Dresden, 13th February 2012. Part II

 Picture taken from a Roman Catholic student group

Whenever fascists/racists march, the reaction usually contains a mixture of utter stupidity (from the state apparatus, media and a handful of anti-fascists) and utter brilliance (from the anti-fascists and other parts of civic society).  The recent case of the Nazi march in Dresden on the 13th of February this year saw largely a positive example of openly combating fascism and racism.

Regarding other racist marches it is the ONR/NOP marches of Warsaw and Wroclaw (now a tradition on the 11th of November) that are mostly similar to that in Dresden.  Anti-EDL or anti-Pro-Köln/Deutschland protests focus on groups/marches that deal largely with Islamophobia (though anti-immigration and anti-socialism is also a feature) and therefore the anti-fascists build contacts with Muslims.  Regarding Dresden or the ONR/NOP marches the focus is on national myths of history, as well as on how to commemorate events of the past.  Consequently, the reaction to the Dresden Nazi march offers lessons for Polish anti-fascists.

Summary

The Allied bombing of Dresden on the night of the 13th and 14th of February 1945 led to the deaths of about 25,000 civilians and destruction of the city.  This was clearly a war crime.  Commemoration of the event until 1990 was led by communist state authorities who concentrated the commemoration on fighting imperialism, and left no room for individual biographies and memories to be recognised.  After 1990 it was the case that it was Nazis who took the lead in commemorating the event, seeking to portray Germans as being the "victims" of WWII, a myth held by many people in Dresden (just to be clear here, those who died during the bombing were victims.  It doesn't mean that Germany as such was a victim of WWII).  To begin with, in Dresden, only a few hundred Nazis marched through town.  By the 2000s this had increased to a few thousand, supported by Nazis from other countries.  Accordingly, anti-fascist numbers (left-wingers, anarchists, Christians) also increased.

 

The Nazis have tended to do their main march on the nearest Saturday to the 13th, wanting to gain bigger numbers. This led of course to bigger numbers of anti-fascists being able to come.  Last year saw, for the third time in a row, a successful blockade of the Nazi march.  However, the public discourse saw a focus on violence, as the police were particularly violent last year (as were some anti-fasicsts, some of whom having been provoked by police and Nazi violence).  Afterwards, anti-fascist and other civic society organisations saw themselves criminalised by the Saxony state, whereby offices were occupied, people were stripped naked and phone numbers of 40,000 people were taken illegally by the police.

2012 saw the Nazis being demoralised and divided.  Many didn't want to do their main march on the nearest Saturday, as they didn't want to face a humiliating blockade again.

2012 also saw the Saxony government making changes, wanting to avoid the problems of last year.  A cross-party political group was set up to organise a civic commemoration of the event, a "traces of the perpetrator" march by anti-fascists was finally legalised, and generally the police were better prepared and less willing to use violence (though tear gas was used on some anti-fascists).  Owing to this, and also the news about the Zwickau Nazi cell more people turned up to the human chain, some of which also went onto the anti-fascist blockade.  It seemed that the mainstream had had enough of Nazis and violence dominating the anniversary.

Posters by state institutions, businesses and NGOs (such as shown here) have been in existance in Dresden for a few years now.  What was different this year, however, was the determination to give a respectful commemoration to those who died, while still remembering that it was Germans who had started WWII, and that Nazis are still a problem in Germany.  While anti-fascists and other civic society organisations had been saying this for year, 2012 was the first time when this became the narrative of the anniversary.  In addition, the anti-fascist blockade was fairly successful, forcing the Nazi march route to be massively shortened.  In the end less Nazis came to Dresden than expected, about 1,200 (compared to 5,000 anti-fascists).  "Dresden Nazifrei" are calling this the end of the big Nazi marches in Dresden.

News reports largely said the following: The commemoration of the event was dignified, the mainstream of Dresden took part, churches provided a platform for commemoration, remembering the dead was linked to being anti-Nazi (white roses were laid in remembrance of those who died, more about this later).  The anti-fascist blockade was also seen to be positive.

Analysis

The narrative was visual and moving: People old enough to remember the event was interviewed and photographed.  The laying of white roses and lighting of candles in front of the Frauenkirche and in many churches provided the mainstream with the opportunity to do something dignified.  Bells were tolled.  The anti-fascists were colourful, musical and lively, and largely seen to be positive.  I would say that it was anti-fascists who took the lead in opposing Nazis, and the mainstream followed.  Indeed, a leading politician of Germany, wothisname said that "one cannot criminalise those who combat fascism".  Perhaps the prejudice against anti-fascists is lessening?

