#free palestine from german guilt

[soryualeksi]

Germany is out here in the world proudly among the richest, most influential, most benefiting from the subjugation of the Global South, nations, hollering at the Palestinian people starving to death or being bombed in their refugee tents: "Well SOMEONE has to ATONE for the Holocaust - and it sure as hell won't be us!"

#germans stop projecting the holocaust onto the palestinian people because YOU cannot live with the fact #that your grandfather was NOT 'totally in the secret resistance' #nazi germany #germany #german stuff #gaza genocide #palestine genocide #free palestine #free palestine from german guilt

[kittyprincessofcats]

Okay, let's talk about Germany

because seriously, wtf is happening to my country?

So, a few weeks ago Germany outlawed Hamas and Samidoun. And with that, our interior minister Nancy Faeser also explicitly outlawed the phrase "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free", with the reasoning that it's linked to Hamas / implies genocide against Jewish Israelis. You can now be fined or go to jail for using this phrase.

I was at a demonstration a few weeks ago that was an absolute nightmare. So, usually at the beginning, the rules for the demonstration (what is or isn't allowed to do/say) get layed out. At pro-Palestine demonstrations, there's always A LOT of police and they sometimes check protest signs in advance, too.

At this demonstation (which was organised by several Jewish organisations btw), one of the things we were chanting was "Stop the Genocide" - also a lot of other chants involving the word genocide in some way. At first, this was allowed. Then, halfway through the demonstration, the police suddenly decided that using the word "genocide" is forbidden now. Halfway through, after they were okay with it at first!

Then they arrested a Jewish Israeli woman (who they'd already wrongfully arrested once before) because her protest sign said "Stop the genocide in Gaza". Then they also arrested another person because their sign said "From the River to the Sea, we demand equality". THAT LITERALLY ISN'T EVEN THE PHRASE YOU BANNED! If you're going to ban FtRttS because it "could imply genocide against Jewish Israelis", then this changed version which makes explicitly clear what's actually meant should be fine! But nah, doesn't make a difference to them. If it starts with "From the River", you're gonna get arrested.

What shocks me the most is the arbitariness of it all. How can you just randomly decide in the middle of a demonstration, that something that was fine at first is now forbidden and then arrest people for it? I've been to demonstrations later where the word "genocide" was used again and it was fine. They literally just made up random reasons to arrest people. There's no logic behind any of it.

I've heard from other demonstrations in Germany that they apparently also arrested people for signs like "From the River we do see, nothing like equality" and "Bombing children is not self-defense" (what?). Also apparently they arrested one person for drawing the famous raised fist icon onto their poster because it "implies violence".

I don't want to live in this country anymore. What is going on? When has Germany become... this? I mean, I never thought we were super great, but I didn't think we were this.

And before anyone says that it's overcompensation for Holocaust guilt: That might play into it, but I don't think it's the real or only reason. Because the thing is, Germany didn't use to be like this. Israel-Palestine isn't exactly a new conflict and I remember that when I was younger, people from both sides were allowed to talk in talkshows etc. There's a clip on Youtube of a talkshow from 14 years ago where a CDU(!!! - big conservative/center-right party) politician talks about his trip to Palestine and the humiliations the Palestinians suffer every day and how no people would just let themselves be treated like this - nowadays you'll only hear something like this from the very left of the political spectrum and never on TV because anyone who speaks up for Palestine won't even get invited to the talkshow.

So like... what happened? Germany didn't USE to be like this. Why is EVERY party, even the Greens, suddenly talking like a copy of the AfD (extreme right-wing party, basically Nazis) and trying to paint Mulims as evil? And why are we at a point where anyone who speaks up for Palestine gets arrested and charged with "antisemitism" while actual Nazis are allowed to protest and get protected? We Germans are always so quick to call out other countries for lack of freedom of speech, so what is... THIS? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?

#Germany #Palestine #racism #Free palestine #free speech #I wanna move away for real #and I'm not joking when I say I'm seriously considering it right now #only where's left? seems like the whole world is moving right-wing #long post #current events #Holocaust mention

[navarresimp]

the German government is supporting genocide and the German public will forever have blood on their hands

TW: antisemitism, islamophobia, shoah/holocaust mention, Genocide of Palestinian people, Germany, death

for days now people in Berlin have been protesting against the recent attacks of Gaza by the Israeli government and police has started violently arresting and harassing protestors, targetting POC and people of religious minorities for sharing their grief and executing their right to freedom of speech. Olaf Scholz and the majority of the Bundestag support the government of Israel in its attacks. The German media and public accuses immigrants and refugees from muslim countries of antisemitism, as German nazis and antisemites sit in our police force, government and schools. As antisemitic crime rises in Germany and Jewish lives become more and more endangered, our governments only solution is more policing of Jewish people. it was never about making amends, it's about diverting guilt of the holocaust by any means necessary. our support of Israel is not genuine, it's a twisted attempt at wiping our hands clean from the bloody antisemitism of before the 1920s, during and the following years till today. Just today Germanys foreign minister argued against a ceasefire in Gaza during a EU foreign minister meeting, making it obvious that this has never been about restoring peace or helping Israeli people. anyone, no matter if they're Palestinian or Israeli, who speaks up against the murder of the people in gaza, is deemed a Hama supporter or terrorist. my heart goes out to anyone suffering from the attacks in Gaza and to those who have to experience violent Islamophobia or antisemitism for sharing their truth. it's not fair that I can sit here and write while others have to pull the corpses of their loved ones from ruins. I am part of the problem and profiting from the systems put in place by my nazi and colonizer ancestors. free palestine

[shape]

Die deutsche Beschäftigung mit der Shoah sei „provinziell“

Dass die Deutschen einen „Judenknax“ haben, ist gegen jede Evidenz ein Artikel im postkolonial inspirierten Evangelium. Die Fixierung auf den Antisemitismus sei von einem Übereifer bestimmt und lenke die Aufmerksamkeit vom Rassismus gegenüber anderen Minderheiten, insbesondere Muslimen, ab. Wer sich zu viel mit Hass auf Juden befasse, habe keine „Empathie“ für die Opfer von Kolonialismus übrig und sei nicht „weltoffen“ genug. Die deutsche Beschäftigung mit der Shoah sei „provinziell“. Es sind Behauptungen, für die es weder Belege noch eine logische Begründung gibt. Wer das Übel des Antisemitismus erkennt, versteht auch das potenziell ebenso mörderische Übel des Rassismus sehr gut. Nur in die umgekehrte Richtung gibt es offenkundig Probleme.

Warum muss die postkoloniale Theo­rie die Existenz des Antisemitismus verdrängen, negieren, als irrelevante Unterform des Rassismus deklarieren oder im schlimmsten Fall sogar reproduzieren? Weil er ihre Grundannahmen bedroht und weil sie selbst eine Tendenz zum antisemitischen Denken hat. Juden waren weder gemäß der amerikanischen Rassenlehre „Weiß“, noch dürften sie gemäß der postkolonialen Theorie, die diese Rassenlehre nicht etwa kritisiert, sondern identitär reproduziert, als „Weiß“ gelesen werden. Wenn die postkoloniale Theorie keine Ideologie wäre, sondern Wirklichkeit beschreiben würde, müsste sie Jüdinnen und Juden als Persons of Color definieren. Stattdessen erklärt sie Jüdinnen und Juden zu „Weißen“ Kolonisatoren im Land der „indigenen“ Palästinenser.

Jüdische, aber auch jesidische und muslimische Opfer des Islamismus haben von der postkolonialen Theorie keine „Empathie“, nicht einmal Aufmerksamkeit zu erwarten. Die Juden, weil sie angeblich „Weiß“ sind, Jesiden und emanzipierte Frauen im Iran, weil ihre Folterer und Mörder keine „Weißen“ sind.

#shoa #auschwitz #holocaust #holocaust-gedenken

[void-voyage]

3 Nov 2023 - Samidoun Via RNN

The ban on Samidoun by German officials is active participation in the ongoing genocide on Gaza. The purpose of such a ban is to repress dissent with the full force of the state. It comes hand in hand with bans on demonstrations, police assaulting people on the streets for wearing a kuffiyeh or carrying a Palestinian flag, the ban on saying "Freom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," the imposition of political bans, the efforts to deport activists or strip them of residency.

All of this is full-on complicity and particiption in genocide. As we speak to you today, Israeli occupation forces just carried out a new massacre in al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, bombing 30 homes in a heavily populated camp. The German state and the Ministry of the Interior are choosing to support these attacks by waging a campaign of terror and repression against those who dare to speak out against these ongoing crimes, who want to mobilize people to put an end to destruction, war, occupation and colonialism.

The German state and all imperialist powers, following the lead of U.S. President Biden, are partners not only in the defamation and dehumanization of the Palestinian people but the murderous war crimes and crimes against humanity of the occupation regime. Complicity in genocide is illegal under international law, as is the persecution of organizations because they oppose apartheid, and we are committed to hold Germany accountable for its crimes against not only Samidoun, but the Palestinian people as a whole.

This attack should be of serious concern to all who carry out political work, especially for Palestinian liberation. It is meant to introduce a norm in which organizations may be banned for organizing demonstrations, lectures, publishing posters and engaging in entirely public and political work that challenges the German state and its complicity in Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ongoing genocide in Gaza. It comes at a time when more people than ever are speaking out for justice and liberation in Palestine and is meant as an attack on the movement as a whole.

If it is possible to ban Samidoun, then it is possible to ban every political organization and group in Germany that challenges the politics of the German state and its imperialist role. This action comes hand in hand with the United States' ongoing resupply of bombs to target the Palestinian people in Gaza. It is meant to bolster the Israeli war effort by depriving the Palestinian people of popular support on the streets.

This is also a racist assault on the Palestinian and Arab community. Samidoun in Germany is led by Palestinian refugee youth, and the German media has engaged in a blatantly racist smear campaign intended to incite the most racist and fascist forces in the country against the Palestinian community, which is the largest in Europe. The police in Berlin have engaged in an ongoing, targeted and offensive assault against Arab neighbourhoods and communities. Samidoun activists have faced severe repression, such as Zaid Abdulnasser being threatened with stripping his residency and Musaab Abu Atta being subjected to a political ban. Other activists have been threatened with deportation for merely attending protests and events. This ban is meant to keep the communities silenced by terror and fear, to repress the voice of youth, and to empower the most racist and fascist forces against the Palestinian people both in Germany and in Palestine.

The attack on Samidoun is part and parcel of the attack on the Palestinian people as a whole. It reflects the German state's imperialist interests. Far from expressing a sense of guilt or responsibility for Nazi crimes and genocide, this action evidences the German state's aggressive dedication to and promotion of racism, repression and war crimes. We must be clear: Germany has no legitimacy or authority to speak on human rights, freedoms or democracy. It is dedicated to stripping all of those things from anyone who speaks out against genocide and colonialism in Palestine.

