Peter Kuras

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This Is Germany, the Last Country Anyone Wants to Make Great Again

EuropaUnión Europea, ,

Since it became clear that the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, will emerge as a dominant force in eastern Germany’s politics after regional elections this September, I’ve been unable to get a photograph out of my mind.

The picture was taken in 1992, during a four-day pogrom in eastern Germany’s port city of Rostock. An estimated 400 right-wing extremists attacked the local immigration center and a housing complex that was home to much of the city’s small Vietnamese community, while a large crowd kept police officers and firefighters at bay. The picture shows a man named Harald Ewert. He’s wearing a German football jersey and a pair of jogging pants.…  Seguir leyendo »

A protest in Berlin in November 2023. Photograph: Clemens Bilan/EPA

EuropaUnión Europea,

Is it legal to say the words “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in Germany? The answer appears to be yes: you can shout them from the rooftops in German, English, Arabic or Hebrew, so long as a court accepts that you are not doing so to indicate support for Hamas or its murderous assault of 7 October.

This distinction came to bear on the activist Ava Moayeri last week, when she was convicted of “condoning a crime” for leading a chant of the slogan at a Berlin rally on 11 October. If the speaker of the phrase is understood to mean, for instance, that they support the peaceful liberation of Palestinians, then the utterance would be protected.…  Seguir leyendo »

Supporters of the AfD party wave German flags as they walk behind police during a demonstration in Chemnitz, Germany, October 2020. Photograph: John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images

EuropaUnión Europea,

Since the anniversary of the killings in Hanau, which took place a little over a year ago, my Berlin neighbourhood has been plastered with posters featuring simple but compelling line drawings of Ferhat Unvar, Gökhan Gültekin, Hamza Kurtović, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Sedat Gürbüz, Kalojan Velkov, Vili Viorel Păun and Fatih Saraçoğlu, the nine victims of the far-right terrorist attack that continues to shape German discussions of rightwing extremism. The posters have been part of a broader campaign committed to drawing attention to and naming the victims of these crimes.

The campaign came to mind when news broke on Wednesday 3 March that the Verfassungsschutz, Germany’s internal state security service, has placed the entirety of the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) under observation.…  Seguir leyendo »