On the one hand, I find the usage of white roses to commemorate the dead to be slightly questionable, to be honest.  White roses are of course the symbol of the "Weisse Rose", a group of Protestants who were a resistance group in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.  Those who died in Dresden were not necessarily those who actively resisted the Nazis.  Some of them may have done.  Some of them may have also been big supporters of the Nazis.  There is an old myth in Germany (well, old in western Germany) that it was a minority of Germans who were responsible for the crimes of the Nazis, or that the public couldn't do anything against the the Nazis.  However, it is nonetheless good that the official way now of remembering those who died is being tied to being anti-Nazi, something that, I believe, led to the wider acceptance of the anti-fascists this year.  Indeed, the white roses are officially signs that "people from Dresden stand against those who use the 13th of February 1945 to promote anti-democratic and inhumane ideologies [...] By wearing white roses that we show that our remembrance has a diferent horizon: A sign for the ending of war, racism and violence!"

A second protest against fascism has taken place on the 18th of February, a report will follow in part III of this report, together with a consideration as to the future of Nazi marches in Germany.

Now, what about Poland?

The lessons are probably obvious to the reader, but I'll highlight a few ones:

Actually turn up to protest, and block

A strong anti-fascist base is a foundation for success in combatting racists.  Blockades frustrate Nazis and demoralise them and make them less likely to turn up.  Making it clear (to quote the Protestant church in Germany, "love requires clarity") our opposition to them in big numbers makes a difference.  It also makes being Nazi "uncool".  In Poland we need all people concerned about the ONR/NOP and other nationalists to actually turn up to their marches to achieve similar successes, instead of sitting on their arses complaining.  While some may be afraid of being attacked, the truth is that Polish people have traditionally included people who have stood up to people who attack us.  There is strength in numbers.

A positive message is needed

The Nazi message in Dresden was essentially negative (something acknowledged by the NPD), of being the "victims".  The anti-fascist message was positive, lively, musical and "cool".  Somehow the anti-fascist events in Poland were not seen as positive, despite the music and colour in Warsaw.  We need to strongly portray fun to the media and mainstream.  We need our counter-demos to be obviously happy events, not just negative.  We need to be clearer in our alternative to nationalism in order to win more people over.  There are obvious messages that we can portray: From 11/11/18 Poles could vote in elections, they could form their political parties, they were not under foreign occupation, Poland was multi-cultural.  Those are things to celebrate.  You know that, stupidly, many believe that the anti-fascists in Poland are against Poland not being occupied.  Let's not just say "blokujemy", let's say "swietujemy".  No, let us promote the celebration of the creation of a multicultural and free Poland.  (Of course, one can take the view that nation states lead to the abuse of people via the centralisation of power, the creation of a monopoly of violence and concentration of the human identity on one particular part of our identities.  However, one can still say that Polish people should have the same rights as people in other countries.  In any case, freedom should always be emphasised.)

Be visual

The visual message is important.  Let's have clear symbols that portray our message, symbols that average people can use.  Like in many places, flowers and candles are popular symbols in Poland.  Despite our rightful reservations about the RC church in Poland, such symbols are useful.  We need symbolic actions that people can do, more than shouting chants at Nazis.  If, for example, a rynek became an area where people were invited to light red and white candles in order to create a big Polish flag, or with other colours to promote a multicultural Poland, or if we threw flowers at Nazis when they throw lit torches at us, if people got soup and paid donations, if people could buy grilled cheese with cranberry sauce and other foods from Poland, if people could attend poetry reading from Polish poets, hear music performed (say, by Gorecki) on the street, people will receive a better message.  There are enough creative people within anti-fascism to come up with some good visual symbols.

This involves all of us

Civic society shouldn't, as Andrzej Rychard said, just leave it to the anti-fascists.  We need governmental institutions, churches and NGOs to make clear their opposition to racism.  Now, of course, we all know that there are people within the first two groups who tend towards the ONR/NOP rather than us.  But not all of them do.  Those of you who have connecti ons within such groups needs to think about how you can corporately show your opposition to Nazis, while still (as in Dresden) promoting a positive message.  Posters can be part of this, like the ones I showed here.

Get off your arse

Across central and eastern Europe Nazis are getting more active.  In the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria and in Romania Roma are being attacked.  In Serbia, Montenegro and again in Hungary gays are being persecuted.  Here in Poland of course, Wrocław has lately seen new Nazi graffiti appear (to be reflected upon in a later article), gays need police protection during their parades and there has been an arson attack on a house where Roma live, to name just a few examples.  Are we to wait till the situation gets worse before we react, or we are to work for fighting Nazism now?

