#no pegida

[unfug-bilder]

Der Postillon (11/2015)

[kropotkindersurprise]

January 13, 2024 - Edwin Wagensveld, leader of Dutch fascist group PEGIDA, came to Arnhem to attempt to burn the Quran. Wagensveld and his four fascist friends were completely outnumbered by anti-fascist and Muslim locals, and despite heavy-handed riot police protection it was another humiliating defeat for PEGIDA. They tried and failed twice at setting the book on fire, Wagensveld got a flying kick to the face, and in the end the counter-demonstrators rushed the scene and managed to save the Quran that the fascists had brought to burn. [video]

[blofeldt]

🇩🇪 20.10.2024 Dresden - #PEGIDA feiert 10 Jahre Widerstand! #Ungarn

[rwpohl]

[martyncrucefix]

Greedy alpha-creatures: the poetry of Ulrike Almut Sandig

I’m shocked to realise that it is a full year since I posted my review of the stunning long poem, Porcelain, by the contemporary German poet, Durs Grünbein, in Karen Leeder’s equally impressive translation (Seagull Books, 2020). That review was originally commissioned for, and published in, Patricia McCarthy’s penultimate issue of Agenda (those who follow such things will know that Patricia has…

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Reports that some police officers don’t want to be deployed to protect Jewish institutions over moral objections to the violence in Gaza and Lebanon have caused outrage in the Netherlands. The police said it makes space for officers’ moral objections and switches shifts to accommodate for that where possible, but if there is an emergency or urgent situation, police officers respond regardless of their personal feelings. Justice Minister David van Weel and several parliamentarians are very critical.

“During the preparations that were made for the security of the Holocaust Museum, there were colleagues who did not want to be deployed there,” Michiel Theeboom, part of the Jewish Police Network within the national police, told the Telegraaf. “They talk about ‘moral dilemmas,’ and I see a tendency to give in to that.” He called that very concerning and “the beginning of the end.”

Mireille Beentjes, a spokesperson for the police force management, confirmed that there are police officers who object to certain assignments. “There is no strict policy for this. The line is that police officers are allowed to have moral objections,” she told the Telegraaf. “We take moral objections into account when drawing up schedules. But if there is an urgent response, you are simply deployed. Whether you object or not. You have to behave professionally. Others should not notice anything.”

Beentjes said that objections aren’t isolated to Jewish institutions. Officers also have moral objections to being deployed to farmers' protests, climate protests, and the Koran burning by Pegida. “It hurts them when the Koran is burned, but at the same time, they have to protect the people who do it,” she said.

[mariacallous]

In recent days, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has capitulated to the far-right anti-immigration agenda of Marine Le Pen. In July, in an electoral pact with the left, he sought a firewall against her. Now he has turned rightwards, giving her an effective veto over prime minister Michel Barnier’s new government.

By the end of the month, the Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ), founded by two former members of the SS, Anton Reinthaller and Friedrich Peter, is expected to form an anti-immigration,pro-Russian government. It will cement a new hard-right axis across Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, and more importantly, Italy, where step by step the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni (who met Keir Starmer on Monday), is accused of taking control of the press and the judiciary.

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has just won the east German regional elections in Thuringia and came second in Saxony. This is despite Germany’s domestic intelligence agency listing the AfD in three states as an “extremist” organisation, reflecting concerns about the Holocaust denial and links to far-right political violence of some of its members – and their invoking of banned Nazi slogans, for which the party’s Thuringian leader, Björn Höcke, has twice been found guilty in German courts.

But while Germany’s centre-right opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, who last year supported coalitions with the AfD in local government, has now refused to enter any national or regional coalition with the AfD, he has come closer to much of its anti-immigration agenda. He now wants “to talk about the issue of repatriation” of existing residents.

Now Höcke is openly mocking what he calls the “dumb firewall” against him, forecasting that it will not last. And last week the German coalition government reacted to the AfD’s success by tightening control of its bordersin an effort to curb irregular migration.

Another lurch rightward came with the decision last month by the Dutch health minister, a member of Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party, to refuse requests from African countries for urgent help in the fight against mpox, even when the Dutch stockpile runs to 100,000 boxes of unused vaccines – many of which will pass their use-by date next year.