Samidoun has also been particularly targeted because we advocate for the Palestinian prisoners, on the front lines of struggle, confronting repression, and express our solidarity with and the legitimacy of the Palestinian resistance. While Germany suppresses the Palestinian community and bans Samidoun, its official outposts abroad have frequently sought to influence and direct Palestinian politics through conditional funding and similar colonial enterprises. Through this ban, the German state wishes not only to support genocide but to criminalize even verbal resistance to that genocide. The Palestinian people, like all colonized and oppressed peoples, have the right to resist to liberate themselves and their land from colonialism and occupation, from the river to the sea. Those who resist occupation and oppression -- the Palestinian resistance -- are not only heroes of the Palestinian people, they are defenders of all of humanity.

At this moment, we urge all activists and supporters of Palestine, and all who care for freedom and justice, to speak out against the genocide in Gaza, to speak out against the ban on Samidoun and to affirm loudly and clearly that Palestine will be free from the river to the sea, and that Palestinians have the right to resist occupation and oppression. Through this action, through repeated demands of police on protest organizers, the German state wants to suppress these truths and this reality. They want to secure our silence and even our complicity, and we will not allow them to do so.

We reiterate our words upon German Chancellor Olaf Scholz' announcement of the demand to ban Samidoun: In Arabic, the word “Samidoun,” means those who are steadfast. We use this name to refer to the Palestinian prisoners, who remain behind bars, struggling for freedom. Today we affirm that we shall remain steadfast and committed to the Palestinian people, until victory, return and liberation.

#free palestine #free them all #palestine #germany #racism #islamophobia #long post

[bopinion]

2023 / 43

Aperçu of the Week:

"Whenever one shares the opinion of the majority, it is time to reflect."

(Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain)

Bad News of the Week:

Actually, one should be happy that the U.S. House of Representatives is able to act again after a weeks-long stalemate. But a single glance at the new Speaker of the House sends shivers down the spine of any Democratic-minded observer: for Mike Johnson (who?) can only be seen as a step backward. Quoting from the news magazine Der Spiegel:

"Johnson belongs to the religious right of his caucus. The lawyer and former radio host from Louisiana is among Trump's loyal supporters. He refused at the time to recognize Trump's defeat by Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Johnson is anti-abortion, opposes same-sex marriage and has rejected U.S. aid to Ukraine in the past." That little paragraph alone is enough to qualify Johnson as Bad News in every sense of the word. But then I took a look at his Wikipedia entry:

Johnson supported creationists. Wanted to eliminate support for refugees. Applied sodomy legislation to homosexuals. Voted against the minimum wage. Justified his legal work on "biblical values." Denied human impact on climate change. Wanted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Tried to block investigations into the storming of the Capitol. Wanted to make divorces much more difficult. Seeked to limit humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Held wind turbines to be harmful to health. Wanted to cut funding for Social Security. Said that "Trump has done nothing wrong." And, "The word of God is, of course, the ultimate source of all truth." I'll stop now, this frustrates me....

Good News of the Week:

The United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution. Which, in the face of the Gaza war, calls for nothing more than thinking of the welfare of innocent civilians. So ceasefire, respect for international law, access for humanitarian organizations, and so on. You can support that in principle with a clear conscience. What 120 nations have done. Unlike Israel and the U.S., which voted against, as expected.

Germany abstained, as did another 44 nations. With good reasons. Because the resolution was not balanced. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock gives a comprehensible reason: "Because the resolution does not clearly name Hamas terror, does not demand the release of all hostages clearly enough and does not affirm Israel's right to self-defense, we decided with many of our European partners not to vote for the resolution in the end."

Nevertheless, the outcry against Germany's abstention is much greater than the criticism of the approval of, for example, France, Norway or Switzerland. "How can Germany abstain from a UN resolution that has as its sole objective to delegitimize Israel's right to self-defense?". "The Federal Republic must stand by Israel's side without any ifs or buts". "There must be no false consideration for others in supporting Israel". And so on.

Excuse me? This reminds me very much of the strange automatism that anyone who is pro-Palestine is an anti-Semite. Which is not only factually wrong (Palestinians are also historically Semites), but also morally wrong. Why should I not be allowed to criticize individual decisions of the Israeli government, such as the settlement policy on the West Bank? Because other Germans before the existence of both the Federal Republic and the State of Israel, and long before my birth, have incurred immense guilt against the Jewish people?

I am aware of this. This has shaped me. And makes me a pacifist and human rights activist. I support the awareness of what happened. You have to learn from history. I have done that. Take a position accordingly and educate my children accordingly. But I am not personally to blame, nor do I have no right to free speech or expression because of it. Like many others, I took a stand against South Africa's apartheid in the early 1990s. Therefore, to hold all stateless Kurds liable for the actions of the PKK is, to me, short-sighted. Just as little as all stateless Palestinians for the actions of Hamas. Or all Germans for those of the Nazis. So it is Good News for me that the German diplomats in New York City did not reflexively vote pro-Israel. Instead, after careful consideration, they voted pro-human.

Personal happy moment of the week:

My Mac always shows me news from its system in the upper right corner. For example upcoming appointments. Last Thursday the following message popped up: "Day after tomorrow: Free". Yes, exactly. Because after 34 days of daily work (we have a lot of stress in the office right now) I not only have the weekend off. But five days up to and including All Saints' Day. It will almost feel like a vacation. And no matter what the weather is like, just the fact that the alarm doesn't ring in the morning will make me happy.

I couldn't care less...

...that there will be a new edition of the "Bavarian coalition" in Bavaria consisting of the conservative parties CSU / Christian Social Union and FW / Free Voters (Freie Wähler). In the freshly signed coalition agreement there is - unfortunately, but as expected - nothing new. Instead, it merely contains a sweeping "Keep it up, everything is actually good the way it is". That is not enough. At least not enough to meet the challenges of the future, which is already within reach. Climate protection, digitization, infrastructure, energy transition, debureaucratization, integration, industrial modernization, education boost, etc. These terms can all be found in the paper. But only as empty phrases. Without any vision. Or any concrete forward-looking plan. In the process, we are running out of time. Not good.

As I write this...

...I am thinking about Nagorno-Karabakh. Probably I am the only one, since the Gaza and Ukraine wars more than dominate the news coverage. Yet what is happening in the Armenian-majority enclave in Azerbaijan is frightening. With 100,000 people fleeing since Baku's brutal takeover a month ago, more than two-thirds of the population is on the run. Which is something relatively poor and small Armenia can barely manage. There are also tragedies happening that the world public does not notice.

Post Scriptum

Against wokeness like gender language, leaving NATO, strictly limiting migration, railing against the political establishment, no more sanctions against Russia, stoking fears of social decline, creating peace by banning arms exports, and so on. These are all positions of Sahra Wagenknecht, who wants to found a new left-wing party. And could just as well be from the right-wing AfD (Alternative für Deutschland / Alternative for Germany). So I understand that some expect Wagenknecht to not only pull votes from The Left, but also from the AfD. Or they could realize common ground.

There has been a dark chapter in the history of German politics before, when extremists from both fringes of the spectrum joined forces. That was in the early 1930s. Back then, the political mortal enemies National Socialists and Communists, united in their hatred of the Weimar system, ensured the downfall of the democratic republic. And we all know how that turned out.

#thoughts #aperçu #good news #bad news #news of the week #happy moments #politics #mark twain #house of representatives #mike johnson #donald trump #united nations #resolutions #pro palestine #pro israel #germany #anti semitic #history #macintosh #bavaria #nagornokarabakh #sahra wagenknecht #afd #extremists #ukraine #gaza #coalition #vacation #alarm clock #nazis

[mothmans-cumrag]

Cant believe this but I wrote another song today! This one is about german guilt and how it prevents Germans from speaking about palestine, since we are scared of being called antisemitic. It is the result of my aunt telling me not to say "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free"

#i am pretty proud of this one ngl. it has a bit of a hannes wader vibe to it. maybe in 50 years kids will analyse it in history class #just as we analysed drei kugeln auf rudi dutschke and spiel nicht mit den schmuddelkindern #i realise those are wolf bierman and franz joseph degenhardt respectively. its just the deutscher linker liedermacher vibe #jamie posts

[mchiti]

what part of the slogan being a legal offence in Germany is not clear to you? That is the reason El Ghazi's contract has been terminated, because it is ruled out as antisemitic as it calls for the destruction of the jewish state.

Listen how many more asks are you going to send me about this? also when german police literally assaulted a pro-Palestine demonstration by jewish berliners against violence in the middle east were those ACTUAL JEWISH activists being antisemitic as well in your opinion? free palestine from german guilt and free anwar from ya'll fucking weirdos. don't send me another ask because I'll be blocking quite simply

[soryualeksi]

The first German media is carefully starting to report on our Foreign Minister "warning against" the absolute bloodbath "humanitarian challenge" of an all-out Israeli attack on the refugees in Rafah.

And I found myself baring my teeth against the radio like a weirdo because I can't contain my disgust and fury.

You.

Were all cheering this on UNTIL NOW.

You.

Were persecuting anyone who raised the alarm about the ON-GOING humanitarian catastrophe as an "antisemitic terrorism supporter". People lost JOBS. People lost social standing. PEOPLE WERE SUED.

Everyone with a human heart WAS SCREAMING ABOUT THIS FOR FOUR MONTHS but you were too fucking racist and arrogant to listen, because "who can trust these Muslims and anyone who lets themselves by MANIPULATED by them amirite".

And NOW that 30 THOUSAND bodies are counted and MANY will follow, NOW that EXACTLY WHAT PEOPLE SAID WOULD HAPPEN IN RAFAH IS HAPPENING.

Now you're getting scared because those people who kept screaming about human rights might ACTUALLY have been onto something, and you're seeing yourself unable to wiggle out of the fact that YOU TOO cheered on this ethnic cleansing, you see yourself in some DEEP SHIT of I don't fucking care "public opinion" or something, because CERTAIN AS HELL IT'S NOT SUDDENLY GROWING A CONSCIENCE.

And now you try to fucking quickly get up some "plausible deniability" defence, so that you might be protected from the full brunt of "The world is watching the targeted massacre of refugees on livestream and YOU personally told the perpetrators that it's fine, go ahead, no red lines, do as you wish because PER DEFINITION your ends are pure of heart and justify ANY means physically possible" UNTIL THIS FUCKING MOMENT WHEN IT BECAME TOO OBVIOUS TO FURTHER DENY REALITY.

I fucking hate everyone.

I hope their stories haunt you to the end of your days, awake and asleep.

Germany is complicit and was ENTHUSIASTICALLY so until THIS moment, where now everyone is trying to wiggle out.

