Dialog International

Alabama's Anti-Immigrant Hate Law Snags Mercedes Exec

Alabama has the unfortunate distinction of being the most racist state in the US.  This is where the great Civil Rights battles took place in the 1950s and 1960s.  Still, the state proudly flaunts its legacy of bigotry and hate: the state of Alabama flag flying over the the state house in Montgomery mirrors the Confederate Flag - emblem of slavery.  So it was no surprise when, earlier this year, Alabama passed the harshest ant-immigration law in the US, targeting Hispanics and Latinos.  The new law requires schools to verify the immigration status of students upon enrollment, allows local law enforcement to check the status of people they have “reasonable suspicion” of being undocumented during routine stops and arrests, prohibits renting property to undocumented immigrants, and penalizes companies that employ undocumented immigrants. Additionally, the law makes it a felony for undocumented immigrants to apply for a driver’s license, license plate, or business license.

The new law has been a disaster for Alabama's farmers, since Latinos make up the majority of workforce and have now fled to avoid harassment and deportation.  Now, another unintended consequence of the law has disturbed the state's relationship with one of its biggest "job creators" - Daimler Benz: 

Fierce critics of Alabama's controversial new immigration law -- and one of its staunchest supporters -- are pointing to the arrest of a German Mercedes-Benz executive last week to make their case.

Police in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, pulled the man over because of a problem with the tag on the rental car he was driving, and then detained him when he didn't have proper identification on hand, according to Alabama's homeland security director.

Mercedes-Benz issued a statement describing the arrest as "an unfortunate situation," but provided few details.

The Mercedes executive was eventually able to produce the necessary papers and identification and was released.  The over-zealous Tuscaloosa police officer was reprimanded for his failure to understand the basis of the new law: it is meant to target poor, dark-skinned adults and children, not prosperous -looking white people.

Daimler is more than willing to put up with these occasional displays of intolerance in Alabama.  After all, it located its plant in Tuscaloosa to circumvent the labor unions.  It pays its workforce in Alabama a fraction of what it must pay its German workers, with far fewer benefits.  Best of all, Alabama is a "hire at will" state, meaning Daimler can fire and lay off workers at any time without cause. 

Once Again: Should Germany Ban the Neo-Nazi NPD?

Here we go again.  After police discovered a neo-Nazi cell in Zwickau that had committed murder and acts of terror for ten years leading politicians in Germany are caling for a ban of the far-right NPD:

German citizens and political leaders alike are appalled: For ten years, a group of neo-Nazis has ben carrying out a series of murders targeting immigrants - apparently without the country's intelligence services recognizing that there was a network behind the murders.

In response, German political leaders have made emphatic calls for the country's far-right National Democratic Party, the NPD, to be banned once and for all, after a first attempt failed in 2003. The Federal Constitutional Court, at the time, rejected the government's arguments for a ban, saying too many intelligence informers had infiltrated NPD ranks.

There are excellent reasons for banning the NPD:

• Members of the NPD have been involved in acts of violence and there are ties to quasi-paramilitary  organization, especially in eastern Germany;
• The NPD spreads a messge of hate and intolerance against "foreigners" (i.e. anybody who doesn't look "German") which has transformed certain towns into "no-go" sectors for tourists and Muslims.
• The policy of the NPD is contemptuous of parliamentary democracy;
• The NPD is behind historical revisionism, Holocaust denial and worse.

But to my mind there are better reasons for NOT banning the NPD:

• Banning the party will do nothing to stop right-wing hate;
• The banned leaders of the party could garner broader sympathy or even become martyrs to their cause;
• The NPD has never been a successful political force - in fact, in recent elections it has lost representatives at the state level.;
• The party is infiltrated with paid informants ("V-Leute") who are able to contain it;
• It is a "slippery slope" for a constitutional democracy to suppress political discourse, no matter how vile the views expressed.

Also, there is something inherently "German" in the reflexive call to forbid that which one finds offensive:

Die Deutschen lieben Verbote. Vater Staat soll seine Landeskinder besser vor sich selbst schützen, meint die Mehrheit der Bürger, wie eine Umfrage des Instituts für Demoskopie Allensbach für das John-Stuart-Mill-Institut für Freiheitsforschung zeigt.

("Germans love to ban things.  The majority of Germans believe that the nanny state needs to better protect citizens from each other, according to a survey conducted by the Institute for Public Opinions Allensbach for the John Stuart Mill Institute.")