The spectre haunting Europe is not communism, as Karl Marx once wrote, but far-right extremism. And not much is left of the cordon sanitaire that was to keep out the far right. Europe now has seven governments with hard-right parties in control or in coalition, with Austria likely to be next, as once-immovable barriers to contamination are swept aside by centre-right appeasers.

“Breaking point” was the slogan on a poster that Nigel Farage deployed in 2016 during the Brexit referendum campaign, portraying bearded and dark-skinned migrants appearing to march in droves towards us. The exact same photograph was later replicated in Hungary, with the caption changed from “Breaking point” to “Stop”.

Similar slogans include “Stop the invasion” (“Stop invasione”), used by Matteo Salvini’s Italian League party; and “Close the borders” (“Grenzen dicht”), adopted by German far-right groups the AfD and Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West).

A few years ago, when the now-imprisoned former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon attempted to form a global coalition of anti-globalists, he managed to herd together a number of Europe’s rightwing leaders, from Nigel Farage to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. He was involved in setting up an “Academy for the Judeo-Christian West” in Italy. And Trump’s “America first” Republican party is now one of many to adopt the “my country first” slogan.

Spain’s far-right Vox party has used “Primero lo nuestro. Primero los españoles”; Italy’s League, “Prima gli Italiani”; Hungary’s Fidesz party, “Nekünk Magyarország az első”; Germany’s AfD, “Unser Land zuerst”; Austria’s FPÖ, “Österreich zuerst”; and the Swiss People’s Party, “Die Schweiz zuerst”.

Outside Europe, “Önce Türkiye” (“Turkey First”) is promoted by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party. The far-right Japan First party marches under the banner of “日本第一” (“Japan first”). “India first” has been adopted by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party.

Variations on this theme include “Polska dla Polaków” (“Poland for Poles”),used by nationalists in Poland, Vox’s slogan “España viva” (“Long live Spain”), and “Brasil acima de tudo” (“Brazil above everything”), used by Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro.

In all, about 50 countries have already gone to the polls in 2024. “Fears that this year would reflect the global triumph of illiberal populism have so far been proved wrong,” Francis Fukuyama, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy and the author of the End of History and the Last Man thesis, has concluded. “Democratic backsliding can and has been resisted in many countries.”

He can, of course, point to the return of Labour in Britain, the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission, the shift away from the far right in Poland and the setback for Modi in India. But the Polish and Indian results tell me no more than tolerance of rightwing extremism can ebb when the electorate finds out that the nationalist demagogues are good at exploiting grievances, but bad at eradicating them.

And so we must not forget what has happened in countries from Indonesia to Argentina, the knife-edge fight for power in the US and – what Fukuyama misses in Europe – the insidious surrender of the centre to far-right prejudice.

Of course, there are ways to frustrate the onward rush of rightwing populists. Not only did the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, defeat the right in national elections last year, but he has skilfully engineered a split between Spain’s centre-right People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox over the fate of vulnerable child migrants. Until July the two were in coalition in five key regions: Valencia, Aragón, Murcia, Extremadura and Castilla y León.

But it was not the centre-right PP that abandoned the extreme-right Vox; it was the extreme right that walked away from the centre right. And as long as the so-called moderates continue to play with fire – believing that by keeping their opponent close, they can eventually tame the beast – they will continue to lose. Sooner rather than later, the far-right poison will have to be countered with a progressive agenda focused on what matters to people most: jobs, standards of living, fairness and bridging the morally indefensible gap between rich and poor.

[nevzatboyraz44]

THE YOUNG MUSLIM DID NOT HAVE THE QURAN BURNED!

In the Netherlands, a Muslim young man prevented the attempt of Edwin Wagensveld, the leader of the anti-Islamic organization PEGIDA, to burn the Holy Quran.

Sacrifice your heart, brother!