"We just didn't KNOW! UwU"

FUCK THIS ENTIRE FUCKING NAZI COUNTRY

#palestine genocide #gaza genocide #i spit on your dishonest 'oh noez plz don't bomb the refugee camp and murder everyone D:' public whining #refugee camps have been bombed from day one #you said 'well there was hamas under there I'm certain' #now you're getting scared the world won't be buying your shit any longer #now begins the 'we just didn't KNOW' phase and probably also the 'well MY family was in the secret resistance' phase #like you didn't assault pro ceasefire protesters #fucking nazi country #did it work? did you clean the guilt of the holocaust off your hands by facilitating ANOTHER genocide? did it???? #or does one genocide plus another genocide only equal MORE ATROCIOUS HUMAN SUFFERING HUH #don't come to me with this 'wow i didn't know it was this bad wow i was always against it wow never again' shit #I'll punch you in the face i am DONE #save rafah #save palestine #save gaza #genocide #crimes against humanity #germany is complicit #free palestine from german guilt #german stuff #fuck you baerbock it's too late to get out of responsibility now #you too are guilty #you allowed this to happen too and you were FINE with it until you got scared #probably the moment you realized you were in over your head and justice will come for all of you eventually #see you all in the Hague #if any justice exists in this world

[korrektheiten]

Die blanke Umkehr der Faktenlage

Tichy:»„Free Palestine from German guilt“ – Befreit Palästina vom Deutschen Schuldkomplex, so skandierten Demonstranten während einer pro-palästinensischen Sitzblockade in Berlin. Die zugrundeliegende These: Der Schuldkomplex, der die Deutschen plagt, binde diese in sozusagen blinder Solidarität an Israel – zum Nachteil der Palästinenser. Wäre die Angelegenheit nicht so ernst, müsste man darüber schmunzeln, mit welcher Geschwindigkeit Der Beitrag Die blanke Umkehr der Faktenlage erschien zuerst auf Tichys Einblick. http://dlvr.it/SxgMXf «

[politikwatch]

#Berlin-#Demo

„Free Palestine from German guilt“

„Palästina von deutscher Schuld befreien“

gröhlen die #Demonstranten 🤦

Jaaa ihr #Dullies jetzt sind alle Schuld #Deutschland, #USA, #Israel etc. Wer hat nochmal #Israel aus dem nichts #angegriffen & kleine #Kinder #abgeschlachtet 🤔❓#Hamas ❗👿

#Angriff #Hamas #auf #Israel

[newty]

A collection of over 40 writers and their work from World War 1 and the years that followed.

11/11. Happy Armistice Day!

This is by no means a guide so much as it is recommendations and selections from my reading list, but I hope it can interest others in some extraordinary or important lives. Enjoy!

POETRY

Richard Aldington (1892-1962)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Sussex Regiment.

Themes: Callousness, Apathy, Sound, Myth & History, Art

War and Love 1915-1918 (1919)

"Trench Idyll"

"In The Trenches"

"Apathy"

"Soliloquy I" & "Soliloquy II"

Exile and Other Poems (1923)

“Eumenides”

“At a Gate by the Way”

Edmund Blunden (1896-1974)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Sussex Regiment.

Field: Ypres, Somme, Passchendaele

Themes: Survivor's Guilt, Isolation, Nature, Post-War Reflection

The Waggoner (1920)

"The Estrangement"

The Shepherd and Other Poems of Peace and War (1922)

"11th R.S.R."

"Reunion in War"

"The Troubled Spirit"

"War Autobiography: Written in Illness"

"Third Ypres: A Reminiscence"  

Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)

British. Sub-lieutenant, British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, but died of sepsis before reaching Gallipoli.

Themes: Colonialism, Memory & Death

1914 and Other Poems (1915)

"1914"

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

British. Captain, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Field: Somme, but also in a POW and Garrison camp iirc.

Themes: Camaraderie, Grief, Flippancy/Humor, Personal Change

Faeries and Fusiliers (1919)

The Pier-Glass (1921)

"Lost Love"

Collected Poems 1955 (1955)

"Recalling war"

Frederic Manning (1882-1935)

Australian & British. Private, King's Shropshire Light Infantry. Lance Corporal, 7th Battalion. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Irish Regiment.

Field: The Somme, Ancre

Themes: Collective identity, Numbness, Individuality, Ritual as a coping method, Myth

Eidola (1917)

"αυτάρκεια"

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Manchester Regiment.Also see: The Hydra (1917-1918), the Craiglockhart War Hospital magazine.

Field: Northern France

Themes: Inhumanity, Protest, Disgust & Pity

Poems (1921)

“Apologia Pro Poemate Meo”

“Mental Cases”

“Dulce et Decorum Est”

"S.I.W" (Self-Inflicted Wound)

“Wild With All Regrets”

Poems of Wilfred Owen (1931)

“The Unreturning”

The Complete Poems and Fragments (1984)

Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918)

British (also Jewish!). Private, 12th Bantam Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, then South Lancashire Regiment, then King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, then King's Own Royal Regiment.

Also see: Joseph Cohen Collection of Rosenberg documents and artifacts 

Field: Arras

Themes: Heroism, Loathing, Confusion

Poems (1922)

"Significance"

"The Immortals"

Delphi Complete Poetry, Plays, Letters and Prose of Isaac Rosenberg (2015)

Not free, but like the one for Wilfred Owen, I recommend these collections since they're super cheap (like $3) and mostly comprehensive even if there are some formatting errors.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Also see: A Soldier's Declaration.

Field: The Somme, Arras

Themes: Activism, Self-Expression, Nature, Leadership, Camaraderie, Grief

The Old Huntsman and Other Poems (1918)

“The Kiss”

“The Last Meeting”

Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918)

"Suicide in the Trenches" (sometimes typo'd, like in Collected Poems, as "Suicide in Trenches")

"Repression of War Experience"

"The Dream"

A Suppressed Poem (1918)  (alternative/full text)

War Poems (1919)

"Everyone Sang"  

Picture-Show (1920)

"Concert Party"

"Phantom" (removed from Collected Poems in 1961)  

"Aftermath"

Vigils (1936)

"War Experience"

"Revisitation"

The Collected Poems 1908-1956 (1961)

Contains text edits and revisions of previous work.

MEMOIR

Will R. Bird (1891-1984)

Canadian. 42nd Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada.

Field: France and Belgium

Also see: his bibliography. His work seems to have been popular, but is now exceedingly rare other than in some recent reprints.

And We Go On (1930)

Reissued as Ghosts Have Warm Hands (1968) which removes several anecdotes--and in particular, removes many instances of the ghost of his brother (who often appears to guide him after dying before Bird enlisted).

Thirteen Years After: The Story of the Old Front Revisited (1931)

Funded by Maclean's Magazine, Bird returned to France and wrote a series of reflections.

The Communication Trench: Anecdotes & Statistics from the Great War, 1914-1918 (1933)

A Soldier's Place: the War stories of Will R. Bird (2018)

Fifteen anecdotes from various war-time and post-war publications.

Edmund Blunden (1896-1974)

Undertone of War (1928)

Philip Gibbs (1877-1962)

British. Extraordinarily popular war journalist and later war correspondent.

Heavily censored in publications like the Daily Telegraph and Daily Chronicle.

Field: Western Front

The Soul of the War (1915)

From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917 (1918)

Reissued as The Struggle in Flanders on the Western Front, 1917 (1919)

The Way to Victory: Vol 1: The Menace and Vol 2: The Repulse (1919)

Wounded Souls (1920)

Now It Can Be Told (1920)

US title: The Realities of War

More That Must Be Told (1921)

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

Goodbye to All That (1929)

Censored (1929), Revised (1957), and I think Uncensored (2014)

Also a personal memoir--the first few chapters detail his childhood and discuss homosexuality.

Arnold Gyde (1894-1959)

British. Captain, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.

Field: Le Havre, Mons, Aisne

Contemptable (1916) as Casualty

Part of the Soldiers’ Tales of the Great War series

T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935)

British. Archeologist but mostly a military informant.

Field: Arab Revolt, Palestine 

Themes: Isolation, Brotherhood

Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922)

Abridged "subscribers" edition subtitled with A Triumph (1926), Further abridged as Revolt in the Desert (1927), Unabridged as "The Oxford Text" (1997)

Also see: With Lawrence in Arabia (1924) by Lowell Thomas 

Thomas was a war correspondent for the US, and who filmed and photographed Palestine and Lawrence and created the media boom surrounding the two.

Also see: Lawrence and the Arabs (1927) by Robert Graves 

This book was initially panned for showing Lawrence as more of a flawed person than England's glorious war hero.

Edward C. Lukens

American. Lieutenant, 320th Infantry 80th Division.

Field: Meuse-Argonne

A Blue Ridge Memoir (1922) 

Includes an afterword titled “The Last Drive and Death of Major G. H. H. Emory” by E. McClure Rouzer

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

Journey from Obscurity: Wilfred Owen, 1893-1918 (1963-1965) by Harold Owen

Published in three volumes: Childhood, Youth, and War

E. M. Roberts

American. Lieutenant, RAF.

A Flying Fighter: An American Above the Lines in France (1918)

I’m not finding much on this book atm, but I remember finding some articles after I had read the book that mentioned much of it was embellished.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Siegfried's Journey, 1916-1920 (1945)

Discusses the range of his life on leave or otherwise away from the battlefield, along with his post-war travels and struggles. For his more military memoirs, see the Sherston Trilogy below.

Also see: Lady Ottoline's Album (1976)

included entirely bc there's a cute pics of him (pg 66-67,90-93) but also bc there's a lot of cool ppl in it (also Robert Graves 68, Edmund Blunden 69)

Diaries:

Scans of 1915-1922, 1924-1927, 1931-1932: Sassoon Journals @ Cambridge

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1915-1918 (1983)

Highlights: 27 May 1916. 13 July 1916. 23 April 1917. 17 April 1918.  27 April 1918. 9 May 1918. 19 December 1917.

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1920-1922 (1981)

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1923-1925 (1985)

FICTIONAL MEMOIR

Giving a third person narrator one's trauma or life allows the writer to view those events in a new light–and also partially absolve themselves from ownership of their actions and feelings. Thus, it was super popular to deflect the shame of trauma.

Richard Aldington (1892-1962)

Death of a Hero (1929)

Uncensored in two volumes (1930), in one volume (1965) and (1984)

Roads to Glory (1930)

Short stories

Hervey Allen (1889-1949)

American. Lieutenant, 111th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Division

Field: Marne, Aisne, Château-Theirrey

Toward the Flame (1926) (limited preview)

Henri Barbusse (1873-1935)

French. Western Front. Anti-war.

Under Fire: The Story of a Squad (1916)

One of the first WWI novels published. Formative work for Sassoon, but also popular with Owen iirc.

Larry Barretto (1890-1972)

American. Ambulance driver in France and Belgium.

A Conqueror Passes (1925)

The soldier protagonist swiftly falls into depression upon returning to civilian life, so he abandons everything to return to France. Where he hopes to return to the mental occupation of service, he finds instead that the world has moved on without him.

