In Berlin on February 24, the Ukrainian diaspora is holding an action on the anniversary of the start of the full-scale invasion. Local groups (mostly made up of immigrants from Belarus/Russia) have called to join this action in the format of an anarchist bloc, in response to the Pramen collective’s call for this kind of action across Europe. One of the comrades involved in the preparations for the action today threw me the information that their call was removed from the local indymedia without any comments – the German indymedia is still alive and actively filled with various content, from authoritarian left to anarchist. It’s hard for me not to comment on such a situation.
Tag: Germany
Нежные объятия цензуры
В Берлине 24 февраля украинская диаспора проводит акцию в годовщину начала полномасштабного вторжения. Местные группы (в основном состоящие из иммигрантов из Беларуси/России) призвали присоединиться к этой акции в формате анархического блока в ответ на призыв коллектива Прамень проводить такого рода акции по всей Европе. Один из товарищей, занимающихся подготовкой к акции сегодня скинул мне информацию, что их призыв удалили с местной индимедии без каких-либо комментариев – немецкая индимедия все еще живет и активно наполняется различным контентом, от авторитарно левого до анархического. Мне сложно такую ситуацию не прокомментировать.
Don’t be afraid…
On the recent anti-AFD protests in Germany
For over a week, hundreds of thousands of Germans have been taking to the streets against the far-right AFD, whose plan to deport millions of people has been exposed by journalists. Secret meetings in hotels with various types of fascists – these events happen regularly from time to time. But it is rare for the content of these meetings to be made public. The anger and frustration of certain parts of the liberal and left-liberal political spectrum is very clear – they don’t want neo-Nazis or fascists to come to power in the country. And that is a good thing.
Against the war by all means?
Today a group of prominent authors and cultural personalities published an open letter to still German chancellor Olaf Scholz, calling him to stop any further delivery of weapons to Ukraine as this can provoke the third world war. This position is not new. In fact, there are a lot of politicians who still believe that their actions can provoke Putin and “force” him into starting the war with NATO countries.
Frustration of the leftist response to the coronavirus
In two years of one of the biggest social crisis, anarchists and leftists have failed to have any strategy on how to deal with it. Humble attempts to develop those strategies quite often were ignored by majority of activists or people close to political circles. Many, though complaining about social isolation, enjoyed their prolonged vacation from political activism. In Germany, so-called “plena” activism, where people spend most of their out of work time sitting in meetings, transformed in online meeting activism. People would spend hours and hours per day talking about what should be done and quite frequently fail to act: because of high load of online meetings, there is no time left to actually act.
Israel? Let’s better not talk about it.
Although for most of the German anarchists the anti-germans are not something to talk about, the agenda that was presented by the pro-Israelian movement took roots in anarchist and leftist circles deep. It goes as far as attempts to pass agreements within the anarchist syndicate FAU to put an equal sign between antizionism and antisemitism. And although the push within FAU so far has failed, the anarchist movement is still getting more and more pressure from the pro-Israelian and clearly statist left to distance itself from work with the Palestinian Diaspora. With that happening inside the country, the complicated issue with the topic of Israel is also pouring outside of it. There were troubles within the international syndicalist groups because of member’s support of the BDS movement which is seen by many german leftists as antisemitic.
Anarchists are not always welcome in left-wing social centers, and this is not news to us
Political and social movements need spaces. In liberal countries there are many open spaces where activists can hold debates, workshops, and concerts. Germany is no exception. In authoritarian countries the situation is more complicated. But sometimes it is only one step from an authoritarian regime from the former Soviet Union to German leftists.
In 2018, libertarian days took place in Dresden, a week of various presentations, workshops, and actions on the topic of anarchism and libertarian communism. Among other things, I had the idea of bringing comrades who could talk a bit about the situation in Israel. Despite the strong antigerman movement, local leftists and anarchists know relatively little about the situation in Israel, and most of the knowledge is direct propaganda from the right-wing government. This is partly the basis of the antigerman’s success in some regions: they simply repeat the already existing propaganda of Netanyahu and Co.
How COVID vaccine is used by Putin to gain political power in Germany
The love story between german goverment and authoritarian Putins regime in Russia is a long one. And while the biggest baby of this love is North Stream oil pipe, the struggle against COVID is becoming another big project. Recently the news came that Germany is up to buy 30m Sputnik jabs from Russia. Experience of neighbours from Croatia who got somehow shitty Sputnik is not really the thing germans would like to accept.
Why do I advise my belarusian comrades not to move to Germany?
Now, unfortunately, many anarchists and anti-fascists from Belarus have already left the country or are planning to migrate because of repressions. It is clear that people are interested in living conditions in various countries. But in addition to salaries and a good life, many people are also interested in politics. How active a person can be in a country with his or her experience of Belarusian activism. After several years in Germany, I stopped recommending this country to my comrades for political migration.
The grass is greener on the other side because they paint it at the border
I was born into dictatorship. Back then it was the dictatorship of one party that was falling apart. Later on I ended up living in another dictatorship in Republic of Belarus. So most of my life i spent in dictatorship. Most of my political life I spend as well in dictatorship. When you are born and live in the world of dictatorship, you believe that what is happening in your world is horrible and people outside are not helping because they don’t have any idea on what is going on. The same dynamic happens all around the human society. The prisons, the working places, the borders. Wherever you end in hard times, you think the reason for this injustice to exist is the fact that the world doesn’t know. After all, what kind of intelligent person can allow this to happen.