In any case, let us strengthen a spirit of criticism.  People in Poland often like to complain, anyway!  Let's use this criticism to test things in the public sphere.  I have an example here of a student group in Wroclaw that tolerates racists.  You'll have to wait till another article to find out more about that however.  To keep in touch with this blog, "like" Wroclaw workshops on Facebook.

Dresden, 13th February 2012. Part I

German people really can be ace:

Civic society in Germany makes it clear, what they think about the attempt by Nazis to instrumentalise the anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden:

 A "human chain to remember the destruction of Dresden 67 years ago - with courage, respect and tolerance - Dresden professes colour" of about 13,000 people around the old town, (Photo Jens Meyer / The Associated Press)

Volkswagen's  Dresden factory: 

"For diversity, for tolerance, for Dresden"

"Dresden greets our guests....and good riddance to Nazis!"  
From the SPD site.

"In all mischief that happens it is not those who do it who are guilty, rather, those who didn't stop them.  Dresden theatres, museums and orchestras against right-wing extremism".

A poster hanging from the Dresden State Theatre.

A report from the anti-Nazi demo will follow in part II, including an analysis of the implications of the event for Polish civic society.

Keep in touch.

The anniversary of martial law in Poland, 13/12/11

"Martial law in Poland (Polish: Stan wojenny w Polsce, "the state of war") refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition activists were interned without charge and as many as 100 people were killed.  Although martial law was lifted in 1983, many of the political prisoners were not released until the general amnesty in 1986."  (From wikipedia).

Surely this is a time for calm reflection of the events, and to pay respects to those who were killed and tortured, no?

No.

Thanks to Gazeta Wyborcza, we know that that everyone's favourite bunch of rabid xenophobic homophobes PiS held a march to commemorate the beginning of martial law.  "Tusk to Berlin!", they shouted.  As the article says, members of the march they also paid respect to the fascist anti-semite Roman Dmowski, as well as having a homophobic banner.  Jarosław Kaczyński said that the "Polish state is sick".  He agrees with me!?  Nah.  His accusations were more towards Tusk and the rest of the ruling party, PO.

Meanwhile, in Wrocław, another mild well-reflected group paid their own respects:

Yes, the people who attack Jews, deny the Shoah, honour a fascist (see photo above) and attack a Romany house in Łódż.  The NOP.

During their march they chanted "Communists will hang", thus demonstrating, for the hard of understanding, that they are fascists (wanting to kill your political opponents is a big clue.)  They walked from the Cathedral Island to the city centre.  As I said here, this kind of thing is an attempt to claim the public space.  Unfortunately there was no protest against the fascists.  I daresay, that they think that we are all Stalinists, that a counter-demo would need some police protection.  Again.  If we had been there, we would certainly have been, to quote Professor Andrzej Rychard, "left alone".

So, the rabid right claim the public space and narrative again, with no counter-voice.  That, as Andrzej Rychard said is because Polish civil society is weak.  What we need is for democrats to do their own events, to stop enabling fascists and other xenophobes to dominate the narrative and therefore take control of the space, and bring other people to their message.

Oh, by the way, I've discovered an excellent blog looking at such matters.  This article supports the thesis that there is no "left-wing extremism" and that we need to concentrate on Nazis.

Keep in touch.

There is no Nazi terror

Sometimes life imitates satire, or something like that.

(Those who don't understand German may still understand the content.  Basically, in the video one can see two men from the "Office to protect the constitution" who are asked about whether Nazi-terror exists.  They say no, having asked Nazis whether it is true.  Therefore the office of "right-wing terrorism" is closed and "real" terrorism is then combated: "left-wing terrorism" and "Islamic terrorism".)

I doch ned ernst gemeint, oda?  Doch schoa.

Following the, *ahem* revelations about Nazi terror in Germany over the past ten years things are sensitive in Germany.  Now's the time for considering how the role of the state in recent Nazi murders should be deal with, and how the media reports were racist, no?

No.

Kristina Schröder has chosen this moment to remind us where the real danger lies.  (Original in German here).  Yes, the socialist newspaper: "New Germany"!

Who else to accuse, but a Protestant Youth Pastor!  Lothar König was one a float the the anti-Nazi demo and did the dangerous thing of playing a traditional left-wing song from the early 70's that has been sung on demos ever since then and has been accused by the Saxony police of inciting to a disturbance of the police.  The song with lyrics (with things like "I've been wounded a thousand times, I've been hungered a thousand times.  [...]  Come brother, come sister, come mother, write the words "No power for anyone!") was considered to be "aggressive" with a potential towards inciting violence.  (Original text here.)