James Norman Hall (1887-1951)

American. Posing as a Canadian: Royal Fusiliers. After being discovered, Lafayette Escadrille and Lafayette Flying Corps, then Captain of US Army Air Service. German POW for several months.

Kitchener's Mob: The Adventures of an American in the British Army(1916)

Describes the Battle of Loos during his time as a machine gunner with the Royal Fusiliers.

High Adventure: A Narrative of Air Fighting in France (1918)

Also see: The Lafayette Flying Corps Vol 1 and Vol 2 (1920), a history written with fellow pilot Charles Bernard Nordhoff.

Also see: Falcons of France (1929), another memoir written with Charles Bernard Nordhoff.

John Dos Passos (1896-1970)

American. Ambulance Driver in France (Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps) & Italy (American Red Cross)

One Man’s Initiation: 1917 (1920)

Reissued as First Encounter (1945)

Three Soldiers (1921)

Frederic Manning (1882-1935)

The Middle Parts of Fortune: Somme and Ancre, 1916 (1929) as Private 19022

Uncensored in two volumes

Censored edition is Her Privates We (1929), and Uncensored (2014)

Primarily depicts the mundane life of a private. A deserter crops up throughout the novel for commentary on the intersection of mental illness and perceived cowardice. The chapters on the trenches are extraordinary imo, and it's a great look at the unsensational life of billets and drill that most accounts leave out.

Charles Bernard Nordhoff (1887-1947)

American. Ambulance driver, then Lafayette Flying Corps, then Lieutenant of US Army Air Service

The Fledgling (1919)

Series of letters (and dairy entries?)

Also see: The Lafayette Flying Corps Vol 1 and Vol 2 (1920), a history written with fellow pilot James Norman Hall.

Also see: Falcons of France (1929), another memoir written with James Norman Hall.

Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)

German. 2nd Guards Reserve Division, then 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 2nd Company, Engineer Platoon Bethe.

Field: Hem-Lenglet  Torhout and Houthulst.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)

The Road Back (1931) (limited preview)

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

The Sherston trilogy follows his entire service, although purged of anything literary or concerning his family. He also changed the names of almost everyone in it. The third book does a great job confronting the trauma he swears he doesn't have up until the last couple pages.

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (1928) Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) Sherston's Progress (1936)

FICTION

More on the Internet Archive

Hervey Allen (1889-1949)

It Was Like This: Two Stories of the Great War (1940)

Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919)

The Confessions of a Little Man During Great Days (1917

Russian. Account of a fictional banker in St. Petersburg struggling through war shortages and family strife. Anti-war.

E. F. Benson (1867-1940)

British. Archeologist, Greek Scholar, Worked in Cairo with T. E. Lawrence. also hes gay

Up and Down (1918)

An at-home drama which begins pre-war and descends into featuring the relationship of letters between home and the front.

Dodo Wonders-- (1921)

Sequel to Dodo: A Detail of the Day (1893) Dodo’s Daughter (1913) and Dodo the Second (1914) social dramas.

Will R. Bird (1891-1984)

Private Timothy Fergus Clancy (1930)

John Buchan (1875-1940)

Scottish. Popular novelist, Writer for the Propaganda Bureau, Director of Intelligence, and Lieutenant of Intelligence Corps

The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915)

First in the Richard Hannay series, suspense spy novels meant to sensationalize war intrigue and German barbarism.

Also see: Nelson's History of the War, a serial which began in 1915 to become a 24-volume account of censored and pro-Allies Great War history.

Wilfrid Heighington (1897-1945)

Canadian. Lieutenant, 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade

Field: The Somme, Vimy Ridge

The Cannon’s Mouth (1943)

Edward Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany (1878-1957)

Anglo-Irish. Captain, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Also participated in the Easter Uprising. Traveled to Ploegsteert, St-Emilie, the Somme, and Bourlon Wood as work for the MI7 (b) creating propaganda.

Tales of War (1918) & Unhappy Far-Off Things (1919)

Short stories largely created as propaganda and published in various papers before being collected in book form.

Also see: Patches of Sunlight (1938), his autobiography.

Rebecca West (1892-1983)

The Return of the Soldier (1918)

A rather fanciful novel of a woman confronting her cousin soldier returning home with amnesia, having forgotten the past 15 years of his life from shell-shock.

LETTERS

T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935)

I'm more familiar with Lawrence's post-war relationship with mental illness, which seems to be rooted in his tendency for self-reproach. He consistently bemoans his difference from the others, and details his reliance on military companionship for connections.

Highlights: To Lionel Curtis, 19/3/23. To Robert Graves, 12/11/22. To Lionel Curtis, 14/4/23.

Also published in: Lawrence, T. E., and Garnet, David. The Letters of T. E. Lawrence. Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1939.

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

Owen defends himself at every opportunity to eliminate the possibility that his distress is from cowardice, so while his testimony is valuable for its real-time recording, it's more difficult to pick out such violent and clear instances of trauma compared to other writers.

Also see: Uncensoring Owen Project

Highlights: To Susan Owen, 16/1/17. To Susan Owen, 4/2/17. To Susan Owen, 18/3/17 (which describes The Sentry). To Susan Owen, 6 (or 8)/4/17. To Susan Owen, 1/5/17. To Mary Owen, 8/5/17. To Siegfried Sassoon, 5/11/17. To Susan Owen, 6/17. To Susan Owen, 31/12/17. To Susan Owen, 4 (or 5)/10/19. To Siegfried Sassoon, 10/10/18.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Siegfried Sassoon letters to Max Beerbohm : with a few answers (1986)

Vera Brittain (1893-1970)

& Roland Leighton, Edward Brittain, Geoffrey Thurlow, Victor Nicholson

Letters From A Lost Generation: First World War Letters of Vera Brittain and Four Friends (1998)

PLAYS

R. C. Sherriff (1896-1975)

British. East Surrey Regiment

Field: Vimy Ridge, Loose, Passchendaele

Journey's End (1929)

Also novelized (1930) with Vernon Bartlett

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937)

Scottish. Propagandist. Also see: famous author propagandists

Echoes of the War (1918)

Four humorously written yet hard-hitting plays concerning the war, particularly interpersonal relationships at home. More like satire than jingoism tbh.

MEDICAL ESSAYS

Shell-shock and Other Neuropsychiatric Problems Presented in 589 Case Histories (1919) by E. E. Southard (ableist af but these case studies are an extraordinary insight into the breadth of symptoms and their treatment. highly recommended.)

War Neuroses and Shell Shock (1919) by F.W. Mott

Hysterical Disorders of Warfare (1918) by Lewis Yealland

Army Report of The War Office Committee of Enquiry into Shell Shock (1922)

Shell Shock and Its Lessons (1918) by Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, Tom Hatherley Pear

Repression of War Experience (1917) by W.H.R. Rivers

Conflict and Dream (1924) by W.H.R Rivers

Instinct and the Unconscious (1924)  by W.H.R Rivers

MEDICAL ACCOUNTS

Harold Barclay (1872-1922)

American. Captain, American Expeditionary Forces. Roosevelt Hospital Unit, then 42nd Division.

Field: Château-Thierry, St.-Mihiel

A Doctor in France, 1917-1919 (1923)

His diary--also published after his death.

Vera Brittain (1893-1970)

Testament of Youth (1933) 

Also see: Vera Brittain and the First World War: The Story of Testament of Youth (2014) for its extra chapter on Edward Brittain and his oft-discussed death (spoiler: they confirmed he was gay).

Ellen La Motte (1873–1961)

The Backwash of War (1916)

American. A collection of fourteen stories from the hospitals of France.

Helen Zenna Smith/Evadne Price (1888-1985)

Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War (1930) (limited preview)

Written in the style of Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front using Winifred Constance Young, an actual ambulance driver as inspiration. 

Sequels: Women of the Aftermath/One Woman’s Freedom (1931), Shadow Women (1932), Luxury Ladies (1933), They Lived With Me (1934)

May Sinclair/Mary Amelia St. Clair (1863-1946)

British. WSPU and WWSL member/Suffragette. Founding supporter of the Medico-Psychological Clinic in London, Munro Ambulance Corps in Flanders for a few weeks.

A Journal of Impressions in Belgium (1915) 

OTHER ACCOUNTS

A. T. Fitzroy/Rose Allatini (1890-1980)

Despised and Rejected (1918)

Austrian-British. A novel following members of the CO and Pacifist movement. also v gay

Father Bernard Carey (1865-1932)

Leaves from the Diary of a Catholic Chaplain in the Great World War 

(1920)

Irish. A chaplain's memoir of Egypt and East Africa, and the religious and racial intolerance in the military.

Philip Gibbs (1877-1962)

Germans on the Somme (1917)

John Masefield (1878-1967)

British. Poet Laureate. Briefly a Red Cross orderly, then propogandist with the Department of Information.

Gallipoli (1915)

Account of the campaign's failure to counteract anti-German propaganda in the US.

The Old Front Line (1918)

Eyewitness account of the Somme. Revisited and further completed in Battle of the Somme (1919)

The War and the Future (1918)

Also see: John Masefield's Letters from the Front, 1915-1917 (1985)

Also see: His poem “August 1914″

William Le Roy Stidger (1885-1949)

American. YMCA Pastor working with the AEF.

Soldier Silhouettes on our Front (1918) & Star Dust From The Dugouts (1919)

Stories of Christian faith through portraits of various soldiers.

Stanley Washburn (1878-1950) 

American. Correspondent of the London Times in Russia.

Field Notes From the Russian Front (1915) The Russian Campaign: April to August 1915 (1916) Victory In Defeat - The Agony Of Warsaw And The Russian Retreat (1916) Field Notes From the Russian Front (1917)

BLOGS & PROJECTS

Siegfried Sassoon resources

Cambridge Sassoon Project Blog

T. E. Lawrence texts and resources

Life timelines for several poets, like Sassoon and Owen

War Poets Association

Oxford War Poetry Digital Archive

List of additional war poets

WWI fiction resource

WWI timeline and artifacts resource

Today in WWI with Literary and Historical contexts

List of WWI authors and dust jackets

Additional WWI writers

Great War Theatre

Essay on American pilots in other armies

#writing #siegfried sassoon #wwi literature #tbh making this thing #made me want to make a reading blog #like some of the project blogs linked #anyway this thing is p severely lacking in stuff from Not The Western Front #and lord knows i want to find more stuff on the eastern front #so ill likely update this when i find some good ones #i put in brooke bc his poetry is genuinely good #but i neglected other early poets #(i usually find women poets publishing early tbh) #bc their work just..isnt v enjoyable or written v well #or just blatant uninspired jingoism #like. i included buchan and some others bc its important and interesting stuff #but Defeating The Purposefully Vague Evil Beast For Christ And Goodness #gets real old real quick when it isnt well done #anyway theres my meta lmk if u have any questions #i hope all the links work #brianna babbles

[wendynerdwrites]

Im glad that u also like archer. Ive been rewatching it (im on s2) and i feel guilty as a feminist for liking it so much :( i know a lot of the jokes are supposed to be ironic but i still feel bad for laughing, and my bf has made comments abt "how can u laugh at that as a feminist" (he isnt one, hes using it as a gotcha). How do u feel about this? Any advice for separating myself from toxic fandom to just be able to enjoy something problematic? Love ur blog btw happy friday 💋💋

Thanks, and don’t worry, anon: You’re not a bad feminist. 

