I really feared that this would be a stupid article about how Germany cannot criticise Israel or how they have an obligation to support the eradication of Palestine. But I actually agree with some of the assessment of the dangers.
Yet while artists and writers are cancelled for their alleged antisemitism, real neo-Nazism is on the rise, with the far-right party AfD, Alternative for Germany, winning local elections and mainstream politicians float the idea of doing deals with them.
This is clearly the danger about the whole Antisemitism debate
The Nazis are living their dream right now. They get to incite hate against both Jews and Muslims.
With the latest set of their stances being taken into mainstream politics, mass deportations, limits to the human right of refugee, talks about cultural homogenity, defining the green party as the main enemy, etc. we see a rise of fascist violence against all minorities.
Instead of seeing the danger to democracy our center and right political parties are eager to help them and it is taken conveniently to blame Muslims for antisemitism in German society.
Just two month ago there was a scandal with the vice-prime minister of Bavaria, one of Germanys largest state, who wrote political pamphlets demanding another Holocaust, made antisemitic remarks while visiting a concentration camp and did other Neonazi things as a teenager. Instead of this harming his political career it helped him in the most recent elections. Now the “conservative parties” are all to eager to gloss over the fact that being a straight up Nazi as a teenager and still a xenophobic violent inhumane asshole as an adult, is beneficial to a political career in Germany now.
Me, German:
🔥 This is fine 🔥
I live in Berlin and really want to voice my support for Palestine and an end to the violence but I literally feel afraid to do it.
I support Israel and I think you shouldn’t be afraid. As long as you live in a democracy you should be able to voice your opinion.
“I support the government and I have nothing to fear”
I support Israel, not my government. There is a difference.
To understand my point of view, I simply point to Slavoj zizek
I’m not commenting on your stance on this specific conflict. This article (yes I read the entire article for once) mentions that even Jewish people protesting the bombing of Gaza get arrested in Berlin. The German government does not allow for a serieus discussion on this conflict except for the blind support for Israel. So yes of course you can support Israel in Berlin (and I’m happy that at least that part of free speech and expression is safeguarded) but you should also be allowed to support the freedom of Palestine.
And to add to this, it’s kind of disgusting that the far right gets away with so much here in Germany*, but if the people of Neu Kölln want to express their opinion suddenly everyone is talking about ‘never again’ and ‘Germany has a special responsibility to stand against Antisemitism’.
* the AFD, the entire cluster fuck that was the last election in Bavaria, the multiple reports of thriving far right app groups in the police that openly support racist violence, etc etc
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Thanks for sharing that. Powerful speech from Zizek.
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Very well written. Conveys a strong message.
This is what wrong think looks like, this is what chilling effects are.
Either you are against fascism in all its forms, or you’re a hypocrite. You condemn a terrorist organisation as well as the terrorism committed by a government.
Couldn’t agree more
“Even the mention of the word “Palestine” in Germany risks getting you accused of antisemitism. Any attempt at providing context and sharing facts on the historical background to the conflict is seen as crude justification of Hamas’s terror. Not only have pro-Palestinian rallies been stopped or broken up by police…”
And yet there are thousands on the streets protesting with free-palestine banners. And then another few thousands who shouldn’t be because they mix the same message with anti-semitism.
Sometimes I feel really bad living in a country so rotten that it can at the very same have massive pro-palestinian protests (international voices gloating about those idiot Germans not doing anything against those obvious (and suspiciously German looking) muslim immigrants destroying their country included…) while also suppressing every pro-palestinian voice soemhow… and then I realize that I live in reality and not in that fantasy Germany everyone uses to make stories about to express how Germans are always wrong and stupid.
“Well-meaning people have advised me that voicing this opinion could lead to being disinvited from literary events and festivals, and that my career in Germany – the source of my livelihood for the last two years – might be over.”
That’s okay… you just need to tell your story about those idiot Germans loud enough and you will get a lot of new work opportunities in most of Europe as there is always demand for the latest episode of “Give us this day our daily ‘Germany-bad’”.
I consider her sentiment deeply bizarre as well, since I agree with Düzen Tekkal (a German Human Rights Activist) that it is rather the space for Jewish/Israeli voices that is lacking in Germany.
Long video, where you can see more of her:
SPIEGEL Spitzengespräch - Düzen Tekkal // Michael Wolffsohn (German)
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
When I moved to Berlin, I developed a habit of stopping by the Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones” memorials) and reading about Jewish people who were taken from their homes and transported to the concentration camps.
My family comes from Croatia, and as non-Croats we left the country during the nationalist frenzy of the early 1990s, which the late Dubravka Ugrešić described in her work as the fight for “pure Croatian air”.
Having been persecuted in Croatia since the early 1940s – my grandpa managed to leave the Jasenovac concentration camp alive at the age of 11 – we found ourselves in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
People who lived by our side, sent their children to the same schools, spoke the same language, were now portrayed as non-human, as jihadists who would kill us while we slept, as animals that would pull our teeth out and rape our women.
Yet while artists and writers are cancelled for their alleged antisemitism, real neo-Nazism is on the rise, with the far-right party AfD, Alternative for Germany, winning local elections and mainstream politicians float the idea of doing deals with them.
The same book fair that shut down Shibli’s award ceremony faced criticism previously for including a hard-right publishing house, Antaios, in its programme, with AfD members in attendance.
The original article contains 1,420 words, the summary contains 216 words. Saved 85%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
The notion that you could be cancelled for mere pro-Palestinian opinions (unless they are clear-cut Islamist and antismitic, which is often the case) in Germany is so laughable.
What the hell? I didn’t know dubioza kolektiv was popular enough to be sampled now, I was sure to find this video behind your link…
Salvatore Ganacci is a legend. In another video he
Spoiler
saves animals from abuse and drives off into the sunset with them in an Italian shoe.
Didn’t know it was a sample though, I assumed he did most of the vocal parts. Thanks for the link, right up my street!
I guess we both learned something today, because I had never heard of Salvatore Ganacci before you linked him, looking at the view count on both of the videos means he must be pretty big though. EDM usually isn’t my cup of tea, but I can totally see what you like about him!
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This is literally one of my favourite bands and I have been to more than 10 of their concerts all around Europe, including Bosnia
Damn, I wish I had your confidence, I love them too but I’ve never been to one of their concerts because I don’t know anyone who likes them and I’m too chicken to go alone :(
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I am from Bosnia, take me to America
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Germany killed millions of Jews and made Palestinians pay the price.