Zeitbild Stiftung's (it has to be noted here that the foundation is sponsored by the German state: The Federal Ministry for Families, Seniors, Women and Youth) website also shows what they consider to be most dangerous.  On the left one sees two links to sites about "extremist violence", both in fact being "left-wing extremism".  One also sees one for "hinder violence, advocate integration"; what is meant there is that it is "Turkish children and youth are the biggest group among immigrants with a very high level of violence".  Note also that this initiative is partly sponsored by the EU.

Excuse me one moment while I take a pause to express my reaction.

Note also that the board of the foundation contains someone from one of the main newspapers of Germany, the president of German marketing federation, someone from German industry and a tax adviser (i.e. all are men with white skin and people who, I would guess, know more about being in a powerful situation than a weaker one in society).  Note also that the symbols considered to be "left-wing extremist" includes:

...as well as the anarchist symbol.  It's like in GB where the police have decided that the Occupy movement are terrorists.

I am beginning to think that Hermann Gremliza is right: There is no "left-wing extremism" and there is no "right-wing extremism".  There are Anarchists who defend themselves from violent people with weapon, there are a few pieces of graffiti on walls and, occasionally, attempts to defend themselves from Nazis (with no help from the police).  There are Nazis who kill immigrants from Senegal and of course Turkey and Greece; who do pogroms against Vietnamese immigrants, who set fire to houses where Romany people live, who scream abuse against people with dark skin on a trains and attacking someone with dark skin on a bus, who spray tear gas into the face of someone of a different "race", set fire to mosques, attack (as politicians) peaceful protesters or the police with pavement stones (from 4:30).

Perhaps Gremliza is right in saying that the term "right-wing extremism" is in fact false as it implies a left-wing equivalent.  Certainly, some left-wingers (and anarchists; not all anarchists are left-wing) do do violent things; largely against people with batons, tear gas, water canons, armour and shields; largely when attacked.  Nazis, however, kill people and their potential victims are a big group.

Perhaps the Munich-based Zeitbild Stiftung should concentrate on the Bavarian police ("the guarantee for your security").  Note the statistics for police violence and how they are much higher than "left-wing acts of violence".  Or perhaps they should look wider at police brutality in the rest of Germany.  I daresay Amnesty International would agree with me.

Thanks to http://forum.hard-core.pl/index.php and http://www.facebook.com/groups/stopskrajnejprawicy/ for their support. 

Keep in touch, either on Facebook or via the RSS Feed on the top right corner.  Soon (probably early next year) I shall write a series on "Taboos and other subjects to piss people off", which will be dead good, I quite humbly tell you.

The brown behind the table (and gun)

In the most recent edition of konkret (in my opinion the best source for political news and analysis in Germany) Hermann Gremliza has written an article about the recent news in Germany regarding a Neo-Nazi cell in Zwickau which is very relevant to the concerns of this blog (as shown in articles about "Why prejudice against the 'far-left' helps the far-right" and "Wachet auf!").

Now, I don't always agree with Hermann Gremliza.  His understanding of the uprising in the GDR on the 17th of June 1953 is full of shite.  However, he does offer a very good analysis of contemporary politics in Germany and economics generally and I recommend reading his articles.

Here is a summary of his most recent article (one can listen to the original here in German).  The text in italics is my additions, as are the photos:

 "Lazy justice.  Comfortable judges.  Delayed trials."  From the Spiegel.

"When eight people from Turkey and one from Greece are murdered in the civilised and notoriously xenophobic Germany, society and state concentrate their suspicions regarding "Who did it?" on who?  On the milieu of those who were murdered, their "mafia" and "clans".  As soon as a policewomen is shot and there is no suspicion of this being the work of "left-wing extremists who are enemies of the constitution", the people to blame (according to the state bar of Baden-Württemberg) are "mobile social groups like Sinti and Roma", in other words "Gypsies" (Inverted commas here added by myself).

"As soon as it comes to light that it is an unhappy accident that the murderers were Nazis politicians and the media march separately to make a combined strike: Liberals demand a "relentless clarification" of "mistakes" and "accidents", while Conservatives shake with disgust and use the moment to call for an extension of police and intelligence services.  The Spiegel  made this clear with their title for their write-up of the murders: "The brown army faction" (In other words, they are like the "Red Army Faction".)

"Chancellor Merkel spoke of the ten murders as being "probably from extremism from the right side" (obviously "right" means direction in this case) and speaks that this incident "should make us attentive to every form of extremism".  In Niedersachsen the Interior Minister Uwe Schünemann speaks that there must be a "a centre for the defense against terror, also for the area of right-wing and left-wing extremism".