It’s funny you ask this, but I used to have an entire essay series on this exact topic, and on Archer, particularly!

My philosophy is: don’t ignore the problematic, examine it. Use it as a springboard for analysis so you can learn more about the issue conveyed. Use your problematic responsibly! Because, let’s be honest, there ARE no unproblematic pieces of media. So just use it to educate yourself instead. For instance: my love of West Side Story (starring Natalie Wood as the Puerto Rican Maria) got me to learn more about the issues of white-washing.

Being a feminist is not about being perfect, it’s about learning and being open to examination and learning. Use your fandom for good!

Laughter is the balm for the soul. And listening to your boyfriend telling you how to be a feminist… less so. Kind of the opposite. 

My old articles are lost, for the most part, but under the cut, I’ve pasted them for reference and included a great video on satire that also very easily applies to this discussion (just substitute feminism with the Holocaust)

Our Faves Are Problematic (And So Can You!)

Nothing and no one is perfect, so isnt it about time we learn how to call out the things we love?

We are all familiar with guilty pleasures: those things we like in spite of ourselves, that we are ashamed to admit we enjoy. Usually the term is applied to something we enjoy despite a perceived “lameness”, or because we’re not the right demographic for something. For instance, I still have a deep, abiding affection for Sailor Moon: that colorful, stock-footage-laced Japanese phenomenon that still gets me shouting “MOON PRISM POWER!” when I’m in the right mood. Yes, childhood is over, and yes, the show’s American dub did give me incest panic as a child, but I can’t help but love it.

But then there is the more difficult brand of guilty pleasures guilty pleasures that involve actual guilt instead of “mild embarrassment”. I’m talking about problematic faves the stuff that we love despite it containing clearly objectionable material.

willing18

(Image copyright Vertigo Comics)

…This is a panel from Bill Willingham’s Fables. The character there is Bigby Wolf, one of the main (anti) heroes of the story and the character the writer identifies with most. The person Bigby is waxing poetically on pro-Zionism to is someone literally called “The Adversary”.

Fables also happens to be one of my favorite comic book series on the planet.

Safe to say the issues surrounding Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East are a bit more complicated than that. And my own feelings on the matter are far more complicated. But this glorification of Israeli military policy is… um… in very tame terms… uncomfortable. After reading this, I resolved to only check Fables out of the library: a way for me to enjoy these comics in a legal way without financially supporting these ideas, however indirectly.

There are other problems with Fables: a lack of ethnic diversity, some murky racial and class commentary, and instances of some objectionable tropes, but there is a lot to recommend of these books as well. The stories are fantastic, the art brilliant, the characters well-fleshed out, and there is a definite progressive take on issues like gender and sexuality. But as much as I love this series, there is no getting around the fact that these stories have issues.

No excuses.

But it’s not just Fables that has disappointed me in the past. I am now and forever a Trekker, yet despite how horribly sexist episodes like “The Turnabout Intruder” are, or the very troubling anti-Semitic coding of the Ferengi. The Star Wars prequels famously had racist caricatures with the Trade Federation and the infamous Jar Jar Binks.

In the world of media, there’s no shortage of problematic content. From the novels of Robert Heinlein containing pro-fascist commentary, to HBO’s Game of Thrones misogynistic adaptation decisions, there’s nothing that is quite free of some messed up messages, subtle and blatant alike.

Now, when we talk about such media, we don’t merely mean triggering factors (i.e. the presentation, portrayal, or discussion of potentially traumatizing issues like domestic abuse, racism, hate crimes, substance abuse, or sexual assault), but rather how these matters are portrayed. A piece of media, such as Marvel and Netflix’s excellent Jessica Jones series, can portray certain issues (such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and mental illness) in a respectful, progressive, and sensitive light. Thus, while the content of the show can be triggering, the skill with which they portray these matters keeps it from being problematic.

In contrast, something like Game of Thrones, which portrays sexual assault in a thoroughly insensitive, exploitative, and misogynistic manner, is highly problematic.

Unfortunately, progress has been a slow-moving process, with many issues such as race, gender, sexual identity, mental illness, substance abuse, and violence only being examined in a more nuanced way fairly recently. As a result, almost all media is problematic in one way or another. Especially since even today, the majority of executives crafting, publishing, and greenlighting books, shows, comics, movies, and other forms of media are in fact cisgendered, heterosexual white men.

So what do we do?

Good news: here at Fandom Following, we don’t believe in dropping something you like just because it’s problematic. Why?

Because knowing, examining, and yes, even appreciating problematic content can be incredibly important. While certain content can be damaging, it can also teach us a great deal. Not only about current issues, but also about how to go about discussing these matters, and constructing narratives in general.

The racial issues in things like Star Wars and Star Trek can teach us much about how coding works, and how to avoid reinforcing stereotypes. The exploitation of women and rape on Game of Thrones can open up a dialogue of how to portray these things properly and improperly.

There are three tricks to enjoying problematic media: 1) Recognizing that there is an issue, 2) Being ready for a dialogue, and 3) Not ignoring or silencing the complaints about said issues.

Well, we here at Fandom Following have decided to tackle this issue head on with a series called “Our Faves Are Problematic (And So Can You!)”, where we will be exploring specific media franchises, creators, and works and, specifically, the problematic content they contain. In this series, we’ll be examining the issues, talking about why they’re important, discussing what this piece of media did wrong, how to approach the issue in a more progressive way, and the best ways to go about discussing the issue itself. Various writers will be contributing to this project, and we’re excited to present this feature to you!

So let’s get down and dirty, people. We all have our problematic faves. Let’s talk about them.

My Face is Problematic: Archer

Honestly, doing a post like this on Archer, a show which is deliberate in its dark humor, is a bit hard for me. Not because I like the show, but because I think there’s true validity in the argument that humor and narratives about really messed up, problematic stuff has its place. The show exists to be as outlandish and absurd as possible. The extremes and the awfulness of the characters’ personalities and their actions is the point.

I VUZ BORN IN DUSSELDORF AND THAT IS VY THEY CALL ME ROLF!

Joking about awful things, awful circumstances, and awful people is hardly new ground for comedy to cover, nor does it send a poor message, necessarily. Mel Brooks wrote a movie in which one of the characters was a Nazi, who wrote an overblown pro-Nazi musical produced by men deliberately trying to make a flop. Springtime For Hitler, as it exists in our universe, is not problematic. The Nazis are the butt of the joke, in which any pro-Nazi sentiment can only function if it is wildly fabricated and over-the-top, and even then, it will still be taken for satire. Because Nazis are utterly terrible, they built their movement on total bullshit that they dressed up in shiny boots and Hugo Boss uniforms and German exceptionalism and “glory”. This song-and-dance number about “Don’t be stupid, be a smartie, come and join the Nazi party” only ever deserves to be a joke, as the Jew who wrote it can tell you. Nazis fucking suck and it’s hilarious that anyone would ever suggest otherwise.

There’s justice in reducing Nazis to self-parody, and doubling down on that by making a joke about them being reduced to self-parody. Especially when said self-parody and depiction of it is crafted by the very people Hitler tried to destroy. No one enjoys or masters mocking Nazis like the Jews. Plain and simple.

Joking about awful things and how terrible they are can be a good way to process things and not allow them to hurt you anymore. Comedy, at its core, is a defense mechanism against horror and pain. There’s a reason slapstick is a classic subgenre of comedy that people have built entire careers around. Laugh at terror and pain to make it go away. Unfortunately, some of the things we manage to find humor in can really make you wonder if were all just terrible and have no limits.

Angela’s Ashes is a memoir by Frank McCourt about his impoverished, abusive, dangerous childhood in Ireland. In it, he chronicles his own starvation, life-threatening illness, abuse, and suffering at the hands of alcoholism and brutality from adult authority figures. He was a child laborer who went days without food while his father drank away the family’s money and abused the rest of the family, who often came down with horrifying illnesses as a result of the terrible conditions he lived in, and spent his formative years suffering along with all the people he loved. Three of his infant siblings die within the space of a chapter. We get a glimpse of the time when his father, overjoyed at the birth of his daughter, finds the will to stop drinking, stop mistreating his family, go to work, provide for his family, and just generally be a better person so that his children don’t have to suffer. For a short period, the McCourts have food, heat, and happiness. Then the baby promptly dies and Frank’s father is back in the pubs, once again squandering any pay he manages to acquire on alcohol and returning home at three am to scream at and beat his wife while his remaining children try to cover their ears and sleep on the cold ground.

Along with being praised for it being a both an unflinchingly brutal depiction of poverty and a testament to the triumph of the human spirit, the book is also praised for its humor.

Remember: Angela’s Ashes is a true story written by the very man who suffered through all of these horrible things. And it’s considered a pretty funny book. And the author who, once again, is the person who actually suffered all of these horrible things, actually did intentionally try to make people laugh as they read about that time he was in the hospital with Typhoid Fever and enjoyed it because it was the first time he’d been in a place where he was fed regularly and got to sleep in a warm bed.

Hilarious.

That being said, there’s satire and dark humor, and there’s just gratuitous, shock-jock bullshit. There are jokes that are terrible simply because of what they’re about and how they’re handled. George Carlin said that anything can be made funny, even rape, if you imagine Elmer Fudd raping Porky Pig.

If we can build entire films and musicals about how any pro-Hitler sentiment can only ever be taken as satire, isn’t that proof that you can joke about anything?

Yes, you can, but that doesn’t mean you should try, that the joke is funny, or that it’s alright, necessarily. Maybe Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, and Springtime for Hitler prove that anything can be made funny and that’s okay. But if that’s true (and no, I’m not saying that it is), that still doesn’t mean every attempt at making something funny is either acceptable or funny.

Springtime for Hitler is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for any attempt to make a terrible subject the object of humor. Standards need to exist.

Unfortunately, the line between good or acceptable dark humor and simply gratuitous, insensitive, inherently problematic jokes can blur. The excuse of humor can only go so far. Yes, make light of Nazis. But there’s still a point where “humor” is used an excuse for people to act like assholes. And it’s an excuse that is used all too often. Radio Shock Jocks have been using that excuse to help reinforce racism and rape culture for quite a while. Whether certain dudebros like it or not, there’s a point where it stops being gross-out and just starts being gross.

Which brings me to Archer, the animated spy comedy on FX that premiered in 2011. Like many comedy series like Seinfeld or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a major part of the premise is that certain characters are, quite simply, terrible people. These characters and their abhorrent behavior is the joke. And, as the show is about spies, these terrible people are often put into highly dangerous, outlandish, and traumatizing situations.