 

Review: Angelika Klüssendorf's Das Mädchen

Judging from the recent crop of novels, growing up in the former East Germany (GDR) was anything but idyllic.  Last year Peter Wawerzinek wrote about being abandoned by his mother at the age of two in his award-winning Rabenliebe.  The anonymous girl at the center of Angelika Klüssendorf's powerful new novel Das Mädchen ("The Girl") isn't nearly so lucky as Wawerzinek.  Her mother sticks around to beat her and her younger brother, when she's not off on a drinking and sex binge.  Welcome to the Worker- and Peasant-State, where eveyone marches lockstep to a glorious socialist future - except for the throw-away children living in the shadows. 

We first encounter the Girl as she throws excrement from her tenement window on the passer-by's below.  She and her brother have been locked inside for days without food as her mother is out on one of her sojourns.  But starving inside a stifling apartment is a picnic compared to having the mother around.  The beatings begin almost as soon as she returns, Klüssendorf describes the horror in a factual, laconic style,  The third person narrator hews closely to the perspective of the Girl but eschews all sentimentality.  The Girl suffers the blows silently, but then turns around and torments her helpless younger brother mercilessly.  The cycle of violence is complete, or, rather, nearly complete.  For what is missing is the father.  The father returns- temoporarily - and the beatings take on a new quality:

Er benutzt seine Hände beim Schlagen, anders als ihre Mutter, die den Gürtel bevorzugt, und das kommt ihr irgendwie gerechter vor.

(He uses his hands to hit, not like her mother, who prefers the belt, and this somehow seems more just to her.)

The Girl comes to realize that the world is an absurd, violent place.  And the violence is completely arbitrary; there is no cause and effect, and her behavior has no bearing on the outcome:

Es gibt keine erkennbaren Gesetze für ihr Zusammenleben, keine gültige Gerechtigkeit; ein Vorfall, der ihr morgens eine Tracht Prügel einbringt, kann abends nur ein müdes Lächeln bei ihm hervorrufen. 

(There are no discernible laws for their coexistence, no valid justice. An incident that might earn her a spanking in the morning can bring a weary smile to his face in the evening.)

What prevents Das Mädchen from becoming just a morbid sociological study of child abuse in the GDR is Klüssendorf's precision in creating her central figure; the narrative perspective provides just the proper amount of distance.  The reader admires the Girl for her will to survive but at the same time recognizes her cruelty.

Language proves to be the Girl's best means for survival.  While locked in the cellar for hours on end as punishment she discovers books: The Count of Monte Cristo, and Brehm's Life of Animals.  She she can change her bleak world through metaphor: her broken brother is a tadpole, her mother an electric eel.  And she can see herself in a new light:

Sie kommt sich wie eine Stabheuschrecke vor oder ein Stelzvogel; lange schlaksige Gliedmaßen, zwei Brustwarzen, der Bauch leicht geschwollen und ein nackter Hamster zwischen den Beinen.

(She sees herself as a stick insect or a wader:  long, spindly legs, two nipples, a slightly swollen belly and a naked hamster between her legs.)

The Girl - in fits and starts - develops a voice. Whatever the world has in store for her - and there is plenty of cruelty and disappointment to follow - we know she will make it.  Nothing will silence her.

Angelika Klüssendorf''s Das Mädchen was selected as a finalist for the 2011 Deutscher Buchpreis (German Book Prize). 

 

Breivik, Zwickau. When will the Verfassungsschutz act?

The discovery of a neo-Nazi terror cell in Thuringia has raised the question:  what did the Verfassungsschutz (Office for the Protection of the Constitution) know and when did they know it? There is a suspicion that the Office not only knew about the cell but even had "V-Leute" (informants) within the neo-Nazi scene who were actively supporting the group.  If so, why didn't they stop them from murdering and bombing?

It is clear that the neo-Nazis are part of a broader pan-European right-wing extremist movement whose goal is civil war:

Es gibt in der Szene eine Fraktion, die die „Strategie der Spannung" fährt. Man will den politischen Gegner oder Ausländer provozieren - etwa durch Morde oder Anschläge in von Ausländern bewohnten Vierteln. Das führt zu Demonstrationen, Übergriffen auf Neonazis, usw. Im Hintergrund steht ein Bürgerkriegsszenario - so ähnlich wie es Anders Breivik vorschwebte. Man will diesen Bürgerkrieg, am besten in ganz Europa. Nicht die Demokratie wird nach Meinung der Neonazis aus so einem Krieg gestärkt hervorgehen, sondern autoritäre Regime.