🇹🇷🤲🇹🇷🤲🇹🇷🤲🇹🇷🤲🇹🇷🤲🇹🇷 #TurkeyCentury 🇹🇷💯 #Turan 🤘 #Red Apple 🍎

[unfug-bilder]

Hin und wieder simulieren sie in Sachsen Aktionismus gegen rechts. Das immer erst nach langer Bedenkzeit und nur, wenn sich die (strafbaren) Sachverhalte partout nicht leugnen lassen. Die "Ermittlungen" dauern dann 2-3 Jahre und verlaufen in 97% der Fälle im Sande.

[single-nachtmahr-in-your-area]

"Unter den Fraktions- und Abgeordnetenmitarbeitern sind Personen, die namentlich in Verfassungsschutzberichten erwähnt werden und solche, die Führungspositionen in beobachteten Organisationen bekleiden. Der BR ist auf Teilnehmer an Neonazi-Aufmärschen in Chemnitz, Dortmund, Dresden, Magdeburg und Zwickau in der Mitarbeiterschaft gestoßen. Auch dabei sind Personen, die etwa im Zusammenhang mit Reichsbürgergruppierungen oder der rechtsextremen Preppergruppe "Endkampf" in Erscheinung getreten sind. Mitarbeiter haben lokale Pegida-Ableger gegründet und "Querdenker"-Demonstrationen organisiert.

Mehr als die Hälfte der AfD-Abgeordneten beschäftigen Personen, die in Organisationen aktiv sind, die vom Verfassungsschutz als rechtsextrem eingestuft werden. Darunter sind nach BR-Recherchen auch die Fraktionsvorsitzenden Alice Weidel und Tino Chrupalla."

[claraameliapond]

Failed attempt by anti Islam Dutch group to burn the Quran - this literal symbolism is glorious 💖💗 The spirit and faith of the Quran and Muslim people can never be destroyed 💖💗🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🫒🫒🫒🫒🫒🫒🫒🫒 Friendly reminder for all those swayed and misled into anti Islamic feelings and thoughts and actions by Palestine's plight coming forth into the light of the global stage's central focus, this massive terrorist attack on Palestine by "Israel " has nothing to do with religion. Anyone, including Christians and atheists that happen to be in Palestine are targets of Israel - anyone that isn't them. They want it just for themselves, they don't want to share. Very dalek mentality, as the daleks were based on the Nazis. Zionism is the new Nazism, don't get misled now.

[confessiononadancefloor]

ich hasse deutschland so sehr was ist das pro palästina demos werden verboten aber pegida damals wurde alles durchgelassen

[messersschneide]

In interessanten Zeiten leben

Wisst ihr, was man im alten Rom früher sagte, wenn man jemandem ganz höflich und diskret einen schlechten Tag wünschen wollte? „Mögest du in interessanten Zeiten leben.“

Es gibt einen Tagebucheintrag von einem jungen Mädchen aus dem Jahre 1969, sie schrieb, dass sie in einem Kulturzentrum gewesen war, in gelben Cordhosen und einer Bluse, Ian hatte sie nicht beachtet, aber irgendjemand hatte ihr Schmuck in die Tasche gelegt, vermutlich Nicholas, UGH, so ein Creep, dieser Nicholas, schrieb sie, und ach ja: es gab 'ne Mondlandung.

Als es die Mondlandung gab, war ich noch nicht auf der Welt.

Als es die Anschläge auf das World Trade Center gab, war ich schon auf der Welt, aber noch nicht in Deutschland. Ich bin 2002 mit meiner Mutter eingewandert, damals gab es die Einladung an Russlanddeutsche sowie Menschen mit jüdischen Wurzeln aus den ehemaligen GUS-Staaten. Eine Art Reparation. Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden.

Als 2006 zur Fußball-WM die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden war, war ich gerade vom Gymnasium geflogen.

Als Deutschland 2014 Fußball-Weltmeister wurde, klammerte ich mich an die Schultern meiner damaligen Partnerin, iranischer Vater, deutsche blonde Mutter, und weinte, und man klopfte an die Fenster ihres Autos und rief uns zu, Deutschland habe gewonnen, Deutschland sei Meister, Deutschland, Deutschland, Deutschland.