So, the main characters, by virtue of their profession, spend a lot of time killing people in cold blood. Or trying to seduce or manipulate enemies. Or engaging in clandestine operations of sabotage that harm a lot of people. Horrible, violent things are going to happen, things violent enough to serve as narratives on their own. But most of the characters are as awful as the situations they encounter, so the horror is amplified. And it’s a comedy.

Indeed, in the first episode of the fifth season, we get the whole main ensemble recounting all of their actions and experiences working for the spy agency ISIS that we’d witnessed over the course of the show’s run at that point. Drag racing with the Yakuza, knee-capping the Irish mob, encountering human traffickers, 30 year affairs with the head of the KGB that only ended when the guy was blown up because one of the ISIS members had choke sex with the victim’s cyborg replacement, actual piracy, paying homeless people to fight for spectators, defling a corpse, defiling a different corpse, sexual assault, kidnapping the pope, blowing up oil pipelines, “smuggling Mexicans”

Yeah.

There are comedic arcs about cancer, illegal immigration, kinky S&M bondage murders, cocaine addiction… a lot of stuff, basically.

Now, take those situations, and add in characters who get aroused by things like homeless people, being choked, sex with food, and the thought of their mother dying. Who spend their weekends starting fires, making hybrid pig-people, rubbing sand into the eyes of their employees, competing in underground Chinese Fighting Fish tournaments, and calling in bomb threats so that they can get a table at a fancy restaurant. You get the idea.

And it’s all totally awesome and hilarious and god damn it I kind of love these characters.

This show has a season-long sub-arc about one of the main characters getting so aggressively addicted to cocaine that she not only consumes (literally) half a ton of it in the space of a few months, but almost gets her head chopped off for buying amphetamines from the Yakuza with counterfeit money. It’s one of the most incredible things the show has done.

Pictured: An absurdly self-centered man feeling genuine dismay and concern over his friend risking her life to achieve an unrealistic standard of beauty.

The title character has a butler named Woodhouse who practically raised him. One of the first interactions we witness between them is Archer not only threatening to rub sand into Woodhouse’s “dead little eyes”, but making him go out and buy the sand himself and check if they grade it, because he wants the sand to be coarse. He’s also done things like make the man eat a bowl of spiderwebs and deliberately keep him in the dark about his brother’s death and funeral.

Another character is a mad scientist and possible clone of Adolf Hitler who kills a young intern by giving him a drug designed to turn him gay. That’s one of the less disturbing things Dr. Krieger has done.

Frequent gags on this show include one guy repeatedly getting shot, another character repeatedly getting paralyzed (it’s complicated), people trying to remember the inappropriate puns that they wanted say as one-liners, the horrific abuse and neglect Sterling Archer has received from his mother his entire life, and basically everyone being a sex-maniac.

There are plots revolving around mind-control, drugging people, and hypnotism. You can imagine the paths some of those episodes go down. Yes, there is a character that has tried to sexually assault one of her sleeping co-workers. And later deposited two unconscious, naked coworkers in a bathroom stall with an octopus, in an episode that has already made tentacle hentai jokes. Yes, the openly gay character on the show is often the target of jokes about him being gay or a woman from his coworkers. Yes, the female lead, a black woman, is referred to as a “quadroon” at one point by one of the characters.

Yes, the following exchange of dialogue does take place in an early episode:

“Oh my god, you killed a hooker!”

“Call-girl!”

“No, Cyril, when they’re dead, they’re just hookers!”

And yet… Oh my god. How it manages to play around with stuff in an amazing fashion. For one thing, it is amazing how often this show skewers micro-aggressions and fucks around with stereotypes. And, despite how unabashedly messed up it is, the writing in it actually manages to be oddly pro-social progress in ways that most modern media doesn’t even seem to be aware of.

I take pride in my sex work and I will not put up with your bullshit!

For instance the “hooker” referred to in that exchange? (spoiler alert: she wasn’t really dead) She’s Trinette, and she an unbelievably refreshing and strangely progressive depiction of a sex worker. While she’s a minor character, every time she shows up, it’s awesome. Trinette is a sex worker who is unashamed of her job, a woman who truly does take pride in and enjoy her work, who does not put up with poor behavior from her clients, and is just generally awesome. She call people out and makes them pay for any mistreatment she receives, from calling out micro-aggressions by insisting on her preferred terminology for her profession (“Call-girl, you puke!”), shaming men for their sexual misdeeds (“How can you cheat on Lana bare-back?!”), demanding restitution for any injuries or threats she’s suffered (Threatening Archer into giving her his car after he fakes her death and stuffs her in a rug to fool Cyril into thinking he killed her), and determining her work and clients (“What about Trinette? She said that? Damn it!”). When she has a baby, she gives it her last name along with his father’s (“Magoon-Archer”) and she unapologetically proud of her Irish heritage. She’s easily one of the most functional characters in the show, and every one of her appearances on the show manage to defy at least one whore-phobic trope a minute. She’s the best.

Then there’s the show’s handling of race, which is mixed. While arguably the most important female character in the series (the show, despite its name, is very, very much an ensemble, especially as the series progresses. But in the early episodes when they focussed on fewer characters, she was the one who got the most screentime) is Lana Kane, a highly-competent (for ISIS) African American woman who is really, really well-developed, there is also the fact that she’s the only POC in the main cast. Granted, part of that IS the point. One of the earliest episodes is “Diversity Hire”, where, aside from Lana, the spy agency is so overwhelmingly white that they hire a “diversity double-whammy!” Conway Stern, a black Jew.

“Sammy Gay-vis Junior!”

Now, granted, that doesn’t sound great the way I describe it, but there are so many great moments in this episode alone. For instance, when Mallory Archer, terrible woman and owner of the spy agency mentions their lack of diversity, Cyril, the tragically white accountant and “nice guy” puts his hands on Lana’s shoulder and says he thinks they’re pretty diverse, a statement Lana finds hilarious. Cue Sterling Archer, other horrible person, telling Lana she’s “black-ish”, then responding to her offense at this with “Well, you freaked out when I said quadroon!”. The framing of this entire discourse is that Cyril and Archer are fucking idiots and Lana is of course taking offense because, duh, she should. The episode proceeds with a lot of references and discussion about racism, highlighting casual racism in a nuanced, funny, and organic way. For instance, Archer’s relief that Conway didn’t sleep with his mother. While Archer freaks out about anyone sleeping with his mother, regardless of race, Conway believes it’s racism on Archer’s fault. And in no way does the narrative act like he’s overly-sensitive or irrational for thinking that. Because the stereotype about black men seducing white women and fear from white men about this is still a very real, pervasive thing that has somehow managed to survive in our “enlightened” times. Of course Conway encountering a guy who displays a downright violent fixation on whether or not his new black coworker is sleeping with his mother will assume it’s a race thing. Because why would anyone be so preoccupied with such an idea? In that situation, it’s almost certainly based on the long-standing paranoia white men have about black men’s sexuality “conquering their women.” It’s one of the most common varieties of anti-blackness in existence.

Of course, since it’s Archer, who has kidnapped a LOT of people under the suspicion that they were having sex with his mom, we know this is the one case that it isn’t racism. It’s Archer’s disturbing, Oedipal relationship with his mother. He even kidnapped and threatened his role model, Burt Reynolds, for dating his mother. When he says “Not in a racist way” to Conway in this episode, it’s actually true. He’s just honestly that screwed up where his mother is concerned.

Conway’s conclusions on this, regardless, are still framed as a totally understandable. To the point where the episodes suggests that it would make no sense for Conway to think otherwise. Part of the joke is that no, Archer isn’t a horrible racist at all. He’s way too screwed up for his actions to be motivated by racism.

And before anyone asks, no, this wasn’t the “episode that acknowledges that racism is a thing.” You know the ones… The episodes that talk about race and why racism is bad to prove to the audience that they’re not racist, then proceed with the rest of the show, which never acknowledges race and racism again. There are frequent instances of highlighting racism, from violent outright bigotry to common micro-aggressions to clueless white people demanding how the thing they just did/said could POSSIBLY be considered racist! They’re not racist! How is THAT racist?! Cue Lana face-palming.

I just really, really like this. It doesn’t just end there, either. Racism is called out pretty frequently on this show, and not in a cliche, strawman way. Nor is it treated like something that only exists in the form of aggressively bigoted bad people shouting slurs and holding cross burnings. Nope. The “heroes” of this show just say shit that you could easily imagine someone saying in real life, shortly before getting defensive about any racism on their part. It’s treated as a common, pervasive thing that Lana and other PoC have to deal with every day, and the offense they take at it is treated as nothing short of sympathetic or justified (even in the cases of misunderstandings, like with Conway). This includes Mallory telling Lana to “put [the race card] back in the deck!” as reminder of how much of an unapologetic douche Mallory is.

It’s made clear: people say and do some super racist shit on a regular basis with realizing it or meaning to, and regardless, it’s still uncool and people have every right to get upset and call you out on it. See: Ray’s bionic hand at the end of season six.

Lana’s reactions and how they’re framed is usually pretty awesome. Mostly they come in the form of small, reasonable confrontations, which are never framed as an overreaction on her part. The fact that she “freaked out” when Archer called her a quadroon is framed as “well, duh, of course, she should.” Then there are instances like when she, Archer, and their child visit a high-end nursery school where they encounter a pretty obvious racist. The guy ignores and dismisses Lana at first, then expresses surprise at the fact that she’s the mother of the child (despite the baby being black), remarking about the “times we live in” and telling Lana “good for you!” when she informs him that yes, she is the mother, not the nanny or the maid.

Not all of the racism stuff stems from Lana being back, either. They skewer bigotry against Latinos on a pretty regular basis. When an Irish mobster rants about Latinos (he doesn’t refer to them by that name) “taking American jobs!”, Archer immediately calls bullshit, recalling actual history of the Irish being accused of that exact same thing during the mass immigration of the Irish to America during the potato famine, and it’s just as shitty and bigoted to say such things about immigrants now as it was in 1842. He is extremely irate about a mission ISIS is assigned to do on behalf of border patrol to  arrest people who just want to get a job, and he ends up siding with and befriending the Mexican illegal immigrants he encounters. All of this while aspects of certain Latinx cultures are often highlighted, often very favorably (“Ramone is Latino, so he’s not afraid to express affection.”)

That being said, there are still a lot of issues in the show. The lack of diversity is definitely an albatross around this show’s neck. Especially so many seasons after the “Diversity Hire” episode. While I do praise Archer for not treating racism as a thing that is rare and only needs to be addressed in one twenty-minute block of time, it is telling that the lack of diversity at ISIS is never addressed again.