(There is a group within the (right-wing) scene that promotes a "tension strategy". The goals is to provoke political opponents or foreigners - by murders or attacks in areas where foreigners live.  This leads to demonstrations, attacks against neo-Nazis, etc.. The objective is a civil war scenario, similar what Anders Breivik envisioned. Ideally, this civil war would occur throughout Europe.  The outcome of this war - according to the theories of the neo-Nazis - would be authoritarian regimes instead of a stronger democracy.)

And the goal is evidently to murder not just foreigners (for who really cares about that?) but also public figures - even politicians. 

Officials investigating the Zwickau neo-Nazi terror cell have uncovered what could be a list of targets created by the suspected terrorists. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the list includes the names and addresses of 88 people, including at least two politicians who are members of the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, and representatives of Turkish and Muslim organizations.

Mass killers like Anders Breivik and the Zwickau neo-Nazi cell are influenced by hate sites on Web - sites like Nürnberg 2.0 that target public figures who are supposedly responsible for the Muslim takeover of Germany.  These anonymously-run sites are run on servers located in the United States.  I have contacted the Verfassungsschutz and the BKA (Federal Criminal OFfice) concerning Nürnberg 2.0 but so far they have refused to act to shut down the site.  In fact, the BKA declared that Nürnberg 2.0 was essentially "harmless". Up to now, the Verfassungsschutz has been obsessed with monitoring peaceful Muslim organizations in Germany as well as non-existent "left-wing terror".  Will the Office finally take the threat of right-wing terrorist violence seriously?  Will it take more murders, more bombings before they finally act? 

GOP Candidates: "Let's start torturing again."

One of Barack Obama's first acts after taking office as president in 2009 was banning the use of torture - including waterboarding. Torture was the signature policy of the Bush Administration, and the current contenders for Republican Party candidacy for the 2012 presidential race are eager to reinstate torture, 

Spiegel's US correspondent Mark Pitzke was amazed at what he witnessed at the last televised debate of the GOP contenders:

Heraus kommt ein atemberaubender Rückfall in die Wildwest-Jahre George W. Bushs. Mehr noch: Im Vergleich zu diesen hüftschießenden Hosentaschenkriegern war Bush geradezu ein Pazifist. Im Namen der nationalen Sicherheit wollen sie foltern, morden und das Lager Guantanamo wieder auf Trab bringen. "Dies ist Krieg!", ruft Rick Perry. "Das passiert im Krieg nun mal!" Da juchzen die Claqueure im Saal.

("What emerges is a breathtaking return to the wild-west days of George W. Bush. Even more: compared to these shoot-from-the-hip armchair warriors Bush was practically a pacifist.  In the name of national security they want to torture, murder, build up the camp at Guantanamo.  "This is war", yells Rick Perry.  "Things like this happen in war!"  The audience cheers wildly.)

No surprise at all that the practice of torture remains wildly popular among the Republican Tea Party base:

First, in GOP circles, support for torture remains painfully strong, even now. Post-Cheney, it’s become practically a party norm to support torture techniques that America used to consider unthinkable. Though Rick Santorum didn’t comment on this last night, it was just this summer when he said John McCain “doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works,” because the former prisoner of war opposes torture.

And second, Republican debate audiences continue to be a legitimate story in their own right. Over the last few months, we’ve seen GOP audiences cheer the execution of 234 people, cheer letting the insured die, boo an American soldier who happens to be gay, and now applaud torture.

See also today's editorial in the New York Times:  The Torture Candidates

Anti-Immigrant Hate in Germany Leads to Neo-Nazi Terror

For years the Web site Politically Incorrect has been spreading hate against immigrants from Turkey in Germany and against any person with a Muslim background or connection.  Journalists such as Udo Ulfkotte and Henryk Broder have openly called for the deportation - or elimination - of immigrants who are "contaminating" the racial purity of the German people, and the central banker Thilo Sarrazin wrote a best-selling book disparaging immigrants with a Turkish or Arab background as genetically inferior. A few people in Germany have spoken out against this open display of hate, but for the most part, authorities have looked the other way. Amazingly, Ulfkotte, Broder and Sarrazin are welcome guests on myriad TV talk shows.

Recently I wrote about the Web site "Nürnberg 2.0", where anonymous accusers make open threats against public figures in Germany who are supposedly aiding and abetting an Islamic takeover of German society. Here, too, law enforcement officials have declared the content "harmless" and have refused to take action to shut it down.

We now know that all along the constant refrain of anti-immigant hate was hitting its mark - especially in the town of Zwickau in Thuringia.  For years a neo-Nazi cell has been systematically killing primarily Turkish immigrants at different locations throughout Germany - the socalled
"doner killings".  Only after a bank robbery and the murder of policewoman last week were authorities able to find the right-wing terrorists.  It now appears that this neo-Nazi cell was hardly isolated; it was part of a much bigger right-wing terror network: 

The idea that the murders could be traced back to far right groups is unsettling in Germany, a country that around 3 million Turks call home.

