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.

Review of 'Scapegoat: A history of blaming other people' by Charlie Campbell

We see scapegoating every day, in the media or in our daily lives.  Our self-esteem is maintained through an over-estimating of our abilities and therefore we need to blame others for our mistakes, or blame others for natural disasters.  This excellent book shows that scapegoating has been with humanity for most of our existence, and that it has tended to be the case that the same groups get blamed: Always minorities, often women, nearly always Jews.

I remember one place where I worked where a poisonous climate pervaded throughout all departments.  Mistakes were made at various levels.  A culture of continual whining about the management, the other departments and people within ones own department existed.  Even the volunteers (a group of over a hundred people) would come to me to complain about various enemy-figures.  I don't remember hearing anyone saying that maybe they have done something bad; strange, when harmful things were happening but no-one appeared to be doing them!  The culture of blaming sucked away energy and motivation and was counter-productive to good work and relations.

Campbell says that the book could have been called 'A history of stupidity'.  That would be apt. He shows how people have been picked on for all manner of stupid reasons.

Scapegoats in history: The origins

The Babylonian, Greek and Roman Empires had a scapegoat system that maintained order, whereby humans, largely criminals, disabled people or the ugliest man they could find were beaten and/or killed to appease the gods for the sins for the people and/or the leaders.  This took place within a ritualistic framework.  I would add that René Girard has done a lot of work about this, showing that scapegoats were needed to solve tension caused by people wanting the same or similar things ('mimetic desire') and that many myths we have are attempts to hide the violence within that system, which Walter Wink called the system of 'Redemptive violence'.  Wink takes it further, saying that religions were influenced by this system by the use of sacrifices and also the understanding of why Jesus died (Wink postulates that Jesus played that scapegoat role and therefore destroyed the sacrificial system).

Over time Campbell it was Christians who were to be the scapegoats in the Roman Empire.  Over time, though, Christians themselves were to use the scapegoat system.

Things like the disappearance of children, the Black Death and various other natural disasters were blamed on the Jews.  They were also accused of poisoning water or food supplies and therefore found themselves being expelled or worse, brutally murdered (such as here in Wrocław in 1453 on what is now Plac Solny).  Of course the 20th century has shown us the continuation of the scapegoating of Jewish people.  (I would argue that Israel now also plays for the role for some who wish to make them responsible for all bad things in the Middle East/the world.)

Campbell rightfully gives a lot of room to the treatment of women in history.  He shows how misogyny against women is ancient, within Greek mythology and philosophy and Christian religion.  Tertullian wrote:

You are the devils gateway; you are the unsealer of the forbidden tree; you are the first deserter of Divine Law.  You are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack.

(Campbell rightfully shows that the figure of Adam was also culpable in the 'sinful act', but blamed Eve, who blamed the snake.  Thus, says Campbell entered blame into human behaviour.)

This led to the 'witch'-scare era.  80% of accused witches were women.  Strangely enough, this isn't a black and white men versus women thing.  About 30-40% of accusers were women.  Those who accused were more likely to be someone known, middle-aged women, men in their twenties and early thirties and teenage girls.  It is likely that 40,000 - 50,000 people were killed.

A memorial to burned 'witches' in Bernau, by Berlin.

As well as Jews and women, the book gives a detailed look at scapegoats being made from foreigners, children, football managers, generals, politicians, God, Satan, priests, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Whipping Boys and animals (especially goats).  While reading through the book one is struck at just how stupid people behaved, but also, how this stupidity continues in our time.

It is at this point that I shall take issue with Charlie Campbell.  He seems to be suggesting that the desire for an inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster is a desire to look for scapegoats.  In actual fact, Liverpool fans themselves were scapegoated and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign looks to address this fact.

It is with Liverpool fans however that we can see modern-day scapegoats.  I would add some more:

Direct victims of crimes

Rape Victims.  How many times have you heard about a woman being held partly responsible for her rape?  Like women are supposed to walk around covered head to toe, never drink alcohol and meet with men they don't know.  (In fact, most rapes take place by people they know).

Male victims of domestic violence by women.  Such men are told by other men to 'man-up'.  I once read a woman say that a male victim is to blame because as a man he is responsible for the system of violence.

Poor people.  They chose their lifestyle.  They are the 'undeserving poor'.

Muslims, especially since September 11th 2001.

In each of these cases we see people who are to blame for their own problems, or contribute to problems that we have.

Indirect victims of crimes

Paedophiles and rapists.  While they are people who have been convicted of a crime and hold responsibility for their crimes, the scapegoat mechanism is such that people give them an important role (witness the focus given to them in right-wing newspapers).  People are happy to tolerate having violent fantasies about them, whereby it is often said that the state or other prisoners should meet up terrible attacks on them; in other words, while not carrying out such violence themselves they are happy for it to be done in their name.  How this sets them above the paedophiles and rapists, or those who assented to the killing of Jews and women, I don't know.

 For the story behind this photo see here.

It's as if that people are projecting their unconscious onto them, their ability to do harm, to hurt and more difficult to say, their desire to sexually abuse or rape.  I am not saying that everyone (male or female) wants to rape, but I wonder whether part of the over-exaggerated reaction (I mean, it is manageable things like access to affordable food, water, accommodation and pollution that is more likely to harm us) is part of a projection mechanism.  Of course, part of the reaction is undoubtedly the disgust at such a crime, but I do wonder whether those who do such a crime become the figure of all that is bad in our lives.

Conspiracy theories

As we have seen with Jews and women, it is alleged that there are groups that conspire to harm us.  Certainly, there are some.  However, I believe that some on the left get too bogged down in possible conspiracy theories (the 'Illuminati', for example) to miss focussing our attentions on how it is not just a few powerful people who can do things to harm, us, rather also those who elect them, those who buy products they create; in other words, you and me. 

Germans

Just for Poland!  As I may have mentioned, Germans were blamed for the violence on 11/11/11 in Warsaw this year, despite the fact that it was they who were attacked.....  

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