Then there’s the approach to sexuality. The show loves gross-out sex humor, especially regarding Krieger. And the depiction of sexuality is actually pretty mixed. On one hand, the openly gay character in the show adheres to a lot of stereotypes about gay men: he mocks Lana about her “knock-off Fiacci drawers”, his go-to alias is “Carl Channing”, his free time is spent at raves, and he loves to make effeminate poses. He’s also a frequent target of homophobic jokes and remarks. His outrage at this is treated as being every bit as valid as Lana’s, but it doesn’t change the fact that their main gay character is basically ALL of the stereotypes, as are a number of the other gay characters.

“Alright! Were off to get our scrotums waxed!”

Then there is the sexual assault. Which, once again, is called out for being what it is, in defiance of many common biases (such as the idea that female-on-male sexual assault isn’t a thing). But this show is way too flippant about this.

While I consider Archer to be very sex-positive, allowing every character, regardless of sex, age, or orientation, to be comfortable and expressive about their sexuality without judgment (a lot of jokes, yes, but not any that come off as particularly shaming). Almost every character, male or female spends a fair amount of time naked or scantily clad. We see Archer stripped down just as often as Lana. And the fan service isn’t relegated to just women who adhere to the typical youth and weight obsessed eurocentric standards we all know and hate.

Pam, who is a big woman (and often the target of fat jokes, which the show always treats as nothing short of detestable) is a total sex goddess who grows to be utterly confident in herself as a woman to the point where she’s giving Mallory (one of the most desired women on the show) advice. When she reveals that she keep ingesting cocaine because it’s made her thin with big boobs, Archer is utterly dismayed, telling her she was way better off the way she was, acting horrified that she’d risk her life to be “hot”, and just generally freaking out about Pam’s desire to be thin. It manages to avoid being cliche or empty given that Archer considered Pam the best sex he ever had before she got thin, to the point of blowing off assignments just to have sex with her, because she’s just that awesome. After she gains the weight back in season six, she’s still sexy, making Archer’s jaw drop in the episode “Edie’s Wedding.” She’s also unapologetically pansexual, which is awesome.

Mallory, meanwhile, is still actively sexual and treated as desirable. While sex and sexuality are always sources of gags and jokes on Archer, never do the jokes about Mallory’s sexuality ever come across as ageist. Sure, some characters make ageist comments on the show, but it’s never treated as valid. Mallory is still treated as being extremely sexy and confident about it. While Mallory is generally a horrible person, her enthusiastic sexual agency is never once treated as a flaw or something disturbing or gross. What’s disturbing, gross, and worthy of ridicule is her son being so preoccupied  and reactionary about his mother having a sex life. It’s clear: if you have a problem with Mallory having a lot of sex and enjoying it, you’re the one with issues.

Even the one young, thin, white woman in the main cast gets to be unapologetic about her kinks. It’s really only a problem when her desire for choke-sex motivates her to lead a KGB cyborg to the ISIS safehouse. Or when she coerces Cyril into sex. And generally acts like a violent, awful person.

Essentially, there’s no tolerance for shaming women for being sexual. All of it, regardless of preference, age, size, or race, is nothing but fun and should be enthusiastically represented. “Can’t talk, got a pussy to break!”

Being a predator is shameful. Having belly rolls is not.

Who on Earth finds this funny?

But, then there’s the flippancy about sexual assault. There ARE gags about Pam and Ray dropping their pants when encountering an unconscious Cyril. And sorry, but the framing of it is all manner of screwed up. There’s tons of sexual coersion as well. Another one of the most problematic instances comes in an episode of season two, where Archer is repeatedly sexually assaulted by a sixteen-year-old German socialite. The show goes out of its way to make it clear that Archer explicitly refuses consent, that he’s being violated, yet the show treats this as funny.

While I get that this is a comedy show and that in-depth exploration of the trauma of sexual abuse isn’t going to be something they can spend a lot of time on, the option they should have gone with is, you know, not base an episode around a german schoolgirl raping the main character. It’s not funny, guys. It’s not necessary. It’s actually just uncomfortable and off-putting.

The show mentions things like alternative gender identities, emotional triggers, and sexual exploration in ways that treat these things as totally valid, which is good. It also frequently portrays poor people as jokes in and of themselves, which is a lot less good. While materialism is lampooned frequently, it’s not treated as a joke in and of itself the way poverty is.

The way the show often portray legitimate abuse for laughs also often goes overboard. While the show does a good job of exploring and following through on all the ways Mallory’s abuse screwed up Archer, there’s a point where the volume of “abuse humor” gets to just be downright gross. Dark humor is one thing, not being able to go an episode without a “Haha, ten-year-old archer was abandoned in a train station at Christmas!” joke is, uh… Not great.

Archer is an awesome, immensely watchable show. But it’s not one I always feel clean watching. It’s a show that celebrates extremes, yes, but there’s a point where certain lines are crossed and it’s just problematic rather than gallows humor.

Archer is one of those series that really makes me struggle to distinguish the gallows humor from the simple tastelessness. To give pause to the idea of problematic content being the “point.”

The line blurs with Archer. A lot. It often manages to distinguish itself with the things it gets right, especially since they often do well on things that most shows, movies, and books are often terrible at. And that’s enough to buy it some goodwill for when they screw up.

But seriously, guys, please stop treating sexual coercion and child abuse as bottomless gag wells. I would have really preferred to have Pam and her awesome sexuality without her sexually assaulting Cyril and Ray. It’s not funny or clever or edgy. It’s just gross.

#archer fx #your fave is problematic #anon #feminism

[bopinion]

2023 / 04

Aperçu of the Week:

“The person who says it cannot be done, should not interrupt the person doing it.”

(Chinese proverb)

Bad News of the Week:

Two of the most serious terrorist attacks in Europe in recent times happened in France. On November 13, 2015, 130 people died in Paris, and on July 14, 2016, 86 died in Nice. In the first case, the perpetrators were about a dozen terrorists heavily armed with automatic rifles and well prepared. In the second case, a single man with a truck. What I'm getting at is that it's not just the U.S. stereotype of easy access to firearms that is dangerous to the population. With the appropriate criminal or extremist energy, even a vehicle can become a deadly weapon. Or a knife, as everyone has in their kitchen.

That's exactly what happened in Europe this week. Twice. In northern Germany near Hamburg, two young people were killed Wednesday on a regional train, and five others were injured. In southern Spain on Thursday, one was killed and three injured in front of a church. What makes the whole thing more horrific than the comparatively low number of victims are two backgrounds that are virtually identical for both perpetrators - of course they were men.

Both have a migration background, originating from Palestine and Morocco respectively. Neither of them succeeded in integrating into society, and a variety of difficulties are on record. And both were under police surveillance. The terrorist in Germany had been released from prison only six days earlier; his record in this country includes numerous violent crimes; nothing is known about him before that. The offender in Spain is said to be increasingly radicalized; his deportation proceedings have been underway for six months. This is grist to the mill of all those who take to the streets and shout cheap slogans against migration. After all, both acts seem to prove their pseudo-arguments right.

Hardly anyone in this world should have as much experience with "collective guilt" as we Germans. And this is exactly what people from the Middle East know here as well as those from the Maghreb in Spain. If in any public bus in Europe there is a seat free next to a visibly "not from here" passenger and one next to a compatriot, statistically 95% will sit next to the latter, even if the seat is further away. And most of them would describe themselves as tolerant and open-minded and reject prejudice with honest indignation. The nasty term "latent racism" is unpopular but widely spread.

And that is precisely the point about migration. This can only be successful if both sides work at it. Integration is a debt to be discharged by those who, for whatever reason, are looking for a new home. And likewise for the environment that takes him in. It has to accept them, because without migration nothing would work anymore. Anyone who doubts this should take a look at those who work, for example, in garbage collection, cleaning crews or nursing services. These are precisely the jobs that are never on the list when children are asked what they want to exercise as profession as adults.

Successful integration is therefore a win-win situation. And it is especially important for the survival of an aging society. I wish so much for more curiosity than reservations. Tea and coffee, apples and cherries, jazz and tango, pepper and parsley, cotton and silk, potatoes and rice, pizza and kebab would all be unknown to us if we were not open to new and foreign things.

Good News of the Week:

60 years of the Élysée Treaty. Even if the Franco-German engine sometimes sputters a little, it still runs quite well. Or as Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire says: "It's running very well. Contrary to what I hear here and there, the engine is working!" Or to stay with the metaphor, Renault and Volkswagen's platform strategy is a functional basis for the European mobility project.

At the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Germany to become "pioneers of the refoundation of our Europe" together with France. This role belongs to the two neighboring states, he said, because they walked the path of reconciliation together after World War II. Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, François Mitterand and Helmut Kohl, Jacques Chirac and Angela Merkel - without the hand of the two largest countries on the European continent, there would be neither the European Union nor the Euro.

This must never be forgotten in the minutiae of everyday political life: Europe can only do well if the Franco-German partnership does well. Especially when the British have decided - once again - to take their island status literally. This is an appeal that I would particularly like to make to Olaf Scholz. Because Emmanuel Macron has long since understood what his German counterpart is still struggling with: positioning himself between U.S. expectations and Russian detachment as the only thing that objectively makes sense. Namely, to lead Europe together.

It fits into the picture that Henri will be joining us next week. A French exchange student from near Paris. This reminds me of the background of my own youthful experience abroad. It even lasted a year, took me to French Canada three and a half decades ago, and still shapes me today. The organization was and is called the American Field Service. A charity that cared for the wounded on the battlefield in both world wars - whether friend or foe. Then they had the idea, as simple as it was brilliant, that it would be easier for everyone involved if there were no wars at all.

How to do that? By promoting intercultural understanding. Those who know and understand other peoples will probably think twice before they want to fight them. Works. Really. "It's not better or worse. It's just different." was our motto back then. Or just in French, "Ce n'est pas mieux ou pire. C'est juste different." If you look benevolently at the other, you will always find more things that unite you than divide you. If the former hereditary enemies France and Germany can manage that, nothing is impossible.

Personal happy moment of the week:

Okay, I'll try: I figured out why our clothes dryer stopped working properly. My daughter narrowly avoided a more serious accident with her bike on the slick road the day before yesterday. Defrosting the freezer succeeded without flooding. My son's last five grades at school are A's four times and a B once. At work, I finally finished a pesky major project... I suspect that I need to eat more chocolate, that one of these aspects will manage to make me truly happy.

I couldn't care less...

...that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is facing opposition to her idea of a tribunal under Ukrainian law with international judges. After all, she is the highest-ranking politician who is thinking aloud about how Vladimir Putin could also be held criminally accountable for his war of aggression, which violates international law. What else would remain? There is the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, but that court, by statute, can only hear cases in which the plaintiff and defendant are members of the court or a case is referred by the United Nations Security Council. Russia is not part of the Court and, as a permanent member with veto power in the UN Security Council, can and will block a referral to the Court. Alternatively, we can only hope for biology: Putin is 70 years old. The life expectancy of Russian men is currently 68.

As I write this...