"Who or what is a left-wing extremist?  For Merkel, Schünemann and other defenders of the state in public authorities and editorial offices, left-wing extremism begins with people who sit down or lie down in the way of the police who clear the streets free with blows for brown (i.e. Nazi) battalions, after city administrations have declared racist slogans to be a matter of free-speech and not of criminal acts and therefore declare the Nazis to require the protection of the constitution.

"The  dominating thing that we are told in politics is this: Left and right don't exist any more; and when it looks like they do exist it's the case that left is like right, and right is like left.  Of course everyone knows that this isn't true.  It wasn't an Islamist (though many thought so) who did the massacre in Norway, rather it was a blonde Arier.  No-one thought: It must be a fascist, a Nazi, someone from the right-wing; this mass murder could have been started by a Communist, a Socialist, someone from the left-wing: even in the wildest dreams of the President of the protection of the constitution and the Professor for totalitarianism they didn't believe such things.

"The talk of extremism or, alternatively of radicalism is propaganda.  There is no left-wing extremism or no right-wing extremism or "right-wing terrorism".  What there is are Nazis, Communists, Anarchists, Autonomists.  Undoubtedly many of these are prepared to do criminal acts.  Six million Jews, twenty million "Slavic sub-humans" (actually 25-30m Soviets died) and, in the past few years, 182 people in Germany were not killed by extremists, in other words Nazis and/or Communists, rather by Nazis.

"The definition of extremism is a derivative of the totalitarian "theory".  It insinuates that there must be a something on the left side that is a version of the Nazis.

"The Red Army Faction started murders [and were, in a marked difference to the Fellowships (Kameradschaften, nationalist groups) in general and the National Socialist Underground especially were hunted by state and press organs, until all its fighters were imprisoned or dead].  However condemnable the motives of the RAF were, their victims were no poor devils, rather were representatives of the ruling class.  99.9% of people in Germany could go without fear into the streets or in bed.  There are 6.7 million (non-native Germans) potential victims of Nazis.  That state offices such as the Spiegel magazine can name the brown murders as like the RAF shows that they so-called theorists of totalitarianism have made their old chestnut that the "class war" is the left-wing equivalent of the "race war" and therefore the president of an industry group, a rich SS man, the head of the federal office as well as representatives of a persecuted race (the Jewish, perhaps?) become ennobled.

"Since the capitulation of the RAF in 1998, the year in which the protectors of the constitution now know to be the year when the now discovered Nazi group started to arm themselves with weapons and explosives, and nothing happened with them for twelve years, because of "the lack of concrete evidence of planned murders", there were, apart from the defense from police attacks, from the left no occasions of violence against people as far as I can remember.  What there were and are, are a few marks on bank industry property and burned cars, things that insurance could give pay-outs for.

"The Spiegel  says "the secret service is under the suspicion of being found out".  In truth all offices have functioned as they wished.  Regarding this we have to look into their history.  The police, the federal information service, the office for the protection of the constitution, the judiciary and military were all formed by people from the Nazi state.  Almost all Nazi policemen and women stayed in their jobs, the federal information service and the offices for the protection of the constitution were formed and occupied by men from the Reich Main Security Office, the Gestapo and the "Foreign Armies East" (a Nazi formed military intelligence organisation). Not a single Nazi judge was prosecuted and the German army was formed (and let it be said, given a soul) by officers of those who had planned and carried out the "war of extermination" (i.e. in the Soviet Union).

"That's all a long time ago now.  The thing is, it's not over.  The last founders were still working in their posts in the 1980's and those who are now in their posts received their spirit, a spirit which goes through all floors.  As someone who left the Neo-Nazi scene, Manuel Bauer was asked "Do you have the experience of whether Neo-Nazi sympathisers also work within the police and the 'Protection of the Constitution?'" the answer was given "Yes.  We received information from members of the police who we knew about when and where their colleagues were to do their patrols".  "Why?" one can ask.  "Their existed a sympathy among the police", said Bauer, "Just because they can hide themselves behind their uniform, their state uniform or system uniforms it does not mean that they are different or think democratically."