"This would be a new dimension in the brutality of neo-Nazis," said statement from the state interior ministry of Bavaria, where five murders took place.

Ralf Jäger, the interior minister of North Rhine Westphalia, also expressed his worry: "Extreme rightists have turned into terrorists. We have to do something about the fact that these perpetrators could operate underground in Germany for years on end."

 Who could have predicted that it would come to this?  Meanwhile, Henryk Broder, Sarrazin & Co. continues to spill its poison over the entire German media landscape.

Condoleezza Rice Trashes Gerhard Schröder in New Memoir

The 2003 US invasion of Iraq was one of the greatest strategic blunders ever made; we will be paying the price for decades to come. But for the former members of the Bush administration who lied the country into an unnecessary and immoral war, it was a brilliant decision, marred only by the refusal of key international partners to go along with the charade.

In her new self-serving memoir of her years in the Bush White House - No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington - Condoleezza Rice rehashes all the lies concerning the non-existent WMDs, promotion of torture, etc.  - it was a glorious time, indeed.  But some refused to play the game - especially Gerhard Schröder. Towards the end of the book she fantasizes how it might have been had Angela Merkel been the German chancellor as the US marched over the cliff into a disastrous war:

Whenever I met Sarkozy, he greeted me by saying, “I love this woman.” He didn’t mean it literally, of course. But we saw eye to eye on almost everything. I couldn’t help but think how different it might have been to confront the problem of Saddam Hussein with Sarkozy instead of [Jacques] Chirac in the Élysée Palace and Angela Merkel instead of Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin.

Yes, why couldn't the obstinate German be more like the compliant Tony Blair, who, for all of his acomplishments, will forever be remembered as "Bush's Poodle"?  We'll never know if Sarkozy and Merkel would have defied the will of their people and joined Rice, Bush, Rumsfeld & Co. in their illegal adventure as Bush's Schnauzer and (giant) Pug. 

Martin van Creveld and Academic Freedom in Germany

Evidently the Rector of the University of Trier didn't know what he was in for when he invited the Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld as a "visiting scholar".  In his very first lecture he managed to stir up a firestorm of controversy: 

Für drei Monate hätte der israelische Kriegshistoriker Martin van Creveld eigentlich an der Universität Trier forschen und lehren sollen, am interdisziplinären Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschungszentrum (HKFZ). Nun hat die Hochschule den 65-jährigen Gastwissenschaftler vorzeitig entlassen - auf Druck von Studenten.

Nachdem Details über seinen Antrittsvortrag zum Thema "Männer, Frauen, Kriegsspiele und Kultur" bekannt wurden, formierte sich Widerstand gegen van Creveld. In dem Vortrag hatte er unter anderem die These vertreten, dass "viele Frauen es genießen, wie Männer sich gegenseitig abschlachten". Und weiter: "Ohne Frauen, die sich verführen lassen, hätte es weder Kriege noch Kriegsspiele gegeben."

("Actually the military historian Martin van Creveld was supposed to spend three months conducting research and lecturing at the University's Interdisciplinary Research Center for History and Culture.  But now the university has dismissed the scholar - under pressure from the students.

After details surface about his introductory lecture on the topic of "Men, Women, War Games and Culture" Creveld came under increased criticism.  In his lecture Creveld put forward the thesis that "many women liked it when men slaughtered each other."  And also:"Without women, who let themselves be seduced, there would be no wars or war games.")

Now I'm not a fan of van Creveld, mostly because he often appears in the neo-Fascist weekly Junge Freiheit.  But I support unconditional academic freedom: the students should peacefully protest and debate van Creveld - but not silence him.  And the university is also at fault here, for how could they not know that Martin van Creveld is the "Thilo Sarrazin of Gender Studies."  Van Creveld knows a great deal about war and military history, but when it comes to women he uses Sarrazin-style pseudo-scientific arguments to make his points.