...I already have a suggestion for the misname of the year: "Panzerwende". Meaning "tank turnaround". Meaning the western allies, who after long hesitation now want to deliver so-called battle tanks to Ukraine. I don't see a turnaround. Just another step on the way to give an innocent country the equipment it needs to defend itself more effectively against the aggressor.

Post Scriptum

This year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the "Doomsday Clock" forward. The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight - the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been. Mainly though not exclusively because of the rising dangers of the war over Ukraine. Since the scientists base their assessment not only on the nuclear issue, but also on other negative factors mankind is confronted with. So the omnipresent polycrisis. The clock is ticking.

#thoughts #aperçu #good news #bad news #news of the week #happy moments #politics #chinese proverb #terrorists #weapons #europe #prejudice #racism #migration #integration #elysee #Treaty #france #germany #european union #Euro #chocolate #annalena baerbock #vladimir putin #criminal #battle tank #doomsday clock #ukraine #russia #win win

[shape]

Für die WELT hat Frederik Schindler mit Stephan Grigat über linken Israelhass gesprochen. Das Interview findet sich morgen auch in der Printausgabe, ist online derzeit aber nur mit Digital-Abo zu lesen. Hier einige Fragen & Antworten aus dem zweiten Teil des Gesprächs:

WELT: In postkolonialen Theorien, von denen Teile der deutschen Linken heute stark geprägt sind, gelten Israelis und Juden als weiß und privilegiert.

Grigat: Das ignoriert völlig die Geschichte des europäischen Antisemitismus. Und es zeugt von völliger Unkenntnis der israelischen Gesellschaft, in der sehr viele Juden aus arabischen, iranischen oder äthiopischen Familien kommen.

WELT: In Berlin riefen linke Studenten kürzlich „Free Palestine from German guilt“. Ist das die Schuldkult-These aus der extremen Rechten von links?

Grigat: Ja, das ist eine neue Form von Schuldabwehr, diesmal von links. Solche Parolen sind eingebettet in den „Historikerstreit 2.0“, in dessen Rahmen nun nicht mehr rechte, sondern linke Historiker versuchen, die Besonderheiten des Nationalsozialismus in allgemeinen Begriffen von Kolonialismus, Imperialismus und Rassismus zum Verschwinden zu bringen. Sie wollen Israel ganz ungehemmt attackieren können.

WELT: Diese Historiker haben sich nun erneut zu Wort gemeldet und warnen vor einem Vergleich des Hamas-Terrors mit dem Nationalsozialismus.

Grigat: Es ist absurd, dass diejenigen, die die ganze Zeit den Nationalsozialismus mit allem möglichen vergleichen wollten, ausgerechnet nach einem der schlimmsten Ausbrüche eines Vernichtungsantisemitismus meinen, man dürfe das nicht machen. Der 7. Oktober war nicht nur ein Massaker und ein Pogrom, sondern eine Vernichtungsaktion. Es ist nachvollziehbar, dass sich viele Juden an Bilder aus der Shoa erinnert gefühlt haben.

WELT: Beim Parteitag der Linkspartei tobte kürzlich ein Streit über den israelisch-palästinensischen Konflikt. Ein Redner bezeichnete die Hamas als Teil des „palästinensischen Widerstands“, der langjährige Berliner Linke-Chef Klaus Lederer kritisierte hingegen linken Antisemitismus.

Grigat: Lederer ist in der Partei deutlich wichtiger als der andere genannte Redner. Aus den durchaus vorhandenen proisraelischen oder auch islamkritischen Positionen werden aber nicht deutlich genug Konsequenzen gezogen. Pro-Hamas-Äußerungen müssten zu einem sofortigen Parteiausschluss führen. Und eine abstrakte Verteidigung von Israels Existenzrecht ist einfach viel zu wenig. Gerade materialistische Staatskritiker sollten ja wissen, dass diese Existenz einzig und allein durch die israelische Armee gewährleistet wird.

WELT: Wie bewerten Sie die Positionierungen zu Israel innerhalb der SPD und Grünen?

Grigat: Bei den Grünen hatte es in den 1980er-Jahren noch eine Hegemonie von antiisraelischen Positionen gegeben. Das ist heute ganz eindeutig nicht mehr so. Die deutlichen und wichtigen Solidarisierungen der Parteispitzen von Grünen und SPD in der aktuellen Situation stehen allerdings in einer Diskrepanz zur bisherigen Politik gegenüber den unmittelbaren Feinden Israels. Die SPD und auch alle anderen Parteien haben das iranische Regime lange Jahre geradezu hofiert. Ausgesprochen begrüßenswert ist, dass in den linken Jugendorganisationen eine viel konsequentere Position als in den Mutterparteien besteht, was die Kritik am Antisemitismus und politischen Islam angeht.

WELT: Die AfD präsentiert sich als Antisemitismus-kritisch und häufig auch als Israel-freundlich – und behauptet, mit ihrer migrationsfeindlichen Politik „Garant jüdischen Lebens“ zu sein. Stimmt das?

Grigat: Natürlich nicht. Die AfD befördert den Antisemitismus durch eine aggressive Schuldabwehr und ihr strömungsübergreifendes Gerede von einem angeblichen Schuldkult. Dennoch muss man konstatieren, dass Teile der Partei Probleme mit dem politischen Islam früher und deutlicher angesprochen haben als andere Parteien. Die AfD hat die Benennung dieser Probleme aber nahezu durchgängig ausgehend von einer Fremdenfeindlichkeit und einem ethnopluralistischen Weltbild betrieben. Das trägt zur Lösung dieser Probleme nichts bei. In Teilen der Partei gibt es außerdem große Sympathien für den Autoritarismus und den Antisemitismus des politischen Islam. Das sollte man in Zukunft stärker im Auge haben.

#israel #linker antisemitismus #antisemitismus #israelsolidarität

[shape]

Als die Nachrichten von dem mörderischen Überfall islamischer Terroristen auf Israel um die Welt gingen, schockierten die Bilder, die von verzweifelt um ihr Leben laufenden Teilnehmern des Nova-Festival gefilmt wurden. Grauenvolle Aufnahmen weiterer Massaker gingen durch die Medien. ( https://sites.google.com/view/hamas-massacre-new/ )

Schnell dürfte klar geworden sein, dass es sich um einen groß angelegten Angriff des politischen Islam handelte, dem Bürger mit 35 Nationalitäten zum Opfer fielen (1400 Zivilisten und Soldaten ermordet, 4100 Menschen verletzt, über 200 entführt, hunderte Menschen werden in Israel vermisst).

Als erste menschliche Reaktion hätte man erwarten können, dass man sich angesichts der brutalen Gräueltaten öffentlich betroffen zeigt, Anteilnahme mit den Opfern zeigt, sich klar gegen die Feinde des Lebens positioniert, sich gegen islamischen Antisemitismus ausspricht und Solidarität mit Israel zeigt. Man kann ganz pragmatische Hilfe leisten: Spenden sammeln für Opferhilfsorganisationen, Traumatherapien und zur Unterstützung der Verteidigung Israels aufrufen, die Einstellung deutscher und europäischer Zahlungen an Terrororganisationen fordern. Man kann öffentlich Verantwortung übernehmen, dass so etwas nicht wieder geschieht. Offenbar sind deutsche Kulturschaffende dazu nicht imstande. Bei "heiklen Themen" hält sich auch der prekäre Unterbau, der so bedacht auf öffentliche „Reichweite“ ist, zurück. STAND FOR ISRAEL? Allgemeine Interessen verteidigen? Fehlanzeige! Im Land der Enkel- und Urenkel der Judenvernichtung, das für seine expandierende Festival- und Veranstaltungsbranche bewundert wird, mit einer großen Vielfalt an Technofestivals, einer vielseitigen Clubkultur, linken Kulturszenen die viel auf Awareness, Wokeness und politcal corectness geben, schweigt man sich nach dem größten antisemitischen Massaker seit der nationalsozialistischen Judenvernichtung aus. Nichts ist zu hören von DJs und Veranstaltern, die durchaus die Möglichkeit haben sich im unreglementierten öffentlichen Raum, auf ihren Social-Media-Kanälen zu äußern. Dabei ist es nicht schwer zu begreifen, dass ihre eigene Lebenweise, ihre Vorstellungen von Freiheit und die Grundlagen zivilen Lebens vom islamischen Terror angegriffen wurden und weiterhin bedroht werden. ( https://www.mena-watch.com/anschlage-wachsende-is-bedrohung-in-europa/ | https://www.kritiknetz.de/images/stories/texte/islam_is_lame.pdf )

Courage zeigen diejenigen, die staatliche Kulturförderung für sich zu nutzen wissen und mit ihren Steuerabgaben auch staatliche Unterstützungsprogramme für den islamischen Terrorismus mitfinanzieren, nicht einmal jetzt nach 15 Tagen des anhaltenden Grauens. ( https://www.mena-watch.com/sadistischer-mord-belohnt-von-europa/ ) Damit ist die absolute Mehrheit der Kulturschaffenden ganz auf Linie des deutschen Kulturbetriebs:

>> Einfach zwei, drei liebevolle Sätze schreiben, ein wenig Mitgefühl zeigen, dem Hass widersprechen: DIE WELT hat eine Reihe Promis gefragt, die gerne ihr „Gesicht zeigen“, wenn es gegen rechts geht. Die Islamo-Faschisten der Hamas werden offenbar eher „links“ verortet, es regnete Absagen. Gesicht zeigen? Gegen Judenhass? Das wagen 4 von 25. << https://www.ruhrbarone.de/still-wie-ein-grab-in-den-lueften-warum-der-deutsche-kulturbetrieb-zum-judenhass-schweigt/225362/

Schlimmer geht immer: Nicht „Free Palestine from HAMAS!“ forderten Demonstranten aus dem linksakademischen Milieu, sondern skandierten mittels Schuldkult-Legende den Slogan „Free Palestine from German guilt“. Damit soll die deutsche Verantwortung für die nationalsozialistische Terrorherrschaft abgewehrt, sich also von der eigenen historische Verantwortung befreit werden. Von der Existenz des Staates Israel fühlen sie sich an die Taten ihrer Großeltern beim NS-Terror gegen die europäischen Juden erinnert, imaginieren sich selbst als Opfer der lebenden jüdischen und Israelischen Interessen und identifizieren sich mit der Selbstwahrnehmung der Palästinenser als Opfervolk. ( https://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/article248081004/Anti-Israel-Demo-Berlin-Linke-Studenten-und-die-Schuldkult-Legende.html )

Im Schweigen zum politischen Islam, mit dieser Verleugnung des islamischen Terrors, der Relativierung des islamischen Antisemitismus zeigen weite Teile der deutschen Bevölkerung, dass sie eben keine Verantwortung dafür übernehmen wollen, dass Auschwitz sich nicht wiederhole, nichts Ähnliches geschehe. Damit verliert die Mahnung Walther Benjamins nichts an ihrer Aktualität: „Dass es so weitergeht, ist die Katastrophe.“