Two days ago I wrote about the Anti-Corona protests in Berlin and the Far-Rights “storming” of the German Reichstag ( the Federal Parliament building ). It took a good day for politicians to respond to this photo-op maneuver by several extreme right groups. As expected, their reactions were the usual pre-programmed statements of shock and dismissal, similar to any Centrists reaction when their power is challenged.
Amazingly enough, a day later, the domestic intelligence police force aka secret, militarized, police force, executed 28 individual, unannounced house searches here in Hamburg, resulting in the arrest of over 50 people from the left wing political spectrum, specifically members of the local Roter Aufbau Hamburg group - which roughly translates to Red Insurrection- a local Communist group. To make that clear, this means that over 200 heavily armed, special police forces stormed 28 houses at gun point and arrested suspected members of this group under the pretense of forming a criminal organization. Specifically, members of this group are suspected (suspected being the key word here) of vandalism ( tagged a train ) as well as arson ( torched a car ) during the G20 riots in 2017.
Compare that to the police’s reaction when neo-nazis marched through Berlin displaying illegal flags, signs and songs of the 3rd Reich, openly calling and partly acting towards the destruction of democracy to instal a fascist, nationalistic government. In Germany. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that cops were photographed with white power stickers on and under their helmets.
This begs several questions and a clarification. First, the clarification. Right-Wing Extremism aims at violently overthrowing a, and all, democracies to install fascist, white, christian, male dominated authoritarian systems based on, and through violence. In the 21st Century, think the 3rd Reich on even heavier drugs than those bastards were on.
Left-Wing Extremism, and even the most extreme I am aware of, want to establish Socialist-Communist-Humanistic systems of a horizontal power nature, mostly through non-violent means. Granted, there are elements willing to force that change through violent means, but, and this is key, as a defense mechanism in response to the system of violence that we call “democracy”. To be clear, a socialist-humanistic system aims to protect the weakest in our societies, creating a sustainable, multi-generational caring world. It’s the opposite of oppression. Again, just to be clear.
The nuances are hugely important, and speaking from my last 25 years of direct involvement, the vast majority of left-wing extremism does not condone, nor is involved in pro-active violence. Reactionary, yes but not pro-active. The difference between the two camps is vast, and I’ll go as far as incomparable.
This then begs the question of how do we compare the two? Should we compare the two and then, based on the reactions of the state and their monopoly on power, how do we react towards them?
Easily said, you cannot compare the two. Right-Wing Extremism caused the Holocaust in Europe. Left-Wing Extremism brought you Women’s Right and the 5 day working week ( something that needs to be re-worked ). More importantly though is the state’s reaction to the two. The state, with its monopoly on violence decides who the real threat is. If we examine the State’s blind eye towards right-wing extremism and its excessive use of force against any formal and informal grouping of individuals that challenges the State’s hegemony on Freedom, you have your answer. This is a global assessment and not one that specifically relates to Hamburg and Germany.
Said differently, build a popular humanistic movement that genuinely helps people outside of the State’s sphere of power and watch the world come down on you. Spew racist hatred and publicly support the Police and you will most likely receive donations in the millions.
With that, and I am building towards “that” essay on the U.S. election with all this information, keep an eye out on who you are voting for and their linguistic nuances when speaking about the two.
Facebook has Kenosha Problem ( amongst a plethora of other bullshit)
This is great piece of investigative journalism about how fucked, or, how Facebook Inc. actively ignores and yes even supports right-wing hate and terror groups. Click on the picture below for the full article. On that not I can only suggest following Popular Information on here as well. Some of the best work in regards to corruption in tech and politics I have seen in years.
It is no longer a question of “how” or “if” fascism comes to the U.S. because it has arrived and in full force. Granted, it is, and always will be important, to speak about this level of authoritarianism but not in the context of disbelief. Believe it, fascism is here. Read the Full Story here.
Again, tapping into the farce that Biden / Harris / the DNC are, and on top of the “news” that Biden mumbled through another statement of how fracking will definitely be continued I do wonder if the DNC actually want to win this election. More to come on this subject.
Socialism for the rich and unfettered, brutal, fuck you Capitalism for the rest of us, right? Do not for one second think that this is specific to the U.S. - the majority of European Airlines have been bailed out with billions of tax money and are still firing large parts of their workforce, who in turn get thrown into our dysfunctional unemployment benefit system that only costs more tax money. It’s a wonderfully illustrative tweet. Whatever you want to call this system, it shits on you and me and that needs to end.
Shorter than usual but packed with jams.
Question being - does this format work for you all? Still interested in these playlists?
I’m definitely enjoying reading The longer text in the email instead of on IG, and I still love the playlists. They frequently open my eyes to new music, and broken me out of ruts again and again.
Really interesting analysis of the right vs the left and their versions of extremism. I think it's worth acknowledging that there are versions of the left that tend toward violence, power accumulation and oppression, too. There's some very left-wing libertarian folks in my home state of Montana who believe that violent defense of their freedoms is demanded by the US constitution. And, while you can argue that the Soviet Union became a perversion of socialist and communist values, it certainly had oppressive and authoritarian outcomes - though not so much more so than capitalist countries.
To me, your point about right wing extremism being so much more acceptable to a police force/state rings true, and is staggeringly frightening. But not surprising. One of the things that remains a key aspect of US stability has been an apolitical military run by civilian leaders. Police are armed like soldiers here, but behave like boys from the neighborhood.