 Theodor Maunz

"The number of secret sympathisers and understanders in robes and other uniforms is higher than the book-learned could dream of.  The NPD and other Nazi fellowships  (Kameradschaften) are so intermingled with state-paid informs (V-Männer und Frauen) that the Federal Constitutional Court is not able to differentiate between the Nazi men who are paid by the state and the original Aryan faces.  The Minister for the Interior Hermann from the CDU, who wishes to present himself as the protector of democracy, should look to the early history of his party, as well as the jurist Theodor Maunz.  (Theodor Maunz was a Jurist.  He joined the SA in 1933 and for his services to the Nazis was made Professor in Freiburg and served as enabling the Nazis to gain juristic legitimacy.  To highlight his Naziness I would add that he wrote articles for an extreme right wing newspaper till his death in 1983.) He is quoted as saying "That which the Führer assigns in the form of judicial commands forms the judicial foundation of the police".  The "Maunz-Dürig" commentary to the constitution (written after the war) has been quoted by Roman Herzog (president of Germany 1994-99), the judges of the constitution Udo di Fabio and Hans Hugo Klein, as well as Hans-Jürgen, who was president of the court of the constitution.  (In other words, he was influential in how the constitution of Germany is being understood and applied.)

"Here and there lies the suspicion that the "National Socialist Underground"were behind the (of course) unsolved attack on the "Crimes of the Wehrmacht" exhibition in Saarbrücken in the March of 1999.  After the opening of the exhibition in 1995 a former officer of the Wehrmacht who had taken part in the blockade of Leningrad (at least 900,000 died from hunger and cold), was later a consultant to Hermann Göring's Reich Air Force Ministry, was able to observe the trials of men following the 20. July 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler before being a head of a military battery on the west front; this former officer spoke out against the calling of 19 million of German soldiers of being members of a criminal organisation and said that no-one "who knows anything seriously about historical truth" can "see the Wehrmacht wholly and collectively as being a criminal organisation."  The name of this man was Helmut Schmidt [who was Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 til 1982.  Note also that Helmut Schmidt, the co-founder of the "German national foundation" spoke out against immigrants ("It was a mistake to call people from other cultures here") as well as "anti-authoritarian education")  See here for more details.]

"The "right-wing terror", said Chancellor Merkel to her party friends is "a shame for Germany".  One which is earned."

Wew!  Let's briefly consider what has been said here.  Regular readers of this blog will know my position regarding the focus on so-called "left-wing extremism" in GB, Germany and beyond, and also how this focus in Germany contributed to the fact that Nazis were able to kill immigrants in Germany and stay undetected for over ten years; therefore I agree with much here.  The same regular readers will also know of my pointing out that Nazis are much more of a danger to society than any supposed act of "left-wing terrorism".  I also share the view that it is the police who are often the force behind the issue of violence regarding those who are anti-fascists.  What Gremliza says, though, goes further, namely that it is the state institutions of Germany themselves which carry Nazi echoes within their corridors.

Certainly, many Nazis continued working for the state, sometimes in important positions in both West and East Germany (see here for more information.)  The Allied occupying forces wanted to build up the structure of the West German state in order to keep Germany as a strong force in the threat of the Soviet Union.  Therefore many of those who underwent trials for being members of illegal organisations (the NSDAP, the SS, the Gestapo, for example) or actual criminal acts were later amnestied.  Regardless of the moral nature of such acts, it could be understood that Gremliza is indeed right in saying that it is Nazis themselves who influenced the spirit of German state organs (including those with the monopoly of violence) post-1945.


Germany wouldn't be alone of course in having state organs that have dodgy beliefs.  The City of London police consider the peaceful protestors of the Occupy movement in GB to be "terrorists". As I have written before, Spinwatch have written an excellent report showing how prejudices against the "far-left" were much more important than the threat of actual (but less overtly political) violence from the IRA.  The Polish judiciary has itself recently made a bizarre and dodgy decision regarding Nazis.

Maybe Gremliza is however being too dark in his analysis of the situation in Germany.  Certainly, not all members of state organs in Germany (say, the police, the protectorate of the constitution) are Nazi sympathisers.  The thing is, as sure as we see in GB a police which carries a cold-war hangover regarding the left-wing, it is very much possible that German police and other state security organisations carry not only such a hangover, but one from the Nazi times.  To tell the truth I am not totally knowledgeable about post-1945 history in Germany.  I do know, though, the motivation of the aforementioned RAF:

"They'll kill us all. You know what kind of pigs we're up against. This is the Auschwitz generation. You can't argue with people who made Auschwitz. They have weapons and we haven't. We must arm ourselves!"

Don't get me wrong.  I am not RAF fan, sympathiser or excuser (after watching "Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex" I thought they were a load of stupid bastards for whom I had no sympathy).  A look at post-1945 history in West Germany however does offer a few clues as to why they existed.  When one knows however about things like Operation Gladio or see how German state authorities have dealt with the Zwickau Nazis, one can get quite anti-state, I have to say.