Als 2015 die PEGIDA-Demos (wer erinnert sich noch an PEGIDA) schon wieder weniger wurden, habe ich einen Auftragstext gegen PEGIDA geschrieben, es war ein verächtlicher Text, wie die meisten, wir nannten sie „Wahnmache“, wir nahmen sie nicht ernst, man müsse ja nun wirklich nicht mehr auf Bühnen nach Zustimmung heischen mit einem „Nazis doof“-Text vor einem Publikum, das genauso progressiv und gebildet und rundum gut ist wie wir selbst. Und Nazis sind dumm, deswegen berichtigten wir damals auf Facebook ihre Grammatik.

Als im Februar 2020 in Hanau ein rechtsradikaler Attentäter eine Shisha-Bar stürmte und neun Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund erschoss, hat die BILD-Zeitung geschrieben, dass es sich um eine sogenannte „Milieutat“ durch Russen handeln musste. Am nächsten Tag fand das Kölner Karneval statt.

Ich habe keine Ahnung, was ich an diesem Tag gemacht hatte. Ich habe nie Tagebuch geführt, so interessant ist mein Leben nicht. Wahrscheinlich Katzenvideos geschaut und Flusen aus meinem Bauchnabel gezogen. Wahrscheinlich das gleiche wie das, was ich einen Monat später im Corona-Lockdown gemacht hatte. Ich konnte es mir leisten, mich in interessanten Zeiten zu langweilen.

Wisst ihr noch, wo ihr wart, als der Faschismus wiederkehrte?

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, wird er nicht sagen: „Ich bin der Faschismus“, sondern: „Ich bin der Anti-Faschismus“. Das sagte der italienische Schriftsteller Ignazio Silone 1978.

Das hat der italienische Schriftsteller Ignazio Silone vermutlich nie so gesagt.

Es gibt keine stichhaltigen Beweise, nur eine halb erinnerte Anekdote aus dem Buch eines Bekannten, nur einen lange nicht korrigierten Eintrag auf Wikipedia, nur ein Meme, ein Meme, ein Meme. Italienische Schriftsteller haben mehr Autorität, aber an Memes erinnert man sich besser.

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, wird er nicht sagen: „Ich bin der Faschismus“, sondern, dass man die große Gefahr des Linksextremismus unbedingt ernst nehmen müsste, sich vor einem Linksruck schützen, linke Gewalttaten brennende Autos und Mülltonnen schwarzer vermummter Mob links links links.

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, wird er nicht sagen: „Ich bin der Faschismus“, sondern: „Brennende Flüchtlingsheime sind kein Akt der Aggression, sondern ein Akt der Verzweiflung gegen Beschlüsse von oben.“, und: „Hitler und die Nazis sind nur ein Vogelschiss in über 1.000 Jahren erfolgreicher deutscher Geschichte.“

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, wird er nicht sagen: „Ich bin der Faschismus“, sondern: „I bims, der Faschismus“, denn wir haben 2017. 2017 zog die AfD zum ersten Mal in den Bundestag ein, als drittstärkste Kraft.

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, wird er nicht sagen: „Ich bin der Faschismus“, sondern: wir müssen die AfD mit den besseren Argumenten entzaubern, wir müssen den Dialog aufrechterhalten, wir müssen die Ängste der Bürger ernst nehmen.

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, wird er nicht sagen: „Ich bin der Faschismus“, sondern: „Wir müssen die Grenzen dicht machen und dann die grausamen Bilder aushalten“ und „Wir müssen endlich im großen Stil abschieben“. Einer dieser Sätze stammt von Alexander Gauland von der AfD, einer von Olaf Scholz, SPD, amtierender Bundeskanzler. Ich sage aber nicht, welcher.

Als sich führende Persönlichkeiten der Neuen Rechten, hochrangige Politiker und ihre Unterstützer aus der Wirtschaft in Potsdam trafen, gab es deutschlandweit Demonstrationen. 250.000 Teilnehmende insgesamt. Nie wieder ist jetzt.

Als der Faschismus 1933 zum ersten Mal einkehrte, gingen 150.000 Menschen in Berlin auf die Straße. Fünf Tage später wurde Adolf Hitler zum Reichskanzler ernannt.

