In their latest article, the local German newspaper, Mannheimer Morgen, conducted an interview with Mannheim’s head of security, Volker Proffen. The interview is riddled with racist assumptions, hypocrisy, and blatant lies that border on slander worthy of lawful action.
In the text, interviewers bait Proffen using language that assumes the innate danger of pro-Palestinian activists, even though there has seldom been a violent altercation at our demonstrations. Words like “danger,” “heated,” “emotional” are often used throughout.
Protests are meant to disturb, to evoke a reaction from passerbyers, and force them to reconsider their complicity as it relates to the world around them. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed using German tax dollars as well as our political representatives giving complete impunity to the state of Israel to commit its crimes, rendering all of us responsible for their deaths.
The article goes on to claim that our demonstration at the Mannheim Central Station was a “no-go zone for Jews,” and that “three people were surrounded, harassed simply because a woman among them was wearing a Star of David necklace.”
This is a complete fabrication of astronomical proportions. If one would listen, truly listen to our chants, our speeches, or talk to us, we often mention how Palestine is one land for all people: Jewish, Christian and Muslims. Our only demand is for this to exist absent from an occupying power. If the response is “without occupation, Jewish Israelis won’t be safe,” then the underlying central argument is racist to its core as it implies the innate danger and hostility of the Arab Palestinians.
Secondly, there has never been an incident where any member of our organizations attacked someone because of their faith. Not a single one. I implore authorities to look at footage, analyze our videos for you will never find evidence of such a violent act. We would be the first to denounce such antisemitism.
This is vastly different than our response to the DIG *Deutsche Israeli Geschallshaft*, an organization that has denounced calls for a ceasefire on all sides when thousands upon thousands have been murdered, including 14,000 children. If anything should be considered violent and dangerous, it is such a stance and organization. Reporting as if we do not make the distinction every single demonstration between political Zionism and the Jewish faith is not only misleading, but slanderous.
The response by the security official, Proffen, is just as concerning. Allegedly inviting representatives of the German-Israeli society on “how to strengthen security” is not being a neutral observer, it is clearly and evidently taking a side of how the “good” (German-Israeli) can be protected from the “bad” (dangerous Palestiniains).
We train our stewards every protest on how to have a safe protest for all. When police allowed a counter protest within the same area of us, it was us who calmed demonstrators, creating a wall between us and them for their protection. We have never seen the same consideration on our behalf. Instead, as we have seen from the latest anti-AfD demonstration, the stewards do not react when protestors act as vigilantis and assault our members.
Journalism is the attempt to accurately report our concerns and listen to what is being said and done, instead of acting as stenographers for the Israeli state by regurgitating lies and orientalist language aimed at our dehumanization.
I implore you all to write a letter to the editor urging Mannheimer Morgen to end their one-sided reporting that has never shown the true scale and importance of our activism that is truly centered around justice and equality for all.
Email the editor in chief Karsten Kammholz here: chefredaktion@mamo.de
It seems neither media nor police do their job of providing facts and secure our right to peaceful protest. It happens in all Western "democracies' but in Germany, the blatant support for Israel's savagery is especially aggravating. The establishment is so on board with Islamophobia. Anti-racism for some but not all. Orwellian logic.
Germany and Austria are in full Reich mode... once again. 70% of the people are too far gone. Even the left of the left sees every Hijab wearing woman as an opressed neanderthal and any1 not supporting genocide as an anti semite.
It's really scary and begs the question: what comes next?!... but only if ur concerned when it comes to mass murder, racism, dehumanisation and fascism... so most people are just fine and can't comprehend why very few are such "snowflakes" when it comes to children executed during a hospital raid... which in itself is an insanity of epic proportion.. but Hummus seems to justify anything these days. As if no one of us had to study the Milgram experiment extensively, but we actually had to in school, all of us...so I don't really understand why it's working so splendidly.