In any case, I believe that Gremliza could be right in saying that we are wrong to use the term "right-wing extremism" in that it insinuates a left-wing alternative.  There are murderous twats on both left and right.  The thing is, there are many many many many more on the right, and their potential victims comes from a much wider group. 

Keep in touch.  I plan to write a review of the Wrocław Modern Art museum next week, and also the start of the "Taboos and other subjects to piss people off" series: Starting with "How Britain deals with its history".

Wachet auf! (Or, "Against right-wing and police extremism")

The good thing about having a vaguely negative view of political developments is that one doesn't have to wait long to have ones negative view confirmed.  Just over a month ago I wrote this article (which actually reflected my views from June) where I said, to summarise:

The media and liberals focus so much on so-called 'left-wing extremism' that they take away their focus from right-wing extremism.  Right-wing extremism involves things like attacking and killing people and the is no (or there is only very rarely) a left-wing equivalent; certainly, there is no equivalent to attacking and killing people due to the colour of their skin or religion.  One should therefore focus on the extreme right-wing danger.  The state focuses its surveillance on  'left-wing extremism' and Muslims and therefore it misses real violent threats elsewhere.  Any narrative on 'left-wing attacks against the police' should be seen in light of police brutality against peaceful protesters.  Therefore, a focus on right-wing extremism, state violence and mainstream racism is needed.

Then, lo and behold, this news comes from Zwickau, Germany.  Before reading further, please read that article.

"It can't have been German Neo-Nazis, it must have been the victims themselves"

It is a cliche to say "I don't want to say 'I told you so', but I told you so", so I won't say it.  As I say, it is a grim satisfaction to see that things are as bad as one thinks.  Let's go through this step by step (from this from taz, here in English):

On the 9th of September 2000 the florist Enver Simsek was shot in Nuremberg; a tailor called Süleyman Tasköprü was then shot on the 27th of June in 2001, followed by the shooting of the grocer Habil Kilic on the 29th of August, 2001 in Munich.  A Nuremberg newspaper suspected that the killings remind one of 'brutal work of Albanian gangs' who have 'Turks working for them'.

On the 25th of February 2004 the doner seller Yunus Turgut was shot in Rostock.  Then again in Nuremberg on the 9th of June 2005 the doner seller Ismail Yazar was shot.  After that the Greek Theodorous Boulgarides was shot in his locksmith in Munich.   Die Welt spoke of 'the work of a gang from the Anatolien mountains'', and later spoke of an 'Istanbul export firm which deals in the smuggling of drugs and people throughout Europe'.  A special commission was set up by police called "Bosporus".  (This is also the name given to the murders on wikipedia.)  Finally, on the 6th of April 2006 Halit Yozgat was shot in an internet cafe in Kassel.

In the same month Das Bild spoke of a "Drug mafia, organised criminality, silence-money and money-laundering".  Focus interviewed the "Bosporus special commission" leader Wolfgang Geier, who spoke of his dismissal of a "Xenophobic background" to the murders.  In the May of 2006 the Hamburger Abendblatt complained that investigators received "perhaps a tea with mint but no answers" from the Turkish community.  The Spiegel spoke of the "parallel world of the Turks that is difficult to get into which protects the killers".  The senior prosecutor of Bavaria spoke of the Turkish friends of the victims "knowing more than they say", while Geier spoke in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that he faces a "wall of silence" and he had the impression that "Turks still haven't properly arrived into this society".  The moderator of the programme "Aktenzeichen XY...Ungelöst" Rudi Cerne spoke of three possibilities: "Organised crime", "Contract killer" or "did the victims work in criminal business?"

In the August of 2006 the criminal profiler Alexander Horn theorised that the perpetrators had something against people who look like Turks, though he said that he ruled out any right-wing extremist act.  Then on the 25th of April 2007 the policewoman Michele Kieseweter was shot in Heilbronn; though no connection was guessed to the other executions.  The Spiegel spoke of  the connection between the killings and "German and Turkish gamblers".  Then on the 21st of February 2001 Spiegel guessed that the acts was made by a "powerful alliance between right-wing nationalist Turks, the Turkish secret service and gangsters".

...and there's more

So, here we have the scapegoating mechanism that blames the victims themselves for them being killed.  There's more to this, though.  Someone from the German domestic intelligence was present at the murder in the internet cafe in Kassel.  Notice that still right-wing extremism was not considered by the police.  From here we have the quote: 

Kerim Simsek, whose father Enver was shot down on 9 September 2000, claimed police said his father "was mixed up with the mafia and smuggled drugs – no one even mentioned a rightwing extremist motive," he told Bild.