Als ich die Schilder auf den „Nie wieder ist jetzt“-Demos gesehen habe, die Kacheln auf Instagram, stand in einigen davon: „Gegen AfD, weil ich Döner mag“. Wir brauchen Fachkräfte, wer stutzt euch den Bart, wer sticht den Spargel, wer wischt eurer dementen Oma den Arsch. Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden, zu Gast, zu Gast, zu Gast.

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, wird er sagen: „Immerhin haben wir jetzt so viele Ausländer im Land, dass sich ein Holocaust mal wieder lohnen würde.“

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, wird er genau das sagen: „Ich bin der Faschismus“. Er wird lange genug gewartet haben. Er ist geduldig. Er war nie wirklich weg gewesen.

Ich bin 2002 mit sieben Jahren nach Deutschland gezogen. Mein Deutsch ist perfekt. Wenn ich wollte, könnte ich in den sozialen Medien die Rechtschreibung von Nazis korrigieren. Ich habe keine Angst. Ich habe lange keine Angst gehabt. Ich konnte es mir leisten, mich in interessanten Zeiten zu langweilen.

Ich bin migrantisch, aber immerhin weiß und mit deutschem Pass, ich bin bisexuell, aber immerhin nicht lesbisch und nicht transgender, ich bin psychisch krank, aber kann mich gut verstellen, ich habe jüdische Wurzeln, aber immerhin nur großväterlicherseits, ich bin gebildet, integriert, ich gehöre zu Den Guten. Ich bin ein Frosch im langsam aufkochenden Wasser, es ist warm, es ist nicht einmal unangenehm. Es ist alles in Ordnung, ich würde nicht zu den ersten gehören, die man an die Wand stellt.

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, was werdet ihr sagen?

Was werdet ihr tun?

Wann stellt man euch an die Wand?

Und wenn nicht euch, dann eure Freundinnen und Freunde, eure Partnerinnen und Partner, eure Familie, eure Nachbarn?

Vielleicht habt ihr sie nicht. Vielleicht habt ihr nichts zu verlieren als euren liebsten Dönermann. Dann bleibt der Topf, in dem wir kochen, für euch eben ein Whirlpool. Es ist kalt in Deutschland, es ist deutsch in Kaltland.

Bis ihr wieder sagen müsst, dass ihr ja im Widerstand wart, wie man es von euch erwartet.

Wenn der Faschismus wiederkehrt, weiß ich, was ich sagen werde. Diese Geschichte wird nicht mit meinem, nicht mit unserem Blut geschrieben.

[schwazombie]

So yesterday while I was out I saw the boldest sticker the Neos have printed and put out yet. It straight up said 'NS Zone' and had the Reichsadler on it. Black red and white. It was right at eye height and the adhesive on the sticker was super strong -- as in, I couldn't even get a corner to come up to at least tear part of it down. The neos in the area had already started putting their stickers up higher and, since we kept tearing them down anyway, changed the adhesive on them or started putting extra glue on the back or something because they won't come off anymore. But this... this is a new level. 'NS Zone'.

So I took a picture of it and sent it to my friends because what in the actual fuck and when I told one of them that I am so fucking tired she said that I had to take it with a bit of humour.

Humour.

These people want me dead. I'm a nonbinary aromantic bisexual autistic unemployed foreigner. I am so many things they hate all rolled into one. I can't 'take it with a bit of humour'. I can't just laugh it off as oh, they're so dumb they spend their money on stickers and we just tear them down. I'm not 'uncomfortable' at seeing this. I am scared. My only saving grace is that I'm white so until I open my mouth it's not obvious that I'm not German. They aren't dumb. They are pushing the limit and defining their turf and letting people like them know that they and their hatred can get a foothold here.