Van Creveld's views on women were outlined in his 2003 book Das bevorzugte Geschlecht  ("The Privileged Sex")  wherein he argues that men have to do all the hard and dirty work - such as wage war - while women have it relatively easy:

"In fast jeder Hinsicht sind Frauen seit eh und je das privilegierte Geschlecht. Als Kinder werden sie sanfter angefaßt und mehr behütet. Als Studentinnen wird ihnen schon seit langem nachgesehen, dass sie sich von Fächern fernhalten, die als die schwierigsten gelten. Als Erwachsene sind sie unter weniger Konkurrenz- und Leidensdruck. Was ihren Lebensunterhalt betrifft, sind sie oft in der beneidenswerten Lage, konsumieren zu können ohne produzieren zu müssen. Als Kriminelle und Prozessführende werden sie vom Gesetz und von den Gerichten wesentlich nachsichtiger behandelt. Als Staatsbürgerinnen sind sie nicht nur von der Pflicht befreit, an den schrecklichsten aller menschlichen Aktivitäten, d.h. dem Krieg, teilzunehmen, sondern werden auch besser vor ihm geschützt. Von Männern auf den Schultern getragen - manchmal, wenn es darum geht, Naturkatastrophen und ähnlichem zu entkommen, im wörtlichen Sinne - haben Frauen stets den Löwenanteil der Annehmlichkeiten genossen, die eine Gesellschaft, egal wann und wo, zu bieten hatte. Frauen, deren Leben als wertvoller gilt als das von Männern, sind seltener Opfer von Gewaltverbrechen"

("Women have always been the privileged sex in every sense. As children they are treated more gently and protected more.  As students they are permitted to stay away from subjects that are perceived as the most difficult.  As adults they are not under the same pressure to compete and experience less stress. And with respect to support they are often lucky enough to consume without having to produce. As criminals they are treated by the courts with more compassion. As citizens they are relieved from having to perform the most terrible duty of all: waging war.  And are protected from the ravages of war. Men literally carry them on their shoulders to escape from natural catastrophes,  Women are always the beneficiaries of all the best that society offers. Women, whose lives are seen as more valuable than men's, are less frequently the victims of violent crimes.")

 And when it comes to violent crimes, the female students at the University of Trier must have been surprised to learn that Martin van Creveld doesn't see rape as such a bad thing; in fact, for sexually experienced women it has no lasting impact.  No wonder the editors of Junge Freiheit champion van Creveld. 

US Republicans Embrace Foreign Policy Ignorance

I've already written about how Texas Governor Rick Perry hopes to capitalize on his record of executing prisonors - including innocent ones - to excite the conservative base of the Republican Party and propel him to the White House.  Der Spiegel now points out another promising angle that appears to resonate with many Americans: the leading candidates display contempt for foriegn policy competence:

Wer die Supermacht USA führen will, muss sich im Rest der Welt auskennen - oder so tun. Die Republikaner-Bewerber fürs Weiße Haus machen nun Schluss mit dieser Regel. Sie stehen offen zu ihrer außenpolitischen Ignoranz und wollen so Obama schlagen. Die absurde Strategie scheint aufzugehen.

(Whoever wants to lead the US should know something about the rest of the world - or at least act like he does. The Republican candidates for the White House now reject this principle.  They freely admit their foreign policy ignorance and want to use this to beat Obama. This absurd strategy appears to be working.) 

Of course, we saw this trend already in the 2008 election cycle with the popularity of Sarah Palin.  But at least she wasn't at the top of the ticket and foreign policy was one of John McCain's strengths. But now the conservative electorate appears ready to go all the way and reward know-nothingness with millions of votes.  How else to explain the popularity of Herman Cain, who currently leads all the polls?

Ein eindrucksvolles Beispiel lieferte kürzlich einer der Bewerber, Herman Cain, Ex-Pizzaketten-Manager und neuer republikanischer Hoffnungsträger. In einem TV-Interview wurde er gefragt, was er antworten werde, wollte jemand von ihm den Namen des Präsidenten von Usbekistan wissen. Vermutlich wüssten sehr viele Menschen die Antwort nicht auf Anhieb (er heißt Islam Karimow). Doch das Land ist ein enger US-Verbündeter im Kampf in Afghanistan, der mächtigste Mann der Welt sollte mit dem Namen Karimow vertraut sein. Cain allerdings ging in die Offensive: "Ich werde sagen: Ich weiß es nicht. Und: Schafft es auch nur einen Job in Amerika, wenn ich ihn kenne?"

(Herman Cain, the former pizza-chain manager and now the leading Republican candidate provided a good example recently.  In a TV interview he was asked how he would respond if someone wanted to know the name of the president of Uzbekistan. Presumably many would be stumped by this.  But the country is a close US ally in the war in Afghanistan, and the most powerful man in the world should know the name of Karimow. But Cain went on the offensive:"I would say: I don't know.  And: would it create one job in America if I did?")

Cain's ignorance of the world took on absurd proportions in an interview on National Public Television when he warned that China was "developing nuclear capability" - somthing China has had since 1964.  No doubt, this will only increase his popularity with the voters.