Hans-Christian Ströbele, a member of the parliamentary committee which monitors Germany's secret service agencies said that  Germany's elite had totally underestimated the threat of rightwing terrorism. 

"They have been determined to play it down. Just a few weeks ago, Hans-Peter Friedrich, the interior minister, was saying there was no rightwing terrorism in Germany," he said. "They are always very quick to jump to conclusions if they think leftwing terrorists or Islamist fundamentalists are responsible for a crime and yet they didn't want to believe there could be a serious problem with neo-Nazis."  Ströbele said that 160 officers worked on Operation Bosphorus, investigating 11,000 people "Why didn't they follow the trail to rightwing radicals?" he said, as he called for a thorough investigation to discover how the terror cell managed to evade capture.

Well bloody hell, he speaks like I do.

That the Neo-Nazi cell group (Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böhnhardt and Beate Zschäpe) had connections to the NPD is causing many to call for the party to be banned.  In fact I am against this, for democratic reasons.  For me calls for them to be banned are symbolic and serve to take attention away from police and media mainstream mistakes.  The media continued their (let's face it) racist and xenophobic tendencies after the Nazi group was discovered, calling the murders the 'Doner murders' (thus dehumanising those who were killed).  The *ahem* Spiegel contains this excellent article which contains the line:  

The term "doner killings" represents a radical ostracisation of immigrants. It provided distance, allowing Germans to sit comfortably and be creeped out by reports they read in the newspaper about the series of gruesome murders.

Indeed, the head of the sister party to the government CSU Horst Seehofer said in the March of this year that "We will defend ourselves against immigration into the German social system -- until the very last cartridge." (NEWS JUST IN: The secretary of the Kassel-Nord CDU Daniel Budzynski is a Nazi.  Of course, the left-wing Piraten also contain one or two Nazis; it seems the difference is that they as a party with recent success have received new members with dodgy backgrounds.  I am unaware of any of them being put in relatively powerful positions like Budzynski.  I am grateful to this news from Netzgegennazis on Facebook).

It's mainstream racism and xenophobia that gives support to the far-right; they are more dangerous than any so-called "left-wing extresmism".

In other news

Here's a round up of other stuff:

In Denmark  (in English: Intelligence warns of "race war") the intelligence services are warning of a 'Breivik-style attack in Denmark", though they are not totally aware of the threats of the far-right due to their putting together of "Left-wing extremism" (the article's inverted commas, not mine), Islamic and Neo-Nazi terrorism in one category.  It's left to the left-wing monitor group Redox to raise concerns of groups not known by the intelligence services who are against immigration and contain Neo-Nazis, who also have contacts to businessmen and women and members of the police and military.

In Bavaria (in English: Police under suspicion of violence) a 15 year old boy was kicked in his knees and had his head banged repeatedly against the wall by members of the police.  According to Amnesty International 385 accusations of violence or abuse were made against the Bavarian police in 2009, though it is unknown how many led to a prosecution.  (Remember that is the Bavarian police who set up the 'Bavaria against left-wing extremism' website, who claim that 371 acts of such extremism took place in 2009, of which 200 were minor offenses like graffiti.....Perhaps we need a 'Bavaria against police brutality' link.)

In Austria (in English: Police trade union sees themselves as Nazi-slave workers) complains that their work standards are like that of Nazi slave workers.  Furthermore they complain that the cost of the Mauthausen concentration camp memorial site, the new state department for integration and also the care of asylum seekers are a burden to the financing of security.

While in the US we have examples of, if you believe conservatives and certain liberals, violent left-wing protestors getting what they deserve/getting nothing as bad as their like used to get in the past.

84-year-old Dorli Rainey, a retired schoolteacher, being helped after receiving a blast of pepper-spray by Seattle police on October 15.

While here we see people rushing to help Scott Olsen (who had just been wounded by being hit by a police tear-gas canister) and having a stun bomb thrown at them by a member of the police for their troubles. 

This excellent article contains many other examples of police brutality at the Occupations in the US.

Indeed, this article shows that the police in the US are moving (and even attacking) journalists who wish to report such cases.  The attack on Occupiers in the US is co-ordinated and violent and is caused by the fact that the Occupiers are speaking out against Congressmen and women profiting from congress decisions being made about industries they work in, as well as other measures.  Thing is, in the US people are becoming more supportive of the Occupiers.

In GB as well, people are getting more behind actions against the Tory/Lib Dem government (note the public sector strike in GB this Wednesday.)

People are certainly waking up to the abuse by those in power.

I wish you a blessed Advent.

Oh, and if you want to keep in touch with this blog blah blah blah.