You idiots. You absolute fuckers let them get a foothold with PEGIDA years ago. 'Gib Nazis keine Chance!' and then you let them start railing against Islam, saying they had a right to their opinion, and I had nothing to worry about. I had a colleague eight years ago who told me I had nothing to worry about, and I told her that this was just the start, that hatred was just the beginning and if we let it take root it would grow. Then the AfD came along just a few years later and so many people excused them because these poor people were just fed up, they had no voice, there were problems not being addressed and they were suffering and we needed to understand their position. They wouldn't have voted AfD if someone had listened to them. 'Gib Nazis keine Chance'. What in the legitimate actual fuck did y'all think that meant? Hating Muslims wasn't enough, and so they targeted all foreigners. Foreigners are taking all our jobs, foreigners who aren't learning German, foreigners with accents and their sinful ways. Did y'all not notice when the one AfD politician specifically said that by women she meant 'blau augige, blonde deutsche Frauen'?? Oh, but there's no reason to worry. It's just a fringe group. You're safe. And then I start seeing stickers. Anti-LGBTQ+. Don't hate just Muslims. Don't hate just all foreigners. Hate them, and hate anyone who isn't cishet, too. 'Keine Lust auf Linke Versager!' 'Volksverräter' with the symbol for the green party thrown in a trash can. 'Unsere Stadt Verteidigen!' with the symbols for antifa, Islam, and LGBTQ in red circles crossed out. 'Unsere Stadt hält Stand!' with a website for the Junge Nationalisten.

'NS Zone' with the Reichsadler in black, red, and white.

I'm tired and I'm scared.

[bopinion]

2023 / 02

Aperçu of the Week:

“What you do makes a difference. And you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

(Dr. Jane Goodall, Scientist & Animal rights activist)

Bad News of the Week:

In Kriebethal, Saxony, young refugees who came to Germany without parents - so-called "unaccompanied minor refugees" - are to be housed. It's ideal that a foster home is currently empty, because it's only a transitional period of six months and just 10 to 12 children and adolescents plus caregivers. No big deal. Actually. And yet there is tremendous resistance.

Spurred on by the right-wing populist AfD ("Alternative for Germany") and the far-right (officially categorized as such by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution!) movement "Free Saxons", citizens from the region took to the streets to protest. Basically against refugee housing in their perfect world. Basta. That these old familiar ringleaders pounce with enthusiasm on every new topic with which they can march against "the regime" from Berlin and the state capital Dresden is standard. That so many of the population after "Against the Euro", "Against Corona measures", "Against the European Union", "Against Russia sanctions" etc. but now also against the weakest of the weak can be instrumentalized - or worse: actually think like that - makes me but a little stunned.

It is important to know that refugees are also distributed throughout Germany according to the "Königstein Key," which takes into account both population and economic strength at the district level. So that it remains fair. And not overburden anyone. In this respect, this dwarf revolt is also undemocratic. But unfortunately this is not really surprising, especially in Saxony, where some parts of the population have a tradition of xenophobia (I am allowed to say this, since with a father from the East I can hardly be accused of bias). After all, at the time, tens of thousands of "Pegida" ("Patriots against the Islamization of the Occident") took to the streets of Dresden to demonstrate against Islamic foreign infiltration - with just 0.2% Muslims in the entire state.

The whole thing reminds me of a statement made by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015, when the right-wing peddled the argument that a million refugees (out of a population of 83 million) would "overcrowd" Germany: If there are already 83 people in a hall, it is not suddenly overcrowded if just one more enters. This calculation would result in an increase of 1.2%. In Kriebstein, to whose municipality Kriebethal belongs, there are a good 2,000 inhabitants. And we are talking about a maximum of 12 minors, i.e. 0.6% - that's just about half of it.

I am particularly annoyed by the whole thing, since it was precisely the new federal states that benefited disproportionately from the solidarity of others after the reunification of Germany. From economic development, which favored the East for decades, to the social safety net, which, for example, secured pensions for which no one had paid even a cent (or penny at the time) into the system. No one expects thanks for this. Because it was and is a matter of course of openness and kindness of heart. Which should also apply in this case. "Unaccompanied", "minor" and "refugee" - this triad is a horror for those affected. To this must not be added the feeling of being excluded, of being unwelcome, of having to fear.

Good News of the Week:

According to various experts, the ozone layer is well on its way to complete recovery. The atmospheric layer that protects humans and nature from ultraviolet solar radiation was extremely endangered in the 1980s. Initial effects were measurable in the southern hemisphere in particular, e.g. increased skin cancer rates in Australia.

