have accredited us with, to a strong dedication to this specific goal. This means that understanding what we are is as important as understanding what we are not.   

For example: 

• We are not in the business of convincing people of the righteousness of the Palestinian cause; our target audience is those who already understand it.  

• We are not in the business of raising awareness of the Palestinian plight; many groups and activists are already far better equipped to do that work.  

• We are not in the business of gathering donations to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza; other groups have far greater expertise in pursuing this objective. 

This focus shaped every decision we made throughout the campaign: creative direction, communication style, initiative prioritisation, choice of allies, and our understanding of success itself. For instance, despite Zalando’s internal bureaucracy appearing particularly interested in our Instagram follower count, we rarely paid much attention to it ourselves. 

Another example worth mentioning is that we received numerous leaks from inside Zalando throughout the campaign which, while potentially damaging to the company’s reputation, were not directly connected to the repression of Palestine solidarity. A dedication to our mission meant resisting the temptation of moving off-message by publishing them. 

This attitude by no means comes from a belief that our issue was somehow more important than others. On the contrary, while we understood the strategic relevance of our campaign, we remained very aware of the relatively small — though meaningful — contribution it made to the broader struggle for Palestinian liberation. We speak here of dedication and discipline as keeping our focus was indeed difficult, and at times we did fail to fully uphold our own standards. 

From fragmentation to coordination 

Reflecting on this experience also brought our attention to a broader shift taking place within the Palestine solidarity movement in Berlin from a seemingly fractured and haphazard effort to a better coordinated and aligned movement organised not based on ideology (or political fine print) but general values, shared goals and collective missions. 

We, at ExposingZalando, are a group of unnetworked “outsiders” operating covertly, with little familiarity with activist organising, legal constraints or ideological spectrums within the movement. We therefore rely almost entirely on the existing activism ecosystem in Berlin. What has been particularly useful are groups and organisations whose ideological orientation often mattered far less than the specific expertise, infrastructure or support they put in the service of others. Mission-oriented activist groups, as we are observing, are quickly becoming the backbone of the Palestine solidarity movement. 

For almost everything we needed to succeed in our effort — from the more obvious aspects such as social media dissemination and journalistic contacts, to less intuitive forms of support such as security guidance, safety support, or even flyer printing — we consistently found individuals or groups whose specific focus was to provide this kind of assistance to us and others. Even in areas where we encountered difficulties (e.g. protest organisation or political networking), we are already seeing groups emerging — again, irrespective of ideology — to focus specifically on these gaps and help fill the void. 

We wish to highlight the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) as a prime example of this broader trend. Across many conversations we had with activists and organisers, the ELSC consistently appeared as a key point of reference for legal support and guidance. In the context of the ExposingZalando campaign specifically, navigating issues relating to German speech law, media law, and employment law became significantly more manageable thanks to the pro-activeness, expertise, patience and sustained support of legal workers within the organisation. This feedback is shared widely within the community and while it is a testimony to the effectiveness of the ELSC’s team, it reflects, more broadly, how central these sorts of mission-oriented organisations can be to the wider movement. 

Institutionalisation from below 

The shift we are describing — from ideological cantonisation (which, let’s face it, can sometimes be a catalyst for conflict) toward ideologically heterogeneous, more specialised, focused, mission-oriented groups and forms of collaboration — is what we refer to as the “institutionalisation” of the Palestine solidarity movement in Germany. It is, in a real and practical sense, the reorganisation of the movement into more durable, specialised and coordinated structures aimed at addressing the problems and constraints holding the movement back and actively expanding its capacity and possibilities for action.  

While this process is still in its early stages, we believe it has the potential to significantly reshape the capacity, resilience and strategic depth of Palestine solidarity organising in Germany in ways that we have rarely been seen before.