Now, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and various researchers in the USA and Europe agree that a complete regeneration can be expected by about 2066, starting with the Arctic and ending with the Antarctic. And fortunately without geoengineering such as the introduction of aerosols into the atmosphere with feared incalculable effects on the world climate.

Crucial to this success is the implementation of the 1987 Montréal Protocol, which banned chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). This substance, formerly commonly used in sprays or refrigerators, was clearly identified as the primary source of damage to the ozone layer. And it worked. It can be that simple. Downright exemplary.

Exactly: an example. For CO2 abatement that is. If it was possible almost half a century ago to reach agreement on acting together to ban a substance that is clearly damaging to the basis of life, I don't see why it shouldn't work again. Come on!

Personal happy moment of the week:

What does "happy" actually mean exactly? Does it have to be the opposite of "sad" or can it also be seen as a kind of emotional fulfillment? Yesterday I went to the funeral of the mother of an old school friend. Along with a dozen others who sat together in the classroom nearly forty years ago. A sad occasion, actually, of course. But to experience how old comrades, who don't see each other too often (especially in the last years), embrace each other without big words, to feel a familiarity that has nothing to do with gloating buddiness, but simply with friendship, just gave me a good feeling.

I couldn't care less...

Fear of the possibly evil mother-in-law. Stupid jokes from dad. Fights with the older brother. Bad taste in costumes. First drug experience at 17. Family reservations about the partner. Self-distancing from war traumas. A groom drinking at his wedding. Did I forget one of the sensational revelations from the House of Windsor? Yes, I meant that ironically. For me, the most remarkable thing about this hard-to-follow hype about Harry & Meghan is the lucrative self-promotion, with which the two certainly take in no less than working royals. And all the media are playing along. And not just the ones on display at the hairdresser's.

As I write this...

...I once again resolve never to fall for Netflix hype again. While "Kaleidoscope" didn't turn out to be as big a waste of time as "Squid Game", it didn't live up to any great expectations. Let's see what new series we'll start tonight. Maybe "Wednesday" - nobody really seems to have that on their mind ;-)

Post Scriptum

Crises everywhere are not enough for the US Republicans. No, they want to use their majority in the House of Representatives, which started off with a rumble, primarily to attack Joe Biden. "The Biden family's business dealings involve a wide range of crimes, from human trafficking to possible violation of the Constitution," claims, for example, James Comer, freshly minted chairman of the Oversight Committee. Or Jim Jordan, chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, who announced in all seriousness that Biden had ordered the FBI to bribe Twitter to censor conservatives. Of course, one of the duties of Parliament is to control the government. However, you should have learned in your school days that you don't go out to play until your homework is done.

[creative-soul-22]

Okay, first of all: DIDN'T KNOW THAT!!

second: the original post was from 2015, where Europe in general had issues with islamistic terrorism and Germany had on top of that a refugee crisis (though I'm pretty sure the crisis wasn't limited to Germany like so many other Germans when it comes to this) and therefore a lot of anti islam propaganda was spread because Germans linked the islamistic terrorists with refugees and muslims in general. It even went so far that people formed a movement called PEGIDA (Patriotische Europäer Gegen die Islamisierung Des Abendlandes) ("patriotic Europeans against the islamization of the occident") with localized names, such as "DÜGIDA" spefically for Düsseldorf, for example.

This movement was a disgrace to Europe and Germany and my only hope is that they never come back from the hell they have been sent to. They were not only nationalistic in a nazi-like way, they were so xenophobic towards people from the Arabic area to the point they spread conspiracy theories about the islam in general. Disgusting, insulting, discriminating things I will not repeat here. What made things worse is that even politicians in high offices said things like "the islam does not belong to Germany" and far worse things.

I can't read the sticker throughly cause the letters are already scratched off but I assume it is a "Gib Islamisten keine Chance" (Give islamists no chance) sticker which is a total disgrace because it uses the same design as the "Gib Nazis keine Chance" (Give nazis no chance) stickers.

And third: I've never been that kind of person to put stickers in public places or to peal them off public places, mostly because they are disgusting.

Also, I've seen these stickers becoming less throughout the years plus I think most stickers are harmless, 2015 was a very extreme year.

But of course, being careful can't hurt!